5/5

The book explores the role of African Americans in the Confederate army, and how Lost Cause revisionism has distorted the South’s own history. I was particularly interested in the affect of entering free states on Confederate armies, who suddenly had to face the fact that their impressed slaves were not particularly loyal to their cause. The sections on Civil War Reunions in the early-20th century, and the few ex-slaves who attended these events was also very enlightening. Levin contrasts these events well with Neo-Confederate black tokenism in the 21st century. The meat of the book was less than 200 pages, and I felt like he covered a ton of ground in a very readable text. This is one of the best works of scholarship I’ve read in a long time. It uses many rich primary sources and keeps the text short and to the point. Rarely do works of history come out this polished and focused.

I actually had the opportunity to go see the author speak at the Royall House Museum, and was pleased to have the subject presented with more visual aides and question-and-answer time. Levin is an excellent writer and speaker, and I encourage everyone to give him a follow on Twitter.