Coski’s book is not just about recent debates over the flag. Is there any icon of the American past more beloved and at the same time reviled than the star-studded diagonal blue cross against a red background?… Mr. Coski calls that very familiar symbol of the Old South ‘America’s most embattled emblem’ and he is no doubt right. “In his richly detailed book The Confederate Battle Flag, John M. ” -Theo Lippman, Jr., The Savannah Morning News “Whether you love or hate the flag, after reading Coski you will love it or hate it in a different way. Coski’s meticulously researched book boils down to a simple truth: the Confederate flag means different things to different people. Coski’s book is ultimately worth reading. Coski chronicles the rich history of the so-called second American flag… along a plethora of surprising stories, anecdotes, economic statistics, and editorial quotations regarding the flag. ” -Joseph Crespino, The Washington Post Book World He shows that the history of the flag is simply too complicated for anybody to reach such simplistic conclusions… The depth and breadth of his research give his book real authority, and future disputants on both sides will have to reckon with his clear, reliable conclusions. Coski takes the story forward from there, but his most important contribution is his recounting of the tumultuous story of the flag in the second half of the 20th century, when the civil rights movement emerged, setting loose a variety of groups that made competing claims over the meaning of the flag-and the meaning of the war… Coski’s book will speak to the flag’s opponents as well as its defenders, but his most inspired message is aimed at those cheerleaders who insist that the flag has one, unchanging, fundamentally benign meaning. The battle flag, though not the official banner of the Confederacy, emerged over the course of the war as the sentimental favorite among Confederate soldiers and civilians alike. In his important new book, The Confederate Battle Flag, John M. “No symbol in the past few decades has been more divisive than the Confederate battle flag. But if you have Coski’s book under your arm, you might be able to turn the debate into something more than just finger-pointing. Bring up the subject of the flag and then stand back. “If you’d like to dazzle your friends at the next cookout with what you know about the much-misunderstood Confederate flag, Coski’s book is for you… Go ahead. ” -Diane McWhorter, The New York Times Book Review Coski’s history, The Confederate Battle Flag, brings some needed rationality to a debate driven by the raw emotion of soul injury.
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