re: CNN is at it again

The reason I named these 2 books is that they were the most extensively researched I'd read on the topic, using mainly primary Southern sources. The Lost Cause movement is as historically accepted as something can be. In fact, the tenets of the movement still pervade Southern culture. Wilson argues that it was almost a religious movement. There were large meetings with hymns (like Dixie), saints (Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee, etc.), holy days/holidays (Confederate Memorial Day) and near worship of religious relics (items like Jefferson Davis' daughter's Bible were displayed and treated with utmost reverence, even causing grown women to break down and cry upon viewing it). It's fascinating and it almost reached Great Awakening type religious fervor.