The American Civil War in British Culture : Representations and Responses, 1870 to the Present

This book explores the continuous British fascination with the American Civil War from the 1870s to the present. Analysing the War's place in British political discourse, military writing, intellectual life and popular culture, it traces the sources of Britons' appeal to the American conflict and their use of its representations at home and abroad. Imprinted onto the political discourse, military thought, intellectual life and popular culture, no other foreign conflict left such a deep, lasting mark on British culture as did the American Civil War. Britain's leading politicians, strategists, and thinkers have kept turning to the American conflict from the 1870s to the present, as has the British public more broadly. Drawing on political records, military writings, academic studies, films and interviews, as well as on a wide array of previously unpublished material, this book traces the sources of Britons' appeal to the American conflict and their use of its representations. While people from the United Kingdom often found the American Civil War useful to buttress their views on domestic affairs, the records show that the British used the war and its memory also to advance their interests in the United States, thus making the phenomena examined in this book both local and transatlantic Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-9 The War and the Political Debate about Ireland....Pages 10-32 The Civil War in British Military Thought....Pages 33-66 British Intellectuals and Abraham Lincoln....Pages 67-95 The American Civil War in British Cinemas....Pages 96-123 Civil War Roundtable and Re-enactment Societies....Pages 124-155 Conclusion....Pages 156-163 Back Matter....Pages 164-219