History Teaches Us to Hope

by Roland, Charles P.; Smith, John David

• ISBN13: 9780813124568
• ISBN10: 0813124565
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-07
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

Before his death in 1870, Robert E. Lee penned a letter to Col. Charles Marshall in which he argued that we must cast our eyes backward in times of turmoil and change, concluding that "it is history that teaches us to hope." Charles Pierce Roland, one of the nation's most distinguished and respected historians, has done exactly that, devoting his career to examining the South's tumultuous path in the years preceding and following the Civil War. History Teaches Us to Hope: Reflections on the Civil War and Southern History is an unprecedented compilation of works by the man the volume editor John David Smith calls a "dogged researcher, gifted stylist, and keen interpreter of historical questions."Throughout his career, Roland has published groundbreaking books, including The Confederacy (1960), The Improbable Era: The South since World War II (1976), and An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War (1991). In addition, he has garnered acclaim for two biographical studies of Civil War leaders: Albert Sidney Johnston (1964), a life of the top field general in the Confederate army, and Reflections on Lee (1995), a revisionist assessment of a great but frequently misunderstood general. The first section of History Teaches Us to Hope, "The Man, The Soldier, The Historian," offers personal reflections by Roland and features his famous "GI Charlie" speech, "A Citizen Soldier Recalls World War II." Civil War--related writings appear in the following two sections, which include Roland's theories on the true causes of the war and four previously unpublished articles on Civil War leadership. The final section brings together Roland's writings on the evolution of southern history and identity, outlining his views on the persistence of a distinct southern culture and his belief in its durability. History Teaches Us to Hope is essential reading for those who desire a complete understanding of the Civil War and southern history. It offers a fascinating portrait of an extraordinary historian.

Author Biography

Charles P. Roland is Alumni Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Kentucky and a past president of the Southern Historical Association.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: Charles P. Roland, Historian of the Civil War and the American South	p. 1
The Man, The Soldier, The Historian
In the Beginning	p. 57
A Citizen Soldier Recalls World War II	p. 75
In Retrospect	p. 89
Secession and the Civil War
Why the War Came	p. 93
Louisiana and Secession	p. 107
The Resort to Arms	p. 117
A Slaveowner's Defense of Slavery	p. 133
Louisiana Sugar Planters and the Civil War	p. 147
Civil War Leadership
Albert Sidney Johnston and the Defense of the Confederate West	p. 163
The Generalship of Robert E. Lee	p. 175
Robert E. Lee and the Leadership of Character	p. 207
Alan Nolan Considered: or Lee in Caricature	p. 221
Lee and Jackson: An Indomitable Team	p. 235
The South in Fact and in Myth
The South, America's Will-o'-the-Wisp Eden	p. 253
The South of the Agrarians	p. 269
Happy Chandler	p. 285
Change and Tradition in Southern Society	p. 303
The Ever-Vanishing South	p. 319
Copyrights and Permissions	p. 337
Index	p. 339
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