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Blain Roberts

Ethan Kytle

Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy Hardcover – April 3, 2018

by Ethan J. Kytle (Author), Blain Roberts (Author)

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One of Janet Maslin’s Favorite Books of 2018, The New York Times

One of John Warner’s Favorite Books of 2018, Chicago Tribune

Named one of the Best Civil War Books of 2018” by the Civil War Monitor

A fascinating and important new historical study.”
Janet Maslin, The New York Times

A stunning contribution to the historiography of Civil War memory studies.”
Civil War Times

In the tradition of James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, a deeply researched book that uncovers competing histories of how slavery is remembered in Charleston, South Carolina—the heart of Dixie

A book that strikes at the heart of the recent flare-ups over Confederate symbols in Charlottesville, New Orleans, and elsewhere, Denmark Vesey’s Garden reveals the deep roots of these controversies and traces them to the heart of slavery in the United States: Charleston, South Carolina, where almost half of the U.S. slave population stepped onto our shores, where the first shot at Fort Sumter began the Civil War, and where Dylann Roof shot nine people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, the congregation of Denmark Vesey, a black revolutionary who plotted a massive slave insurrection in 1822.

As early as 1865, former slaveholders and their descendants began working to preserve a romanticized memory of the antebellum South. In contrast, former slaves, their descendants, and some white allies have worked to preserve an honest, unvarnished account of slavery as the cruel system it was.

Examining public rituals, controversial monuments, and whitewashed historical tourism, Denmark Vesey’s Garden tracks these two rival memories from the Civil War all the way to contemporary times, where two segregated tourism industries still reflect these opposing impressions of the past, exposing a hidden dimension of America’s deep racial divide. Denmark Vesey’s Garden joins the small bookshelf of major, paradigm-shifting new interpretations of slavery’s enduring legacy in the United States.

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Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The New Press
Publication date

April 3, 2018
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

1620973650
ISBN-13

978-1620973653

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From the Publisher

Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Denmark Vesey’s Garden:
One of Janet Maslin’s Favorite Books of 2018, The New York Times

One of John Warner’s Favorite Books of 2018, Chicago Tribune

Named one of the Best Civil War Books of 2018” by the Civil War Monitor

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018

2018 George C. Rogers Jr. Book Award Finalist

Named one of the Summer Books 2018” selection by Times Literary Supplement

Named one of the 17 Refreshing Books to Read This Summer” by The New York Times

A rigorous and timely study.”
Black Perspectives

Those who dismiss contemporary opposition to the Calhoun Monument as misplaced ‘political correctness,’ need to read Denmark Vesey’s Garden, which shows the deep provenance of black Charlestonian’s opposition to both Calhoun the man and the symbol.”
The Post and Courier (Charleston)

A fascinating and important new historical study. Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy, by Ethan J. Kytle and Blain Roberts, examines Charleston as the capital of slavery in the United States and, therefore, the place where the ways slavery is remembered matter most. This book examines rival sets of memories: from a segregated tourism industry, which not long ago gave out different sets of information to different people, to today’s fights over Civil War monuments.”
Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy is vital to understanding some of the deepest fault lines in American life. . . . An excellent history of the divergent views of slavery.”
Shelf Awareness

A stunning contribution to the historiography of Civil War memory studies [that link] the memories and actions of black and white Charlestonians over the years to the present-day ideas motivating extremists like Dylann Roof. . . . This book speaks to the present as eloquently as it narrates the past.”
Civil War Times

The authors do an excellent job of tracing and exploring those competing visions [of slavery]. . . enriched by insightful analyses. . . . Those who read it will not just learn how the institution has been remembered but also wrestle with the ramification of America’s slave past for its present and future.”
Civil War Book Review

A timely, well-researched, and deftly argued intervention with both scholarly and public importance.”
Tropics of Meta

[A] timely look at America’s contested past. . . . Strongly recommended for anyone interested in or hoping to understand more about southern history, especially the ongoing debate over the representation of slavery and the Confederacy.”
Library Journal

Kytle and Robert’s combination of encyclopedic knowledge of Charleston’s history and empathy with its inhabitants’ past and present struggle make them ideal guides to this troubled history.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Eye-opening history. . . . An important and fascinating examination of American slavery's aftermath.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Denmark Vesey’s Garden uses the small place of Charleston, South Carolina, to tell a large tale, what we remember of history and what we prefer to forget. It is a fascinating and unflinching performance, showing that all of American history can inhabit a few greying square miles.”
Edward Ball, National Book Award–winning author of Slaves in the Family

Nothing has shaped this nation more than slavery and its legacy. Kytle and Roberts’s meticulous research, compelling writing, and thoughtful analysis are vital to our nation at a time when we were haunted by a history we need to understand more deeply.”
Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Denmark Vesey’s Garden reveals that the long struggle over how Americans remember slavery has been inseparable from the long struggle for racial justice.”
Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ethan Kytle and Blain Roberts remind us that the cost of whitewashing the history of racial enslavement and its legacies continues to be too great a burden to bear for American democracy. For any reader interested in current political debates over Civil War memory and monuments, this book is a must-read.”
Manisha Sinha, Frederick Douglass Book Prize–winning author of The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition

Denmark Vesey’s Garden will have enormous implications for the entire country.”
Douglas Egerton, author of Year of Meteors, Thunder at the Gates, and The Wars of Reconstruction

Readers are drawn into a community where the shadows of slavery are ever-present and white and black Charlestonians jockey for influence over whether and how those shadows are acknowledged.”
Fitzhugh Brundage, William B. Umstead Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina

Kytle and Roberts’s engaging style will remind readers of Edward Ball’s work, Slaves in the Family, providing a new window onto the Charleston past and delivering an important message for the present.”
Catherine Clinton, Denman Chair of American History, University of Texas, San Antonio, and president, Southern Historical Association

About the Author

Ethan J. Kytle is a professor of history at California State University, Fresno and the author of Romantic Reformers and the Antislavery Struggle in the Civil War Era. Kytle lives in Fresno, California.
Blain Roberts is a professor of history at California State University, Fresno and the author of Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women. She lives in Fresno, California.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 3, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1620973650
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620973653
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.68 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #432,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38 in U.S. Civil War Confederacy History
- #162 in Black & African American History (Books)
- #765 in U.S. State & Local History
Customer Reviews:
(180)

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Blain Roberts
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Blain Roberts is a professor of history at California State University, Fresno, where she teaches courses in U.S. and women's history. Her first book, Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women: Race and Beauty in the Twentieth-Century South (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), was named a 2014 Publishers Weekly Notable African American title and won the 2014 Willie Lee Rose Prize for the best book in southern history written by a woman. She is co-author of Denmark Vesey's Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy with Ethan J. Kytle (The New Press, April 2018). She has written articles for the Journal of Southern History and Southern Cultures and op-eds for the New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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Ethan Kytle
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Ethan J. Kytle is professor of history at California State University, Fresno. A specialist in the history of slavery, abolition, the Civil War, and the U.S. South, he is author of two books: Romantic Reformers and the Antislavery Struggle in the Civil War Era (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and, with co-author Blain Roberts, Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy (New Press, 2018). He has also written for the Journal of Southern History, American Nineteenth Century History, the New York Times, and the Atlantic.
See more on the author's page

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Customers find this book to be one of the best works on Civil War memory, providing valuable insights into slavery. They appreciate its informative content, with one customer noting it's packed with historical information.

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14 customers mention content, 13 positive, 1 negative

Customers praise the book's content, describing it as one of the best works on Civil War memory and a valuable resource for understanding slavery.

Great and well written book about a vital topic.Read more

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A good reality checkRead more

Nicely written, reflective account of how race both shaped and continues to shape history and remembrance in Charleston, South Carolina.Read more

5 customers mention informative, 5 positive, 0 negative

Customers find the book informative, with one customer noting it is packed with historical information and another describing it as a gut-wrenching account.

...This well-researched book examines how the ‘Old South’ and nostalgia for same is result of changing memory of the events leading to the civil war,...Read more

The MOST informative book I've ever read on Charleston and it's slave history. Buy it. You won't regret it.Read more

...It is a gut wrenching account of how Charleston prospered on the backs of slaves from Africa.Read more

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Tony Petersen
An essential book on Civil War memory
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

DENMARK VESEY’S GARDEN is one of the best books on Civil War memory that I have read. It has 2 great virtues. 1) It focuses on a *particular* city—and an important one at that, the "cradle of the Confederacy"—which allows the authors to show how, while the South may have lost the war proper, it won the battle over memory. 2) It takes the reader from the aftermath of the Civil War—even earlier if you count the prelude—all the way to the present day. It is a sweeping story that reiterates the importance of telling the truth about history. As they write, nothing gives us the right "to turn a blind eye to our forebears' flaws or the complexity of the world in which they lived." It matters whether slavery was good or bad, whether it caused the Civil War or not. Thus, we must still fight our "original sin" in all its forms. They write toward the end, "If a national consensus about our original sin finally seems within our reach, grasping it will not be easy." That makes it all the more important.

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28 people found this helpful

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M. Nichols
Timely review of perceptions of slavery
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Very timely in view of the current race relations situation, when other than white is viewed as “other” and therefore undesirable. What we were taught in school in various parts of the country varies widely. This well-researched book examines how the ‘Old South’ and nostalgia for same is result of changing memory of the events leading to the civil war, reconstruction, and Jim Crow. Well written and packed with historical information. Should be required reading.

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4 people found this helpful

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Eyezee49
The true history of whitewashing the history of slavery in the south
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Having lived in Charleston SC over the past 5 years, there is still evidence of white privilege in the telling of the reconstruction and Jim Crow era. There is still evidence of the new Jim Crow - racial profiling by police, failed mayoral attempt to achieve historical plaques telling the whole story about monuments to racists like Calhoun. There are efforts to improve the quality of life for everyone by groups like the Charleston Area Justice Ministry. However, the mighty dollar thrown at the elected officials by big developers local and out of state continues to result in almost no affordable housing, constant flooding of streets in the poorest parts of the city, segregated schools and poor quality education in the poorest communities! Denmark Vesey’s Garden is an important and telling read that will open one’s eyes to the truth!

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9 people found this helpful

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Karen S.
I will recommend this novel to all of my colleagues who are ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
As a non-historian native southerner, this book is a fascinating depiction of Charleston and its attempt to maintain its own status quo. It progresses at a healthy pace while continuing to educate on many facets of slavery (and the post slavery south) that I was quite ignorant about. I will recommend this novel to all of my colleagues who are interested in the reality of the African-American experience in the south, and who enjoy true American history told in gripping fashion.

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6 people found this helpful

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Cathie Mcfadden
Denmark Veasey’s legacy in the southern city of Charleston
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This book is a valuable resource for the understanding of slavery in the city that is so important to SC. Charleston was founded on the idea that blacks could be imported for the sole purpose of making the landed gentry wealthy beyond measure. Sue Monk Kidd introduced me to Denmark Veasey in her book Wings of Invention along with abolitionists Grimke sisters. It took over 18 years for the city council in Charleston to allow a statue of Mr. Veasey and his works as a freed slave to be honored. The inhumanity of people toward a race not of their own is explicitly detailed in this new book. It is a gut wrenching account of how Charleston prospered on the backs of slaves from Africa.

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10 people found this helpful

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Gaby Chapman
The Past Isn't Past
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2019
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Using Charleston as the cradle of the Civil War, the authors trace the history of race relations since the dissolution of slavery. This is a fascinating book that not only explains so much of our history with race relations, but also shows the shackles that restrict a culture from being able to reject suffering and embrace justice for all.

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One person found this helpful

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Richard Cross
Knowledge for our Ignorance
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2021
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Fascinating that the ring of truth can still be heard here. Being a descendant of Germans and English, I sometimes have felt guilt for my forefathers so I understand why the South would run from the truth! Here is some truth! Eat it!

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One person found this helpful

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NOLAHunter
Great book on Civil War memory in Charleston, SC
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
If you want to know why the discussions around the removal of confederate monuments are so divisive you need to understand the "alternative facts" that were perpetuated for generations by white southerners. This book will help you understand how it happened in Charleston, SC specifically but also in the south in general.

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4 people found this helpful

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