“It’s not the book. “
The subject of the thread is Thomas Fleming’s book. It’s why I bothered to post it in the first place. I’ve mentioned this book many times and some people will find it interesting.
“It’s the constant rehashing of the entire thing. On and on and on”
There’s never been a thread about his book other than this one. And as his title indicates he is offering “A New Understanding” and not “Another Rehashing”
“(You might want to work on your “old man on the porch” attitude. People might think you are a pompous ass.)”
You were the one bitching at me for having posted the thread as if you are being forced to read it. I was minding my own business. Someone here may be acting like an ass, it’s just not me.
One of the most revealing statements from the book is this:
"The question becomes even more perplexing when we consider another startling fact. Only 316,632 Southerners owned slaves – a mere 6 percent of the total white population of 5,582,322. These figures become doubly baffling when a further analysis reveals only 46,214 of these masters owned 50 or more slaves, entitling them to the aristocratic-sounding term, "planter." Why did the vast majority of the white population unite behind these slaveholders in this fratricidal war? Why did they sacrifice over 300,000 of their sons to preserve an institution in which they apparently had no personal stake? "
[Thomas J. Fleming, "A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War." De Capo Press, 2013, Preface]
Perhaps the war was not so much about slavery, but rather about not wanting to be ruled [that is, "programmed"] by a bunch of progressive busybodies. Frankly, I cannot find a dimes worth of difference between the modern "progressive" busybodies, and the Yankee busybodies of the antebellum North.
Mr. Kalamata