Americas
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Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy
"We can no longer see ourselves as minor spectators or weary watchers of history after finishing this astonishing work of nonfiction." -Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Connor Towne O'Neill's journey onto the battlefield of white supremacy began with a visit to Selma, Alabama, in 2015. There he had a chance encounter with a group of people preparing to erect a statue to celebrate the memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most notorious Confederate generals, a man whom Union general William Tecumseh Sherman referred to as "that devil." After that day in Selma, O'Neill, a white Northerner transplanted to the South, decided to dig deeply into the history of Forrest and other monuments to him throughout the South, which, like Confederate monuments across America, have become flashpoints in the fight against racism.
Forrest was not just a brutal general, O'Neill learned; he was a slave trader and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. O'Neill encountered citizens who still hold Forrest in cult-like awe, desperate to preserve what they call their "heritage," and he also talked to others fighting to tear the monuments down. In doing so he discovered a direct line from Forrest's ugly history straight to the heart of the battles raging today all across America. The fight over Forrest reveals a larger battle, one meant to sustain white supremacy-a system that props up all white people, not just those defending the monuments. With clear-eyed passion and honest introspection, O'Neill takes readers on a journey to understand the many ways in which the Civil War, begun in 1860, has never ended.
A brilliant and provocative blend of history, reportage, and personal essay, Down Along with That Devil's Bones presents an important and eye-opening account of how we got from Appomattox to Charlottesville, and of our vital need to confront our past in order to transcend it and move toward a more just society.
Connor Towne O'Neill's journey onto the battlefield of white supremacy began with a visit to Selma, Alabama, in 2015. There he had a chance encounter with a group of people preparing to erect a statue to celebrate the memory of Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the most notorious Confederate generals, a man whom Union general William Tecumseh Sherman referred to as "that devil." After that day in Selma, O'Neill, a white Northerner transplanted to the South, decided to dig deeply into the history of Forrest and other monuments to him throughout the South, which, like Confederate monuments across America, have become flashpoints in the fight against racism.
Forrest was not just a brutal general, O'Neill learned; he was a slave trader and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. O'Neill encountered citizens who still hold Forrest in cult-like awe, desperate to preserve what they call their "heritage," and he also talked to others fighting to tear the monuments down. In doing so he discovered a direct line from Forrest's ugly history straight to the heart of the battles raging today all across America. The fight over Forrest reveals a larger battle, one meant to sustain white supremacy-a system that props up all white people, not just those defending the monuments. With clear-eyed passion and honest introspection, O'Neill takes readers on a journey to understand the many ways in which the Civil War, begun in 1860, has never ended.
A brilliant and provocative blend of history, reportage, and personal essay, Down Along with That Devil's Bones presents an important and eye-opening account of how we got from Appomattox to Charlottesville, and of our vital need to confront our past in order to transcend it and move toward a more just society.
Editorial Reviews
A Library Journal Best Social Science Book of 2020
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution Best Southern Book of 2020
"The truth is that we Southerners have always needed dedicated, self-reflective young folks from the North guided by genius and radical love to help us exorcise the worst parts of our region. Connor Towne O'Neill walks in that radical love tradition in Down Along with That Devil's Bones, but he does something more here. He decimates the argument for our need of Confederate statues while chronicling what their existence grants him bodily and morally."
-Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
"A personal examination of one of the great divides in our country today . . . Essential reading for how we got from Appomattox to Charlottesville-and where we might go next."
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"O'Neill's first book is a dazzling reminder that American racism is robust and virulent. He writes with a fluency of American culture that portends well for his books to come."
-New York Journal of Books
"A well-researched history and a call for reformation in America."
-BookPage
"An eloquent and provocative examination of the links between protests over Confederate monuments in the South and the resurgence of white supremacy . . . O'Neill writes with grace and genuine curiosity . . . This inquiry into the legacy of American slavery is equally distressing and illuminating."
-Publishers Weekly
"Timely, engaging."
-Booklist
"In examining the battles over monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest, Connor O'Neill deepens his own understanding of the denial, the hatred, the horror, that still infests white people in this country, who do not want to lose their magical image of themselves as the noble race who tamed a continent and lifted up savages out of their barbarity. Unable to face the full horror of what we did in these centuries of brutality against other races, we hide in the idea of the lost cause, the idealization of what we call a way of life, and idolize figures like Forrest, a man who made his fortune in the sale of human beings, and who carved himself into history through his wholehearted embrace of the southern war effort that, by his own words, had the glorification of slavery as its purpose. It is a vital piece of the puzzle, this history, reported in clarity and rich in insight. Would that clarity and insight could lift this curse from our nation at last."
-Jim Grimsley, author of How I Shed My Skin
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution Best Southern Book of 2020
"The truth is that we Southerners have always needed dedicated, self-reflective young folks from the North guided by genius and radical love to help us exorcise the worst parts of our region. Connor Towne O'Neill walks in that radical love tradition in Down Along with That Devil's Bones, but he does something more here. He decimates the argument for our need of Confederate statues while chronicling what their existence grants him bodily and morally."
-Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
"A personal examination of one of the great divides in our country today . . . Essential reading for how we got from Appomattox to Charlottesville-and where we might go next."
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"O'Neill's first book is a dazzling reminder that American racism is robust and virulent. He writes with a fluency of American culture that portends well for his books to come."
-New York Journal of Books
"A well-researched history and a call for reformation in America."
-BookPage
"An eloquent and provocative examination of the links between protests over Confederate monuments in the South and the resurgence of white supremacy . . . O'Neill writes with grace and genuine curiosity . . . This inquiry into the legacy of American slavery is equally distressing and illuminating."
-Publishers Weekly
"Timely, engaging."
-Booklist
"In examining the battles over monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest, Connor O'Neill deepens his own understanding of the denial, the hatred, the horror, that still infests white people in this country, who do not want to lose their magical image of themselves as the noble race who tamed a continent and lifted up savages out of their barbarity. Unable to face the full horror of what we did in these centuries of brutality against other races, we hide in the idea of the lost cause, the idealization of what we call a way of life, and idolize figures like Forrest, a man who made his fortune in the sale of human beings, and who carved himself into history through his wholehearted embrace of the southern war effort that, by his own words, had the glorification of slavery as its purpose. It is a vital piece of the puzzle, this history, reported in clarity and rich in insight. Would that clarity and insight could lift this curse from our nation at last."
-Jim Grimsley, author of How I Shed My Skin
Readers Top Reviews
PlumhunterAdam St
Impressively, O’Neill’s depth of thought matches that of his research. Especially in the epilogue. I have read the entirety of this volume, and it was fantastic, but the epilogue, especially—out of everything, the epilogue—deserves great praise.
John Gilmer
O'Neill's work is immediate and essential. As beautifully written as it is rigorously researched, Down Along with That Devil's Bones cuts through a fog of mythology and provides a clarion call to action against monuments that, to this day, continue to physically incarnate the terror of white supremacy. As a citizen of a changing Alabama and an alumnus, like O'Neill, of the University of Alabama, I am heartened and challenged by this work. There is so much work to be done, but with the moral clarity that works of scholarship like this can afford us, I am confident of our path forward. Thank you, Connor, for the inestimable service that your work here represents.
gigi
This is a must read if you are confused about the issue of removing monuments in the United States. This author has done a great amount of research, reading and interviewing to help clarify why this is an issue. There is a distinction between monuments and memorials. Anyone of non-African descent needs to be able to acknowledge that systemic racism, a system built to protect privilege and fortune, still survives. There is so much work to be done in this country, and we are just beginning. Photo: Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama
Anthony Pignataro
Full of journalism and history, Connor Towne O’Neill’s book manages to give us a detailed look at the life of the Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and an account of efforts to get four Southern cities to stop lionizing him with statues (at least one of which is astonishingly ugly). O’Neill understands that the building of Confederate monuments and statues (most of which went up in the Jim Crow era, long after the Civil War ended) was never over “preserving history,” but instead was an attempt to rewrite the bloody, racist history of the Confederacy. “If we have no idea who we’ve been,” O’Neill writes near the end, “then we have no idea who we are.” This book is timely, readable and an outstanding example of how white people can and should be writing about whiteness.
Carolien S
As a South African, I have watched us deal with monuments and statues to apartheid prime ministers and colonialists over the past three decades. Initially the focus was on renaming streets and removing some of the most egregious statues. Some remained and became the focus of student protests in 2015 at which stage the remaining ones were mostly moved into storage, private collections or into museums accompanied by similar discussions on the preservation of history versus human dignity as recounted in this book. It's an ongoing process - my mother's former high school named after the late architect of apartheid, H.F Verwoerd, renamed itself quietly last year. So it was the context to the protests we have seen unfold from afar that made this a fascinating read. The arguments for and against are familiar, but my knowledge of the US Civil War and the subsequent politics of segregation limited. Key concepts and events were referenced succinctly and the format of focusing on four specific monuments which represented these worked well. The author does not shy away from self-reflection which is required from all of us as we contemplate the events which these monuments represent and the actions needed to move forward. Highly recommend this book.
