Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2022
Neither book nor review will pass “woke” muster. Too many facts, too much honesty, too much unvarnished history. The academy has long since reduced ALL history to a polemic of race class and gender, malignant with modernism, minimalism, post structuralism and, well, academic incest. Nor is this written in the obtuse, tortured lexicon of the self-important who “posit” and engage in “argumentation”. No, this is written by a very bright guy, who has asked inconvenient questions and balked at the politically correct catechism that is neither historic nor true.
“Facts are stubborn things” wrote the yankee forefather John Adams. He was right, and so is Gantt. This is written in plain, accessible language, intentionally to reveal those facts without the baggage of academic blather. He names names, places, specifics. Slavery has existed since the beginning of time. Africans captured Africans, sub-Saharans acted as brokers and Yankees grew fabulously wealthy on the trade.
Northern states asserted the right of secession, as did even Lincoln. The Constitution does NOT preclude separation and coercion was expressly criticized by both Jefferson and Madison. Lincoln actually WANTED this war, explained chapter and verse in detail.
If you cherish your PC echo chamber you will hate this book, maybe even write a review criticizing, without reading it of course. But the facts laid out, with the weight, clarity and incontrovertible evidence here trumps your little comic book catechism. Read, challenge, verify, try to refute if you are a real intellectual. Bet you can’t!
