Includes a Q&A with the author and questions for discussion "Originally published in hardcover by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in September 2020"--Title page verso Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-262)
Summary:
"Connor Towne O'Neill's journey onto the battlefield of white supremacy began with a visit to Selma, Alabama, in 2015. There he had a chance encounter with a group of people preparing to erect a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most notorious Confederate generals, a man whom Union general William Tecumseh Sherman referred to as "that devil." O'Neill, a white Northener transplanted to the South, decided to dig deeply into the history of Forrest, a slave trader and the first Grand Wizard of teh Ku Klux Klan. He traveled to other Confederate monuments across the region, where he encountered citizens who still hold Forrest in cult-like awe, desperate to preserve what they call their heritage, as well as others fighting to tear the monuments down. In the course of his journey, O'Neill began to trace the direct line from Forrest's ugly history to the larger battles raging today all across America. The fight over Forrest, he argues eloquently, is also a fight to sustain white supremacy--a system that props up all white people, not just those defending the monuments. A brilliant and provocative blend of history, reportage, and personal essay, Down Along with That Devil's Bones reveals the many ways in which the Civil War, begun in 1861, has never ended. With clear-eyed passion, O'Neill probes our nation's vital need to confront its past in order to transced it and move toward a more just society"--Back cover
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.