Confederate Exceptionalism: Civil War Myth and Memory in the Twenty-First Century by Nicole Maurantonio (review)

As monuments to the Lost Cause of the defeated Confederacy have come under increasing criticism, it is easy to think of them as antiquated—out of time and out of place. Crafted in stone and bronze, topped by mythological figures, and bedecked with opaque symbols, the monuments perhaps conveyed their meanings more readily to nineteenth-century Americans schooled in the classics. In Confederate Exceptionalism: Civil War Myth and Memory in the Twenty-First Century, however, Nicole Maurantonio reveals that the Lost Cause is far from obsolete. Not only do its defenders work to preserve the memorials constructed by their forebears, but also they have rebranded the Lost Cause for the new millennium.

In order to understand how fundamentally inaccurate interpretations of Confederate history have gained widespread acceptance, Maurantonio examines the appeal of "Confederate exceptionalism"—a melding of the Lost Cause memory of the Civil War and the ideology of American exceptionalism (p. 2). By employing this framework, Maurantonio argues, neo-Confederates have normalized the Confederacy and invited others to empathize with its history. By adopting a neoliberal posture of race-blindness and refusing to acknowledge the inherent racism of the Confederacy, they depict themselves as the inheritors of the most accurate knowledge about the Confederacy and as the victims of political correctness and historical revisionism.

According to Maurantonio, the precepts of Confederate exceptionalism are best exemplified through an analysis of what she calls the "neo-Confederate museum" of Virginia (p. 15). This is not a brick-and-mortar museum but instead a dynamic assortment of cultural artifacts, individuals, and elements of the built environment, all carefully curated to perpetuate Confederate exceptionalism. In particular, Maurantonio examines the role of music, relics, living historians, cookbooks, Richmond's Monument Avenue, and the "Digital Confederacy" in reinforcing Confederate exceptionalism in Virginia (p. 18). For example, Maurantonio argues that General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's taxidermied mount Little Sorrel, housed at the Virginia Military Institute, acts as a "sacred relic," inspiring reverence for the martyred general and his Lost Cause by encouraging admiration for his beloved horse (p. 47). In one particularly compelling chapter, Maurantonio introduces her readers to the digital Confederacy—the latest installation in the neo-Confederate museum. In this digital realm, neo-Confederates promote their agenda not by invoking classical mythology but by proliferating memes associating Confederates with the heroic rebels of the Star Wars saga or with the superheroes of Marvel Comics's Avengers. Maurantonio demonstrates that the cultural touchstones of Confederate exceptionalism have changed over the decades, but its message—one that reifies Confederates and erases their racism—remains the same.

Maurantonio's unique approach to the study of Civil War memory and her strong authorial voice make for an engaging read. As a self-identified northerner living in Richmond, Maurantonio writes Confederate Exceptionalism to understand this titular phenomenon both as an inhabitant of the neo-Confederate museum and as a scholar. This perspective lends her work a journalistic flair, not unlike that of the beloved book Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from America's Unfinished Civil War (New York, 1998) by Tony Horwitz. Maurantonio, however, does not sacrifice scholarship for readability. She successfully incorporates the historiography of Civil War memory while condensing complex theories about memory, identity, politics, race, and place into what is ultimately an informed, entertaining, and relevant work. This book is a timely reminder that Confederate exceptionalism is not a passé philosophy that can be dismantled along with its memorials; rather, it is an active movement in the process of extending its influence. As a consequence, Maurantonio suggests, Confederate exceptionalism will not be easily corrected.