The Myth of Nathan Bedford ForrestIn an era that produced Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest emerged as a legend in his own right--a notorious character of mythic proportions even in his day. In the twenty-first century, his legacy continues to polarize the South: as a symbol of the Lost Cause and hero to working-class Southerners on one hand, and emblem of slavery and lingering racial tensions on the other. In this brisk and lively new book, Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill explore the creation of this relentless Forrest myth. Scrutinizing literature, art, cinema and popular culture over the past 150 years, the authors contend that the legend is a creation of the nation's literature, its obsession with the Civil War, and its press. Enthralling and informative, this book will captivate readers with the enigma that was Nathan Bedford Forrest. |
Contents
DREAMS OF GLORY | 1 |
A FUTURE FORETOLD | 3 |
A RIVER OF BLOOD | 29 |
THE COUNTRY OF THE DAMNED | 53 |
MYTHMAKERS | 69 |
FORREST AND THE PRESS | 71 |
MONKEYS AND MANIFESTOES | 103 |
HYDRA AND HERACLES | 125 |
No PEACE IN TENNESSEE | 173 |
ONLY THE DEAD CAN RIDE | 175 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 199 |
INDEX | 209 |
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Agee Agrarians Allen Tate American Andrew Lytle army attack Baton Rouge battle biography Bragg captured Carolina Caroline Gordon character charge Chattanooga Chickamauga Colonel command Confederacy Confederate Critter Company culture Davis defending Donald Davidson Eckenrode Federal fiction fight forces Forrest Gump Forrest Myth general's Henry Heracles hero historians Hood horse Hurst Ibid Jackson James James Agee John Jordan and Pryor July 13 Ken Burns's killed Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan later legacy legend Lost Cause Lytle's March Marshall McLuhan massacre McLuhan Memphis Commercial Appeal Memphis Daily Appeal military Mississippi Murfreesboro mythic Nashville Nathan Bedford Forrest newspaper North Northern novel officers Pillow published racism raid raider railroad Rebel reports reprint River Robert Rommel Scopes trial Shelby Foote Sherman Shiloh slave Southern Southern Agrarians Speigner story surrender symbol Tate Tennessean Tennessee Thomas tion troops University Press William Faulkner wounded writing wrote Wyeth York