ePub Tara Revisited: Women; War; the Plantation Legend by Catherine Clinton in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Well-Written and Eclectic Work of HistoryBy Stan PragerThere was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton fields called the Old South … here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair; of Master and of Slave . . . Look for it only in books for it is no more than a dream remembered . . . A Civilization gone with the wind . . .The preceding is the title card screen prologue to a 1939 epic film that was so tightly woven into the fabric of popular culture that no American of my generation; or the two generations that preceded it; could be unfamiliar with it. Its musical score was as imprinted upon our DNA as were any number of snippets of dialog; such as the frightened slave Prissy screeching "De Yankees is comin!;" the antihero Rhett Butler uttering the scornful retort; “Frankly; my dear; I don’t give a damn;” and the manipulative vixen Scarlett herself; in the final scene; voicing an irrepressible optimism with “Tara! Home. I'll go home . . . After all ... tomorrow is another day.” Tara. That was the storybook plantation home of Scarlett O’Hara; the locus for the romantic legend in the novel by Margaret Mitchell and its movie adaptation; that title card writ large in an imaginary dimension where gallant giants walked the earth and dutiful slaves like Mammy and Prissy lived in terror of invading Yankees instead of in gleeful anticipation of fleeing to freedom in their lines. And much more than a classic movie; Gone with the Wind served as the most successful paean to the myth of the “Lost Cause” since Birth of a Nation; with less malevolence and a much larger and more enduring audience.In her highly original; thought-provocative study; Tara Revisited: Women; War The Plantation Legend; Catherine Clinton walks back from the Tara of that iconic spectacle to its historical roots in an antebellum era erased by war that then spawned a revisionism that has not only stubbornly persisted but has seen a disturbing late renaissance as a similarly fanciful emergent heritage claimed by present-day right-wingers wrapped in Confederate flags. The current generation of the latter not only promote the justice of rebellion; but even imagine tens of thousands of African-Americans garbed in gray and willingly wielding carbines to defend the Confederacy!The scholarly consensus is that a narrow slice of elite planters committed to an expansion of slavery brought on the secession crisis and subsequent Civil War that resulted in the deaths of more than six hundred thousand Americans. The north at first put men at arms only to preserve the union; although emancipation later became a war aim. The south lost the war but in some sense won the peace. As Reconstruction gave way to “Redemption;” former Confederates regained control of the south and the freed African-Americans – who had enjoyed a brief period of near equal protection under the law – were terrorized; murdered and reduced to a second class status that persisted into the 1960s and beyond. The defeated promulgated a myth of the “Lost Cause” that rewrote history to claim that the conflict was about states’ rights rather than slavery; focused upon the depredations of Northern carpetbaggers; and especially upon the imagined threats of black men preying upon helpless white women. The “Lost Cause” was the creation mythology of this post-war south; and its vast success can be measured by the fact that its tissue of lies managed to convert much of the north in the decades to come; as reconciliation turned into a universal goal and the institutionalized abuse of African-Americans was rarely even acknowledged.In Tara Revisited; Clinton focuses upon the plantation legend that is integral to central elements of the “Lost Cause” myth and turns it on its head. While she acknowledges there were indeed women like Scarlett O’Hara from families of extreme wealth who lived on large plantations with many slaves and busied themselves with social dalliances; her cohort comprised the tiniest minority of antebellum southern women. In fact; plantation life typically meant hard work and much responsibility even for affluent women. More critically; three-quarters of southerners owned no slaves at all and nearly ninety per cent of the remainder owned twenty or fewer. Plantations like Tara probably accounted for less than ten percent of the total; which is why its persistence in Lost Cause plantation legend is so notable. As such; Clinton takes us on a tour of the real antebellum south and the real white women who inhabited it: typically wives and daughters with no slaves who had very modest means; deprived of husbands and fathers away at war while they struggled to survive. Some worked in manufacturing to support the war effort; some volunteered to care for the wounded; some served as spies – for both sides – but most focused simply on keeping themselves and their families alive in a time of little food and great deprivation. She also reveals those who are often invisible to history; enslaved African-American women who lived hand-to-mouth in lean and dangerous times; most of whom were unable to escape to Union lines yet eagerly anticipated a northern victory that would ensure their liberation. Masters tried to instill fear in their slaves about the coming blue marauders; but most blacks saw right through this; if there was a cry of "De Yankees is comin!” it was more likely to be in celebration than distress.Clinton also traces the growth of the legend of “rose colored plantation life” from its roots in a kind of forbidden literary tradition dubbed “Confederate porn” (p203-04) that glorified whites while demeaning blacks; to its central public role within Lost Cause theology from Birth of a Nation to Gone with the Wind and beyond. The living breathing cheerleaders of this fantasy are the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC); an organization founded in 1894 to celebrate Confederate culture that continues to thrive today. It is no coincidence that there was both a rebirth of the Lost Cause and a resurgence of Confederate heritage during the Dixiecrat resistance to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The controversial Stars Bars that was recently removed from the South Carolina statehouse was only first raised in 1962 by the then governor to protest desegregation. Since 1965; the UDC has coordinated an annual “Massing of the Flag” ceremony in Richmond on Jefferson Davis’s birthday in which the participants pledge “I salute the Confederate flag; with affection; reverence and undying remembrance.” [p186] There is of course for us in 2016 something both disturbing and surreal about this event; which seems to lionize the forces of rebellion while dishonoring the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in blue who died to preserve the United States; not to mention the millions of African-Americans who were first enslaved beneath this flag and then terrorized and degraded by it for a century afterward.Catherine Clinton; who is currently the Denman Professor of American History at the University of Texas at San Antonio; has a long resume as a historian that goes back to the PhD from Princeton that she earned with the completion of her dissertation under the direction of eminent Civil War scholar James M. McPherson. She wrote Tara Revisited in 1995; and I cannot help but wonder if she is at all surprised by yet another generational resurgence of the “Lost Cause” as an element of contemporary right-wing politics.I recently screened Gone with the Wind on DVD. In retrospect; it is not really a very good film and it does not stand up well over time; the acting is often histrionic; the dialogue overwrought. It is dwarfed by other notable films of the same era. Unlike those of my generation; most millennials have probably never seen it. Yet; there remains a stubborn resilience in the notion of Tara; as underscored by the ongoing popularity of pilgrimage weeks in the south; “in which plantations recreate the Old South with costumes and other trappings;” and; as the author articulately observes; “in many ways embalm a departed south that perhaps never lived outside Confederate imaginations.” [p187] As such; the central theme of this well-written and eclectic work retains its relevance today. I highly recommend it.5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Brilliant Scholar Puts Revisionism Through the ShredderBy SeattleBookMamaFirst of all; if you are planning to visit Georgia with your family; don’t ask the tourist bureau to help you find Tara! It isn’t there. Neither is Scarlett or Mammy. They’re all fictional.Thank you; I feel much better having cleared the air. But nobody can make it clearer than author Catherine Clinton; who bursts the myth of the antebellum belle and her loyal house-slaves better with greater heat and light than I have ever seen done by any one historian before. In a time of increasing apology and revisionism that makes the American Civil War seem to have been merely a dreadful misunderstanding; and that decreases the social and material weight of the slaves it freed; Clinton’s historical smack back to reality makes me want to stand up and cheer!Clinton focuses primarily on Southern women; but she takes just about all of the myths of the “Lost Cause” and puts them through the shredder; introducing them and their origins; and in a manner meticulous but never; ever dull; demonstrates why each of them is incorrect. She doesn’t pussyfoot or hesitate to call bigotry by its name; but the tone is of the compelling storyteller rather than that of the lecturer. In a day when Caucasian Americans sometimes carelessly discard the complaints of people of color as “playing the race card” without first examining to see whether it has in fact been called out righteously; this succinct yet thorough narrative is refreshing; as if someone has opened the windows and let some of the cobwebs sweep away.Clinton uses the voices of Southern women; both Caucasian and Black; and recognizes that there is a dearth of the latter; but she has turned over every possible rock and ferreted out every last resource in the back stacks of government libraries dating clear back to the WPA to access what is available. She also quotes Mary Chesnut; a Caucasian Southerner whose diary is a mainstay of Civil War historians; enough and in enough interesting ways to make me want to go dig up my own copy; which bored me to tears the first two times I tried to slog through it. Filtered through Clinton’s prose; it is a lively and interesting vantage point. And she quotes WEB DuBois; one of my greatest heroes.There is one area where most US historians dislike to tread (or are perhaps unaware); and I read on with interest (this being the field in which I taught for many years) to see whether she would go there. She did. Not many American historians can bring themselves to discuss the deepest Southern shame (and by extension; America’s for having accommodated it so long) of slave breeding; a practice done in no other part of the world. In a time in which slavery was dying out across Europe; US border states; which had difficulty growing crops year ‘round to sustain the (minimal but still existent) expenses incurred by slaves; had turned to trafficking in human flesh; going so far as to select who should sleep with whom out in the quarters so that they would have the best possible product to sell once the progeny was born and weaned. Clinton does not use the word “breeding”; but she does describe it accurately.She also points out that actually; most white Southern women did not lead the lives of idle privilege that the cinema would have us believe; though their lives were many times better than that of slaves; they had a large household to manage without the labor saving devices technology would bring. And of course; most white households were not those of planters. She discusses the various social crumbs that were dropped for less affluent whites by the aristocracy in order to keep them from crossing the color line in solidarity with other toilers.I usually must abbreviate my reviews for fear I will give away all the meaty parts of a book and leave the reader no real purpose in checking it out personally. There is no danger of that here. This narrative is so deftly and expertly crafted that I found myself bookmarking more than half of its pages; because so many had a salient fact; interesting quote; or well-turned interpretation. I constantly found myself thinking; “Yes!”When Clinton mentioned the Southern fear of “miscegenation”; or racial intermarriage; this reviewer could not help a small intake of breath; given that in other times; I would be deemed guilty and my husband would likely be dead.If you have any interest whatsoever in the American Civil War; you need this book. If women’s history is of interest to you; get this book.If you care about issues of race in the United States; there are two recently published books that should adorn your shelves and be next-read if you have not done so: this book is one; and Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns. In a sense; Wilkerson picks up where (chronologically) Clinton leaves off. And if you have already read Wilkerson; you still need to read Clinton.What are you waiting for? Get out your credit card and order the book. You won’t be sorry.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Loved the personal acoounts/picturesBy Naomi B.Synopsis: Ms. Clinton discusses the myth of the pre-Civil War Plantation and the role of women; including female slaves; in running the "farms" during the active fighting years. First hand accounts and photos are present through out the book.My rating: 4 StarsMy opinion: Although I knew the better chunk of this information already; I loved the first hand accounts and the plentiful pictures the author provided to supplement this well researched book. I love putting a face/name of the Civil War. I have already read several hundred books on the Civil War. This book would be awesome to show the strength of women during this period of time instead of only focusing on Rosy the Riveter from WWII.Source: Netgalley for Abbeville PressWould I recommend? : Already have to Civil War/women's issues enthusiasts like myselfStand Alone or Part of a Series: Stand Alone