The Confederate battle flag: America's most embattled emblem
Description
In recent years, the Confederate flag has become as much a news item as a Civil War relic. Intense public debates have erupted over Confederate flags flying atop state capitols, being incorporated into state flags, waving from dormitory windows, or adorning the T-shirts and jeans of public school children. To some, this piece of cloth is a symbol of white supremacy and enduring racial injustice; to others, it represents a rich Southern heritage and an essential link to a glorious past. Polarizing Americans, these "flag wars" reveal the profound--and still unhealed--schisms that have plagued the country since the Civil War.
The Confederate Battle Flag is the first comprehensive history of this contested symbol. Transcending conventional partisanship, John Coski reveals the flag's origins as one of many banners unfurled on the battlefields of the Civil War. He shows how it emerged as the preeminent representation of the Confederacy and was transformed into a cultural icon from Reconstruction on, becoming an aggressively racist symbol only after World War II and during the Civil Rights movement. We gain unique insight into the fine line between the flag's use as a historical emblem and as an invocation of the Confederate nation and all it stood for. Pursuing the flag's conflicting meanings, Coski suggests how this provocative artifact, which has been viewed with pride, fear, anger, nostalgia, and disgust, might ultimately provide Americans with the common ground of a shared and complex history.
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Published Reviews
Choice Review
Coski (historian and library director, Museum of the Confederacy) presents "the first comprehensive history" of the Confederate battle flag. He believes that understanding the history and controversies over the flag reveals much about US culture. The work relies heavily on materials from the author's own institution as well as an extensive collection of other primary material. Coski's self-proclaimed objectivity and exhaustive research remove much of the emotion from the discussion. The repetition of some material (notably about Kappa Alpha Order, which appears numerous times and is reintroduced each time) will wear down some interested readers. Readers interested in a more general discussion of the impact of the memory of the Civil War will be better served by either David Blight's Race and Reunion (CH, Oct'01, 39-1125) or Tony Horwitz's more accessible Confederates in the Attic (1998). Only students and scholars most interested in the history of the flag itself (its early history is particularly well presented) will be well served by this work. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. K. L. Gorman Minnesota State University--Mankato
Library Journal Review
Coski (library director, Museum of the Confederacy) presents a cogent history of the Confederate flag and the controversies surrounding it in the post-Civil War era. White stars on two crossed blue bars on a red field are widely regarded as the official battle flag of the Confederate States of America, a flag proudly carried in battle under such military leaders as Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. The Confederate battle flag was an amalgam of battle flags designed for use by various units in the Civil War. After the war, the flag became a symbol of all things Southern and of defiance and rebellion. More recently, it has become the center of controversies in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. While some see it as emblematic of racism, to others it represents historic tradition. Coski examines the flag's use as a clarion call, emphasizing that many Southerners have a dual allegiance to the Confederate flag and the Stars and Stripes. Perhaps, he suggests, the Confederate battle flag should not be condemned but used as a barometer of controversies that have not been resolved following the Civil War. For academic and public libraries that maintain Civil War or Southern history collections.-Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Library Journal Reviews
Coski (library director, Museum of the Confederacy) presents a cogent history of the Confederate flag and the controversies surrounding it in the post-Civil War era. White stars on two crossed blue bars on a red field are widely regarded as the official battle flag of the Confederate States of America, a flag proudly carried in battle under such military leaders as Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. The Confederate battle flag was an amalgam of battle flags designed for use by various units in the Civil War. After the war, the flag became a symbol of all things Southern and of defiance and rebellion. More recently, it has become the center of controversies in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. While some see it as emblematic of racism, to others it represents historic tradition. Coski examines the flag's use as a clarion call, emphasizing that many Southerners have a dual allegiance to the Confederate flag and the Stars and Stripes. Perhaps, he suggests, the Confederate battle flag should not be condemned but used as a barometer of controversies that have not been resolved following the Civil War. For academic and public libraries that maintain Civil War or Southern history collections.-Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.