No hidden agenda at all. And I say that because, what I am reading pulls together bits and pieces I came across in my research. Which, the reasoning for only finding bits and pieces, was mostly due to the shame of such a thing occurring to the women. My mother and grandmother never spoke of these atrocities to me, and I definitely sensed there was shame involved(me doth thinks they protested too much). Didn't know why, until reading it all for myself. There is just the tone of being fed up with all the propaganda that the South was nothing more than dirt to be stepped on, and so they so very much deserved all they got when daring to be so arrogant as to fight the North...
I congratulate you on your perception. I agree that there is no hidden agenda in any of the books from the Kennedy brothers. Their agenda is clear and their pro-southron bias is obvious.