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Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause Kindle Edition

by Ty Seidule (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 2,349 ratings

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"Ty Seidule scorches us with the truth and rivets us with his fierce sense of moral urgency." --Ron Chernow

In a forceful but humane narrative, former soldier and head of the West Point history department Ty Seidule's Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the myths and lies of the Confederate legacy—and explores why some of this country’s oldest wounds have never healed.

Ty Seidule grew up revering Robert E. Lee. From his southern childhood to his service in the U.S. Army, every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor. Now, as a retired brigadier general and Professor Emeritus of History at West Point, his view has radically changed. From a soldier, a scholar, and a southerner, Ty Seidule believes that American history demands a reckoning.

In a unique blend of history and reflection, Seidule deconstructs the truth about the Confederacy—that its undisputed primary goal was the subjugation and enslavement of Black Americans—and directly challenges the idea of honoring those who labored to preserve that system and committed treason in their failed attempt to achieve it. Through the arc of Seidule’s own life, as well as the culture that formed him, he seeks a path to understanding why the facts of the Civil War have remained buried beneath layers of myth and even outright lies—and how they embody a cultural gulf that separates millions of Americans to this day.

Part history lecture, part meditation on the Civil War and its fallout, and part memoir, Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the deeply-held legends and myths of the Confederacy—and provides a surprising interpretation of essential truths that our country still has a difficult time articulating and accepting.

Editorial Reviews

Review

NPR's "Books We Love" Staff Pick, 2021
One of Washington Independent Review of Books' "Favorite Books of 2021"

“With the vigor of a prosecutor, Seidule dismantles the near-sacred beliefs among many Southerners that the Civil War was a noble cause to preserve a way of life that benefitted everyone…an extraordinary and courageous book, a confessional of America’s great sins of slavery and racial oppression, a call to confront our wrongs, reject our mythologized racist past and resolve to create a just future for all.” –Associated Press

"A powerful and introspective look into white Americans’ continuing romance with the Confederacy, and the lasting damage that has done." --New York Times Book Review

“Seidule has written a vital account of the destructiveness of the Lost Cause ideology throughout American history. Perhaps the best attribute of this fine book is the author’s honesty. It’s difficult to imagine a more timely book than “Robert E. Lee and Me.” At this pivotal moment, when we are debating some of the most painful aspects of our history, Seidule’s unsparing assessment of the Lost Cause provides an indispensable contribution to the discussion.” –The Washington Post

"In this fine book Ty Seidule scorches us with the truth and rivets us with his fierce sense of moral urgency. I can't think of a better book to enrich and invigorate our national discussion about race and memory and the troubled legacy of Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy." --Ron Chernow, bestselling author of Hamilton

“Retired Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule’s gripping Robert E. Lee and Me is required reading for those wanting to participate in the conversation concerning Confederate memorialization, the “Lost Cause,” or the troubled history of race in America.” –Army Magazine

“Robert E. Lee and Me is a cri de coeur, one man’s journey to humanity and his salvation from the pernicious lies of white supremacy. Few others could write this book with such sterling credibility. Only a man of the South, a Virginian, and a soldier with a Ph.D. in history could so persuasively mount the case against a national hero, and label him a traitor.” –Washington Independent Review of Books

“Ty Seidule brilliantly and brutally deconstructs [the Lost Cause myth]…an extraordinary book that, by chronicling our darkest American moments, offers hope that we might one day see greater light.” –Los Angeles Review of Books

"A carefully considered and compulsively readable account of the Lost Cause’s rise and resilience." --Civil War Monitor

“Seidule openly confronts his own indifference to racism, and this absorbing book will be of value to anyone interested in how history informs our present.” ―Library Journal (starred review)

“Ruminative and carefully researched....a valiant and well supported effort to bring essential facts to light. This heartfelt history has a worthy message.” –Publishers Weekly

“Seidule doesn’t just knock his boyhood idol off the pedestal. He issues an uncompromising, searing, full-throated indictment of Robert E. Lee as a historically misrepresented figure and denounces the many institutions that have given currency to the 'Lost Cause' mythology through the years.” ―Christian Science Monitor

“A beautiful, often searing meditation on race, history, and the American narrative. Evocative and provocative, Robert E. Lee and Me is honest, wry, and utterly engaging.” ―Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The British are Coming

“This book is a must read. With courage, grace, and humility, Seidule invites us to reexamine our past and challenges us by asking: ‘as a nation, how can we know where are going if we don’t know where we have been?’ This book speaks truth to power and truth in love. Written by a true patriot who clearly loves his country and wants the best for her, Robert E. Lee and Me leads us to a better place as a nation and reminds us all of our founding motto E Pluribus Unum - out of many, one.” ―Mitch Landrieu, bestselling author of In The Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History

“In this profoundly moving memoir distinguished by moral courage and intellectual integrity, Ty Seidule chronicles his agonizing journey of discovery…Everyone interested in the Civil War and its continuing importance in American culture should read this unflinchingly honest book.” ―Professor James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

“General Ty Seidule has written a book for our times, one every American should read. By seamlessly weaving his impressive, and fascinating, autobiographical story into a superb rendering of the pernicious myths surrounding Robert E. Lee and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, he has opened a window into one of the darker elements of our present-day culture, and one that helps explain what has happened in our recent political life as well...a tour de force.” ―Charles B. Dew, Ephraim Williams Professor of American History at Williams College

“Searingly passionate, mercilessly honest, Robert E. Lee and Me is one of the most deeply felt books you are likely to encounter. Not only is it a soldier’s assessment of a military legend, it is an American’s report on the state of the Union...a must read for anyone who has ever thought about the meaning of duty, honor, country.” ―Randy Roberts, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of Blood Brothers

“A timely, powerful, compelling – and courageous – book. In Robert E. Lee and Me, Brigadier General Ty Seidule takes readers on a fascinating intellectual journey...This is a book of enormous importance and tremendous insight, a book that only a true southerner – and a true historian – could have written.” --General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of Coalition Forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan and former Director of the CIA

"A son of the South, a professional soldier, and an accomplished historian, Ty Seidule has written a book that is as timely as it is profound. Nominally centered on dismantling the myths surrounding the Confederacy's most famous field commander, Robert E. Lee and Me does much more, offering a searingly honest reflection on slavery, race, and the imperative of honesty in addressing America's past.” --Professor Andrew Bacevich, bestselling author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

"Soldier and historian Ty Seidule's memoir courageously counters the myths, half-truths, and outright falsehoods about the Confederacy that our institutions perpetuate to this day. It proves both essential and riveting reading." ―John H. Morrow, Jr., Pritzker Prize-winning author and Franklin Professor of History, University of Georgia

“Ty Seidule has written an extraordinary tale of a great change, but unlike most, his is one of intellectual, cultural, and moral transformation....a powerful story of a southern man who confronted the myths of his youth and concluded that there is no room in the United States Army or American society for Lost Cause mythology.” ―Joseph Glatthaar, author of General Lee’s Army and Stephenson Distinguished Professor of History at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

About the Author

Brigadier General TY SEIDULE, U.S. Army (Retired), is the Chamberlain Fellow at Hamilton College and Professor Emeritus of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served in the U.S. Army for more than 35 years, including two decades in the Department of History at West Point. He serves as Vice Chair for the Naming Commission to rename Department of Defense assets that honor Confederates.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08BKJJJG8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press (January 26, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 26, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3496 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #84,057 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #17 in History of the U.S. Confederacy
- #20 in Reconstruction History of the U.S.
- #24 in Historiography (Books)

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4.6 2,349 ratings

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jrrsunvalley

Terrific Book on A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2021

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After taking three college courses on the Civil War, and reading perhaps fifty books on the topic, this book was refreshingly straightforward, even blunt at times. We all know of the horrors caused by the myth of the Lost Cause, but this book gives a military man's point of view, which I found refreshing. Ty Seidule is a retired Brigadier General and Porfessor Emeritus of HIstory at West Point, and decided to write this book because of the lingering negative impact of the deification of General Robert E. Lee by those who cannot acknowledge that Lee committed treason, violated his oath to the US military (which had both educated and employed him for decades),and most importantly, led an army of insurrection that killed thousands of US army personnel. Seidule is a charming author, and his personal travel to self-realization about the pervasive racism in the US is compelling. Coupled with his obvious grasp of military history and strategy, the book gives a new and much needed review of Lee, his slaveholdings, racism, and the tragic consequences of secession and the Civil War. A must read for those interested in our current racial divisiveness, it draws a straight line from the Lost Cause to Jim Crow to today's white supremacy movement. Unlike other reviewers, I think his account is fair, well-researched and painfully honest. If we don't admit to the horrors of our past, we cannot have a better and brighter future, and this book contributes greatly to that possibility.

And - if this topic interests you, or even if you disagree without having ever read the book (as several of the poor reviewers do) - the index and footnotes are marvelous. You could make up your own reading list just from reading the index. I have started reading as many sources as I can, and really appreciate all of the author's scholarship. And, if you want more of this topic, try reading original materials from the era. For example, try reading the Civil War Diary of Mary Chestnut, which was published in the 1980s, and won the Pulitizer Prize for nonfiction. The foreward was written by C. Vann Woodward. Mrs Chestnut is an excellent writer, and was best friends with Jefferson Davis' wife, and her opinions about all the major actors are fascinating. Her husband, Charles Chestnut, was a US Senator who resigned when the Confederacy was formed, and her father-in-law owned 500 slaves. The diary (which covers roughly five years) shows that she recognized the evil of slavery, but could not bear the thought of giving it up because of the comfort it provided to her and her family. She also admits that she discovered that her father-in-law raped dozens of his slaves, fathering many children, who he kept enslaved. She much preferred the society of Washington, but her loyalty was to the Confederacy and her husband, so she stayed and never confronted either her husband or her father about their behavior. There are also many good college courses on the topic. I can recommend any course taught by Professor Eric Foner of Columbia University, or any of the books that he has written. He is acknowledged as the leading expert in the field. Several of his classes can be found on YouTube.

36 people found this helpful

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D T Courtney

Must Read in the Conversation About Race in America

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2022

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There is a sentence at the end of Seidule's book that serves as a succinct summery of its thesis: "Growing up as a white southerner imbued with the Lost Cause myth meant I learned to lie early in life--and never stopped." This is Seidule's great truth: The very foundation of southern culture for all those years since the end of the Civil War has been a lie. The great, noble myth of the Lost Cause was a lie--was always a lie. The truth exposed behind the monuments, the glorification of the Southern Way of Life, the noble warriors who fought heroically to defend their homes against all odds--it was all a screen for white supremacy, Jim Crow, and lynchings. It protected segregation, glorified a veneer of civilized gentility that rested on the ugliness of chattel slavery, and provided an excuse for the suppression of African-Americans for more than another century after slavery ended.

Moreover, the mythology surrounding the heroic image of the "Marble Man," Robert E. Lee, was part of that lie. He did not abandon an honorable career in the U.S. Army because of a sincere and equally honorable requirement to defend his home state in a time of need. No. He resigned his Army commission and broke his oath to support and defend the United States in order to protect and extend slavery. He went to war against the United States. He abandoned the nation that had educated him and gave him the opportunity for career advancement. Then he took up arms against that nation and was personally responsible for making war against his former comrades. He made war against the United States and against its Constitution. A talented warrior, he committed act upon act of treason against the United States through 4 years of warfare, and as a result, he was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers who wore the same Army blue he had once worn. He was a traitor.

This book is required reading for anyone trying to make sense of the ongoing battles over Civil War memorials and monuments. The facts are simple, but their impact is not. The simple truth is that the facts underlying white America's support for the mythology of the Lost Cause has permitted generations of white southerners--of whites in general--to take racism for granted, to hardly notice its presence, and to claim with all sincerity that they are not racists.

Whatever else this book is or is not, it is a powerful journey into history and self-discovery. Love it or hate it, you should not dismiss it. It may be truth as espoused by the convert to a new and unexpected viewpoint. But it is a powerful truth, and it demands sincere consideration.

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Barbara Señora

THE TRUTH -- I hope it is not too late

Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2024

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For those of you who want to understand how the Big Myth led to the Big Lie, this is the book for you. It is written by a man who grew up in the south, even living in towns where lynchings were once common, yet he never knew the Truth about the Civil War. Instead, he grew up revering Robert E. Lee and thought he was the epitome of a southern gentleman. But the author grew up to be a military historian and a military man.
He spent his career working at West Point! So he learns that Robert E. Lee became a traitor to his country -- a secessionist and an insurrectionist. The author patiently walks us through his own growing understanding and along with him, our own understanding grows.

Stephen Bentley

The Rage is Impressive and Refreshing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2024

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The author is a retired USA Brigadier General and his last posting was as Head of the History Department at West Point. He was born and brought up in the Southern States of the USA. His rage at the legend of the "Lost Cause" and his condemnation of the extent to which that Legend has poisoned the Southern USA is startling and refreshing. The Author's rubbishing of the States Rights justification for the Civil War argument is, given his lifetime employment, both effective and surprising. I got the book because I was curious to see what a career teacher and soldier had to say about the Civil War, it's origins and after effects. Suffice to say that the after effects of evils of slavery continue. I hadn't clocked, as a small child, the extent to which the civil rights movement marked the centenary of the war. Even in the UK I was aware of the civil rights/black power movement and Dr King. How effective the book is in debunking the Legend? I think that the book is very effective - but with this reader at least he's singing to the choir. The people who "should" read the book are the one's least likely to.

Malcolm Mcgrath

Great insights into the origins and enduring influence of Confederate mythology

Reviewed in Canada on August 6, 2021

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I am a Canadian with an interest in history, and had always understood slavery as the cause of the civil war. However, until recently I had not been aware of the origins and the enduring influence of 'Lost cause' mythology. The 'lost cause' is a kind of urban legend about the civil war that suggests it was fought by southern gentlemen for things like states rights, as in the movie Gone With the Wind. This book does a great job debunking these myths, explaining their origins and also showing their continuing influence. The author tells his own story as a southern military man brought up on these myths and gradually coming to terms with their falsehood, which makes the book even more interesting.

However, it is a long book with a great deal of detail. This makes it fascinating for an intellectually sympathetic reader like myself, but I am worried that people who most need to read it, would never invest the time. Perhaps the author and publishers could see fit to publishing a condensed version, of the same name, with big print and lots of pictures, laying out the key facts as easy takeaways.

The authors of lost cause mythology were very good at spreading their ideas in terms of easily digestible talking points. My first encounter with it was in a conversation a couple of years ago with a friend who had gone to university in the Alabama. What struck me was that he was not a person particularly interested in history, and yet the basic tenets of the myth rolled off his tongue with such clarity and uniformity. I know he would never take the time to read a book like "Robert e Lee and Me", but I might be able to get him to glance at a condensed version.

2 people found this helpful

D Rossi

A thorough, logical and heartfelt takedown of a racist and the regime he embodied

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2023

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As a British military history student, this book became a gateway for me into becoming fascinated by the Civil War (aka the War of the Slaveholder's Rebellion).

Brig Seidule masters his argument and highlights the shocking circumstances that gave way to the memorialisation of Lee and other CSA traitors, the mere fact that Lee was responsible for the deaths of more US soldiers than anyone in history is proof of his argument in itself.

Can't recommend highly enough

Amazon Customer

The " Lost Cause"

Reviewed in Canada on May 12, 2021

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He tells from a Southerners perspective how his view of Lee and the Confederate cause changed over time. The South lost the Civil War and won the peace through a skillful retelling of the story of the " Lost Cause"

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