Why did James love this book?
What was the Lost Cause? Dilorenzo answers this question from the perspective of a Southerner which is great material for a novel on the Civil War.
The book is fun because Dilorenzo presents his positions with entertaining gusto. He tries hard to convince the reader that the War of Northern Aggression had nothing to do with slavery; the South did not provoke war; the Constitution included a right to secede, the South should have been allowed to leave peacefully; antebellum life in the South was prosperous, dignified, and just; slavery was already dying; Robert E. Lee deserved deification, U. S. Grant deserved vilification, the North deserves condemnation for engaging in total war; and most important, Lincoln was a vile despot.
History is written by victors-except in this case. It was an interesting read.
2 authors picked The Real Lincoln as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
Most Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest president in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom. But what if most everything you knew about Lincoln were false? What if, instead of an American hero who sought to free the slaves, Lincoln were in fact a calculating politician who waged the bloodiest war in american history in order to build an empire that rivaled…