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Article: Normans and Saxons: Southern Race Mythology and the Intellectual History of the American Civil War
- Article from:
- The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Virginia Historical Society 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Normans and Saxons: Southern Race Mythology and the Intellectual History of the American Civil War * Ritchie Devon Watson, Jr. * Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009 * x, 286 pp. * $40.00
Ritchie Devon Watson, Jr., uses periodicals, literature, poetry, and speeches to study the rise and fall of Norman racial fantasies and their southern advocates during the Civil War era. As sectionalism increased during the 185Os, southerners used two racial theories to defend their region. They employed white supremacy to justify slavery and answer abolitionism, and they fabricated Norman racial mythology to elevate themselves over northerners and counter charges of southern barbarity. This ...