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Article: The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Journal of Southern History
- Article date:
- February 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Southern Historical Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been. By Roger L. Ransom. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005. Pp. [xvi], 352. Paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-0-393-32911-7; cloth, $25.95, ISBN 978-0-393-05967-0.)
No sooner had the Civil War ended than disillusioned ex-Confederates insisted that its outcome could have been altered by the slightest and most innocent detours. Subsequent generations of scholars and novelists agreed. The war became fertile ground for what we now call counterfactual history. Roger L. Ransom's fascination with "what might have happened" (p. xii) began as a youth, when he read Ward Moore's novel Bring the Jubilee (New York, 1953). ...