A few book recommendations for Southerners.

[The Gray Ghost]

I haven't had the chance to meet anyone here yet, so I thought I'd take the initiative and be pro-active. I assume everyone here is extra educated on the matter, but if there are any Southerners here, who know something just isn't right with their ancestors being portrayed as "history's bad guys" I'd suggest these books, if you haven't read them. They'll un-reconstruct you, lol. They'll make you hold your head high as a Southerner.

The South Was Right! - the Kennedy brothers. (While I'll admit they are very pro South, the information they provide is very researchable, and lists the sources, which to soothe the skeptical mind, can also be researched.)

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South - Clint Johnson. Wonderful job of reporting on slavery from it's earliest stages in America, and the service of African American Confederates.

The Real Lincoln & Lincoln Unmasked - Both by Thomas J. DiLorenzo - A self proclaimed Yankee, DiLorenzo does an excellent job of exploding the "cult of Lincoln" and exposing many of the false deeds and quotes attributed to "Dishonest" Abe (as the author refers to him)

33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask - Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Woods touches on many subjects in American history, but clearly illustrates the importance of State's Rights in the eyes of America's founders.

After reading these you'll be ready to pounce on the first Southerner you meet who says "We're better off since we lost the war" or "We were the bad guys in that one."

 

[johan_steele]

Look to the response by Mr Barry.

 

[Craig L Barry]

Can't chime in on the reading list as I generally avoid the newer US Civil War revisionist material.
However, I would say that the winners write the history, and always have. An exposure to alternate points
of view is rarely a waste of time. Doing research for "Wearing the Gray" (not coming out any time soon)
opened my eyes to some little understood aspects of Confederate culture and material culture.

 

[elfdream]

My southern ancestors weren't 'bad guys'. They were Union loyalists. But I will probably read some of these books at some point in time.

 

[brass napoleon]

Here's a description of The South Was Right from a website affiliated with the author:

The South has become an economic colony of the North, used and exploited like colonies throughout the world. Politically, the North still controls the government and continues to impose its social agenda on the rest of the country at the expense of individual liberty. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, the first federal department to infringe upon the rights of sovereign states, continues to suppress any efforts to reclaim liberty for the individual from the federal government.

Today, as a result of the war in which the South lost its right to be a free country, Northern politics still reign with an iron fist. The Southern people are second-class citizens in a despotic society where fraudulent political maneuvers, oppressive acts, and unfair legislation continue as acts of ethnic cleansing to obliterate all symbols of their history and heritage.

Sure to be one of the most controversial books of the decade, The South Was Right! is an attempt to set the record straight. The South Was Right! is sure to raise eyebrows and questions and draw fire from a number of special-interest groups. But the authors maintain, through rigorous research, how the South had a legal precedent to secede and a right to defend its borders. Even today it has just as much reason to reclaim its liberty as the people of Poland, the Baltic states, Palestine, and the states and provinces of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia have done for themselves. Southerners should read this book with a sense of urgency and obligation to the past. Others should read it with open minds. Leave this book out on your coffee table and watch your guests turn pale. - Source: http://www.roadtosecession.com/thesouthwasright.htm