The last battle of the U.S. Civil War was fought in Brownsville, Texas, on May 13, 1865, but the Union’s fight for democracy and racial equity did not end there, as the January 6th insurrection at the nation’s Capitol starkly demonstrated.
In this timely study, historian Jeremi Suri examines how the 19th century conflict did not end with Robert E. Lee’s surrender on the battlefield at Appomattox, but continues to fester and emerge with violence to this day.
Suri probes the competing visions of democracy, race, and freedom that underly our society and worries openly about its prospects as key parts of American political life rot from neglect and misuse — voting rights, the electoral process, unequal representation, Presidential succession.
“Historical ignorance confers power on those who benefit from continuing to keep certain groups down,” Suri argues. “The mighty and insecure cling to ignorance for this reason. That was true in the decades after Appomattox, as it is also true in the early twenty-first century. How else can we explain the popular desire to glorify the past and censor discussion of injustices? How else can we explain the push to tell a whiter history at a time when the country is more diverse than ever before?”
