{"product_id":"the-dissenting-south-jim-stovall-9798233156922","title":"The Dissenting South","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor more than 150 years, Americans have been told a simple story about the Civil War: that the South rose as one to defend its land, its people, and its way of life.\u003cbr\u003eThat story is a myth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Dissenting South: Southern Opposition to the Confederacy Before and During the Civil War\u003c\/strong\u003e reveals a very different reality-a South divided against itself. In every Confederate state, men and women refused to go along with secession. They denounced rebellion, defied local authorities, and in many cases fought shoulder to shoulder with Union forces. Their courage was remarkable, their suffering immense, and their memory nearly erased.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistorian \u003cstrong\u003eJim Stovall\u003c\/strong\u003e brings to life these forgotten Southerners-politicians, preachers, immigrants, farmers, and soldiers-whose loyalty to the United States never wavered even as their neighbors turned against them.\u003cbr\u003eReaders will meet: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAndrew Johnson\u003c\/strong\u003e, the self-taught Tennessee tailor who stood alone in the U.S. Senate to defend the Union and later became Lincoln's vice president.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilliam G. \"Parson\" Brownlow\u003c\/strong\u003e, the fiery newspaper editor who mocked Confederate leaders until his arrest and exile.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe mountain Unionists\u003c\/strong\u003e of East Tennessee, western North Carolina, and north Alabama, who formed guerrilla bands and plotted to create their own \"Union state.\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe German settlers\u003c\/strong\u003e of Texas Hill Country, whose anti-slavery beliefs led to tragedy in the 1862 Nueces Massacre.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNewton Knight\u003c\/strong\u003e and the \"Free State of Jones\" in Mississippi, where deserters and escaped slaves defied Confederate control and declared their independence.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe 100,000 white Southerners\u003c\/strong\u003e who wore Union blue, fighting not against their country but for it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough their stories, \u003cem\u003eThe Dissenting South\u003c\/em\u003e exposes the deep fissures that ran through the Confederacy-regional, economic, and moral-and shows how the planter elite's grip on Southern politics and identity was never complete. For every plantation loyalist, there was a small farmer who saw no reason to die for slavery. For every Confederate recruiter, there was a Union spy, a hidden sympathizer, or a mother sheltering her sons from the draft.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut this story is not only about courage; it is also about memory.\u003cbr\u003eAfter the war, Confederate apologists rewrote history. The so-called \u003cstrong\u003eLost Cause\u003c\/strong\u003e turned defeat into nobility, slavery into benevolence, and rebellion into righteousness. Organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans built monuments, rewrote textbooks, and silenced dissenting voices. The Southern Unionists-those who had fought for the United States-were vilified as traitors and largely forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJim Stovall's book restores their place in the American story.\u003cbr\u003eIt challenges readers to look again at what it meant to be loyal, patriotic, and Southern during the nation's greatest crisis.\u003cbr\u003eIt reminds us that opposition to injustice often comes from within-and that dissent, far from being betrayal, can be the highest form of fidelity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeeply researched and powerfully written, \u003cem\u003eThe Dissenting South\u003c\/em\u003e is both a work of history and a moral reckoning. It confronts the myths that have shaped our national memory and honors those who refused to surrender their conscience to the Confederacy. Their struggle, once hidden in shadows, now takes its rightful place at the center of the Civil War story-a story not of uniform rebellion, but of contested loyalties, moral courage, and the enduring fight over what kind of nation America would become. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJim Stovall\u003c\/strong\u003e is an author of numerous works on American history and media. His website is \u003cstrong\u003ewww.jprof.com.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jim Stovall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798233156922\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Jim Stovall\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/29\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 230\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.51lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.52d","brand":"Jim Stovall","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48520323924223,"sku":"9798233156922","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_1e87bb2c-b8fa-490c-8d13-1fe252b94334.jpg?v=1778742078","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-dissenting-south-jim-stovall-9798233156922","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}