“The war’s relics were real and tangible — I still have a few on my desk as I write — and so were the war’s perennial and tragic consequences.”
Interesting that Meacham can write that yet fail to see that remembering the perennial and tragic consequences of the Civil War is the very reason memorials and statues should remain. Secession, the Confederacy, and Civil War wrought disaster on the South for generations. When I see a statue of Robert E. Lee, I am reminded of how even good men can squander their talents and lives on a bad cause. Those who want to get all wee-weed up about CW2 should contemplate the ashes of their desire.