The Civil War on Film will inform high school and college readers interested in Civil War film history on is-sues that arise when film viewers confuse entertainment with historical accuracy. The nation's years of civil war were painful, destructive, and unpleasant. Yet war films tend to embrace mythologies that erase that historical reality, romanticizing the Civil War. The editors of this volume have little patience for any argument that implies race-based slavery isn't an entirely repugnant economic, political, and cultural institution and that the people who fought to preserve slavery...

The Civil War on Film informs high-school and college readers interested in Civil War film history on issues that arise when film viewers confuse entertainment with historical accuracy.

The nation's years of civil war were painful, destructive, and unpleasant. Yet war films tend to embrace mythologies that erase that historical reality, romanticizing the Civil War. Opening with a timeline and introduction the book goes on to explore ten films across decades of cinema history in ten chapters, from Birth of a Nation, which debuted in 1915, to The Free State of...