Just published – The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil
War! This is a worthy addition to the Politically Incorrect
Guides. I’ve previously reviewed the Politically Incorrect Guide
to Western Civilization, and the Politically Incorrect Guide to
English and American Literature. First, a few caveats. Neither
the book (nor this post) is an apology for or a defense of
slavery. I believe slavery to have been a great moral evil – and
I wish it had been ended in this country earlier and with less
bloodshed. But there is much more to the Civil War than simply
the question of whether slavery was evil and should be
abolished. Crocker deals directly with the topic of slavery
early in the book in a 12-page essay in answer to the question,
“Was the war really all about slavery?” The first sentence of
his answer is, “In the sense that the South was defined by
slavery, yes.” He then proceeds to qualify that answer and show
that the issue is far more complex than the politically correct
answer. As an example, he quotes