Down Along with That Devil's Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy

"A journalist's memoir-plus-reporting about modern-day conflicts over Southern monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate hero and original leader of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as a personal examination of the legacy of white supremacy through theUS today, tracing the throughline from Appomattox to Charlottesville"--
The NPR White Lies podcast producer draws on his experiences as a white Northerner in Alabama to illuminate the inherent racism shaping ongoing debates about community-supported monuments honoring Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest. 30,000 first printing.
&;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 In Down Along with That Devil&;s Bones, journalist Connor Towne O&;Neill takes a deep dive into American history, exposing the still-raging battles over monuments dedicated to one of the most notorious Confederate generals, Nathan Bedford Forrest. Through the lens of these conflicts, O&;Neill examines the legacy of white supremacy in America, in a sobering and fascinating work sure to resonate with readers of Tony Horwitz, Timothy B. Tyson, and Robin DiAngelo. When O&;Neill first moved to Alabama, as a white Northerner, he felt somewhat removed from the racism Confederate monuments represented. Then one day in Selma, he stumbled across a group of citizens protecting a monument to Forrest, the officer who became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and whom William Tecumseh Sherman referred to as &;that devil.&; O&;Neill sets off to visit other disputed memorials to Forrest across the South, talking with men and women who believe they are protecting their heritage, and those who have a different view of the man&;s poisonous history. O&;Neill&;s reporting and thoughtful, deeply personal analysis make it clear that white supremacy is not a regional affliction but is in fact coded into the DNA of the entire country. Down Along with That Devil&;s Bones presents an important and eye-opening account of how we got from Appomattox to Charlottesville, and where, if we can truly understand and transcend our past, we could be headed next.