Catholics, the Civil War, and the Problem of the Lost Cause

Name: Catholics, the Civil War, and the Problem of the Lost Cause
Price: 194 AUD
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ISBN: 9781647127046

Robert Emmett Curran

$194

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Georgetown University Press
01 May 2026

History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Slavery & abolition of slavery; Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church

How a key period in American Catholic history connects with contemporary populism

Catholics fought on both sides of the American Civil War, but few supported the war's evolving aim of emancipating the enslaved. After the war, white Catholics played decisive roles in creating and promoting the ideology of the Lost Cause, a romantic distortion that the war had been a noble Southern fight for freedom, not caused by secession to preserve slavery.

Catholics, the Civil War, and the Problem of the Lost Cause sheds light on the surprising legacy of white American Catholics during and after the war years. Curran also explores other topics, such as church-state relations, anti-Catholic nativism, chaplains and nun nurses in wartime, the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Catholic colleges, and Catholic prisoners of war.

General readers, scholars, and students interested in the Civil War era and the history of American Catholicism will benefit from a deeper understanding of this history and how it predisposed conservative Catholics to respond positively to today's populist movement, which brought about the election of Donald Trump.

By: Robert Emmett Curran
Imprint: Georgetown University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 490g
ISBN: 9781647127046
ISBN 10: 1647127041
Pages: 270
Publication Date: 01 May 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Robert Emmett Curran is a professor emeritus of history at Georgetown University and the author of fourteen books, including American Catholics and the Quest for Equality in the Civil War Era.