Overview
While battlefield parks and memorials erected in town squares and cemeteries have served to commemorate southern valor in the Civil War, Confederate soldiers' homes were actually 'living monuments' to the Lost Cause, housing the very men who made that cause their own. R.B. Rosenburg provides the first account of the establishment and operation of these homes for disabled and indigent southern veterans, which had their heyday between the 1880s and the 1920s.Editorials
Booknews
An in-depth treatment of the institutions for disabled and indigent veterans of the Confederate Army, which had their heyday from the 1880s to the 1920s. Notes the disparity between the high ideals of providing a dignified and comfortable resting place for defeated heroes, and the often harsh discipline and chafing paternalism. Also the homes' entanglement in the politics of self-interest and the exploitation of the Confederate heritage. Includes many old photographs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)From the Publisher
Adroitly melds an analysis of Lost Cause ideology to state politics of the New South and rapidly developing social welfare policy.(Civil War History)
An original and useful analysis of an often overlooked aspect of the sectional conflict: the postwar lives of the men who fought for the Confederacy.
(Register of the Kentucky Historical Society)
In clear, graceful, lucid prose, it illuminates the soldiers' home movement and says much about the Lost Cause, the postwar fortunes of ordinary Confederate veterans, and concepts of social responsibility.
(Southern Humanities Review)
Impressively researched and convincingly argued, Living Monuments makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Lost Cause and the evolution of social welfare policy in the South.
(Gaines M. Foster, Louisiana State University)
Rosenburg shows us how little concrete reward the soldiers of the Confederacy received once the guns stopped and the rush into the future began.
(American Historical Review)