It's remarkable in both approach and insight. To start with, she breaks things up by era--going from Reconstruction, the 20th century, to recent times. That helps you understand the now, in an odd way, as you get an understanding of how excuses about removing Confederate monuments have been built on the stupidity of the past. These people are literally putting these criminals up on a pedestal. She's does a great job of condensing the history, and also articulating some things that we should've been taught. I think one interview towards the end could've been elaborated on, but that's a minor complaint. Highly recommended. ( )

This book was a fantastic look at the rise of Confederate memorials and the more modern attempts to relocate them. For anyone interested in the controversy, this is a must read. I almost wish it was longer.

The final paragraph of the book sums up everything succinctly:

"What Harvey Gantt described to me in August 2020 helps explain why there is no common ground in the debate over Confederate monuments. In the simplest of terms, it's about competing versions of history. One is based in fact and the centrality of slavery to the Civil War and of white supremacy in the building of monuments. The other is based on a fabricated account of a battle over states' rights, stripped of the ugliness of slavery, which massages the truth as a means of dealing with Confederate defeat and regards monuments as honoring a just cause and virtuous heritage. For more than 150 years, this erroneous version of the past has dominated the culture of the South, but as the removal of monuments since 2015 suggests, the Lost Cause's days may be numbered. And with that, perhaps, there is common ground ahead." ( )

A solid history of racism, white supremacy, and the racial justice movement, as viewed through the lens of public monuments and symbols, such as confederate monuments, memorials, and flags. This is a good companion piece to [b:Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause|53138120|Robert E. Lee and Me A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause|Ty Seidule|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603739375l/53138120._SY75_.jpg|79888622], another book that examines the mythology and iconography behind the Confederate legacy. ( )