Colors and Blood: Flag Passions of the Confederate South Paperback - 2004

First line

HASH(0x11150470)

From the rear cover

"Bonner offers an intriguing perspective on Confederate nationalism as well as a broader meditation on the meanings and uses of patriotism. Bonner's book provides valuable new historical context for the Confederate flag controversies of our own time."--Drew Gilpin Faust, author of Creation of Confederate Nationalism and Mothers of Invention

"This book describes more than the story of a flag, but the origins of a flag culture in the Confederacy. Bonner presents how southern separatists created symbols of resistance and then of national unity. This is the best study to date not only of the creation of the flags but also of their representation of an inner struggle of a people to define themselves, the meaning of the war, and their nation. Anyone who wants to gain an understanding of the complicated ways in which past and present intersect will want to consult this insightful study."--William Blair, The Pennsylvania State University

"Robert Bonner's Colors and Blood is an engaging, perceptive, and thought-provoking study of the Confederacy's flags and what they meant to the men and women who pledged allegiance to them from 1861 to 1865. Bonner brings to light in a most creative way one of the crucial but neglected aspects of the Rebel nation's culture, and in doing so provides valuable perspective on one of today's most contentious issues."--Stephen V. Ash, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

"The Confederate battle flag has been at the center of heated debates about the meaning of secession and the Confederacy, the changing uses of symbols in the South, and the continuing volatility of race in the United States. This perceptive and persuasive study explores how Confederate flags took on enormous emotional and political significance during the Civil War, as well as how Lost Cause advocates later used the banner to promote their vision of a gallant white South battling against the odds. Anyone interested in the cultural importance of flags, debates about the degree to which white southerners developed a sense of Confederate nationalism, and a range of other important topics will turn to this book with great profit."--Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War and Lee and His Army in Confederate History