A Southern Writer and the Civil War: The Confederate Imagination of William Gilmore Simms [Paperback]

Historians of the American Civil War have debated a wide range of questions raised by the war and its outcome. None have been more vigorously argued as those surrounding its outcome. One of the leading explanations for Confederate defeat has been the argument that the Civil War South lacked a national identity. Related to and supporting this argument is the contention that the Civil War South failed to produce a distinct and vibrant literary culture. These contentions have been challenged by a growing body of literature which argues that the Civil War South did produce a sense of cultural and national identity. This book adds to this counter current through an examination of the Civil War experiences and writings of the Antebellum South's leading literary figure. Surprisingly, given William Gilmore Simms' well-known status prior to the war, his life and work during the course of the war itself has been understudied. This examination reveals the depth and extent to which Simms not only supported the Confederate war effort but how Simms conceptualized and articulated a vision of Confederate nationalism.Jeffrey J. Rogers is professor of history at Gordon State College.

Rogers' work displays a remarkable knowledge of Simms sources and an appreciation for the historical debates that these sources can inform. Rogers has produced a finely researched and carefully crafted biography that forcefully demonstrates the significance of William Gilmore Simms to the study of the Civil War. South Carolina Historical Magazine

Lexington Books is to be congratulated on publishing an excellent book by Professor Jeffery J. Rogers . . . [This book] is a fine contribution to the extensive writing during 2011 to 2015 in the United States on the Civil War. . . .One can only hope that the new book by Professor Rogers will be followed by more studies of Simms writings during the Civil War. Center for Research on Geopolitics

Jeffery J. Rogers has compiled a lsB