HIST 345 - The Myth(s) of the Lost Cause and Civil War History

FDR: HU
Credits: 3

This course dives headfirst into the creation, production, and ongoing impact of one of the most important myths of American history, the myth of the Lost Cause. As such, it closely examines the historical scholarship on memory creation about our most divisive conflict, the American Civil War, and its aftermath. In the period following 1865, the ex-Confederates, their descendants and acolytes, created an elaborate explanation of the war, its causes and consequences, and this class will spend its time investigating those arguments from various angles of American social, cultural, and military history. It invites students to read the leading scholarship on different elements of the myth in order to inform their own final research paper on the Lost Cause and its historical impact overtime. It also asks students to investigate the war from diverse perspectives through the historical scholarship of some of our leading experts but also through the literature of some of our most important writers. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to open up new avenues for historical research on the American Civil War era and our national remembrance of the period. Myers.