Confederate Minds: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South

by Michael T. Bernath

Overview

During the Civil War, some Confederates sought to prove the distinctiveness of the southern people and to legitimate their desire for a separate national existence through the creation of a uniquely southern literature and culture. Michael Bernath follows the activities of a group of southern writers, thinkers, editors, publishers, educators, and ministers—whom he labels Confederate cultural nationalists—in order to trace the rise and fall of a cultural movement dedicated to liberating the South from its longtime dependence on Northern books, periodicals, and teachers. By analyzing the motives driving the struggle for Confederate intellectual independence, by charting its wartime accomplishments, and by assessing its failures, Bernath makes provocative arguments about the nature of Confederate nationalism, life within the Confederacy, and the perception of southern cultural distinctiveness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469607283
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Series:	Civil War America
Edition description:	1
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Michael T. Bernath is Charlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor in American History at the University of Miami.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Part I Now Is the Time

Chapter 1 An Intellectual Call to Arms 13

Chapter 2 The Confederate Critique of Northern Culture 35

Part II We, as a Nation, Spring into Existence: 1861-1862

Chapter 3 The Birth of Confederate Literature 79

Chapter 4 The Campaign for Confederate Educational Independence 119

Part III A Stride without Parallel in the Progress of National Intellect: 1862-1864

Chapter 5 The High-Water Mark 151

Chapter 6 Searching for a Confederate "Literature of Power" 211

Part IV Are We a Highly Civilized People?: 1864-1865

Chapter 7 Are We a Highly Civilized People? 249

Conclusion Independent in Nothing-Neutral in Everything 283

Notes 301

Bibliography 353

Index 399

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A very clear and forcefully argued treatment of the drive for cultural independence in the Confederacy. It is based on exhaustive study of periodicals, pamphlets, and all kinds of printed matter produced during the Civil War. A most original and significant contribution to southern intellectual history and to the history of the Confederacy.—George C. Rable, author of Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!

This carefully and exhaustively researched book brings into sharp focus the sheer number—and the sheer persistence—of editors and educators who sought to create an intellectual culture in the South. Bernath's admirable study corrects anyone who thinks that wartime turmoil shut down the full-throated cry of antebellum Southern partisanship.—Steven Stowe, author of Doctoring the South: Southern Physicians and Everyday Medicine in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Editorial Reviews

This valuable work finally puts to rest the notion that the Confederacy was an intellectual wasteland and that Confederates had nothing to say aside from their rebel yell.—Journal of American History

Provides meaningful insight into an understudied aspect of the Confederate experience. . . . An excellent book that deserves wide readership.—Civil War Book Review

A remarkable array of evidence.—Journal of Southern History

Highly recommended.—Choice

[Confederate Minds] is well written, amply researched and tightly argued. For those interested in the attempted development of a distinct Confederate culture, this book is a welcome contribution.—Civil War News

A solid first book. . . . His discussion of how the Confederacy's intellectual class lamented their lack of original contributions is superb.—Virginia Magazine

Thanks to Bernath's study, the soil now is rich for future research into the Civil War's complex intellectual history. Scholars of the Civil War, southern history, and American intellectual history should be grateful for this fine contribution to the field.—West Virginia History

Deeply researched and gracefully written. . . . [An] excellent study.—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

It is stimulating and opening an area of the war that we do not often see. . . . A detailed look at the home front in an essential industry and the development of a nation.—TOCWOC

Make[s] provocative arguments about the nature of Confederate nationalism, life with the Confederacy, and the perception of cultural distinctiveness.—The Courier

From the Publisher