White Lies

"I grew up in New York State, primarily, and I live in New England, specifically Connecticut, where we have our particular perspective on the Civil War , from the Union perspective. I’ve always known that there were other perspectives, but I hadn’t really understood how the South shaped different perspectives on the Civil War. Ann Bausum does a phenomenal job of highlighting each of what she presents as the lies. “Slavery was a compassionate institution” is one of them, or “reconstruction was a failure”. Lie 10, “The American Civil War was a war between the states”, is even a question on standardised tests. She has taken and documented each of these lies and provided the context. This is a book that I think benefits from being read chronologically, but it also could be very helpful to have young people dip in and out to elaborate on what they might be studying in school. It’s absolutely phenomenal for anybody who wants to understand the history of the United States and how the United States came to where it is today. I think it is positively essential reading. But even though this book is very much a United States book, it clearly has lessons to be learned for how we frame any conflict between two groups. Well, I think the truth of the matter is that so often, once people develop an opinion they aren’t willing to change it. What’s so different for me with this is, if I had been brought up in Florida, Texas, Mississippi or Alabama, the history text would have presented a very different version of the Civil War. In fact, the major publishers have admitted for decades that there are different versions of the same textbooks that are used in the South and the North. What is so fascinating about this is Ann Bausum, as a Southerner, did her due diligence to look at how things had been presented, and what the data really said. It is a perfect example of how the narrative is impacted by what you pick and choose. I think that she moves towards balance, and she leaves a lot of room for the reader to interpret. There are some photographs or drawings, but for the most part it is pretty dense. The chapter headings and information are just phenomenal, and the sourcing is meticulous. It is one of the most adult-like bibliographies I’ve seen in a YA book in years. A highly able 12 year old could read it, or the kid who’s gone around to some Civil War sites or has a foundational understanding of the Civil War or some of the facts of the timeline. Speaking of the timeline, what’s interesting is the timeline in this book goes all the way up to the present day. I have a confession that I hadn’t thought about before, which is that I’ve read previous works by all five of these book creators, and had positive experiences with all of them. This is often how I develop trust for an author or interest in a topic. And with all of these books, I think a conversation with another reader would really be fascinating."