This searing account thoroughly details the 160-year propaganda campaign to promote the South’s version of the Civil War. Known as the Lost Cause, it’s based on two untruths: that the South did not lose the war, and that the war was not fought over slavery. Bausum’s well-researched, rock-solid argument is accompanied by a visual inventory of Civil War monuments, many of which are still standing. Robert E. Lee is venerated by many for his Civil War leadership, but his defection of the U.S. Army to lead the Confederates was an act of treason. Thanks to government deal-making and efforts to reunite the country, he was ultimately not prosecuted. In time, however, groups committed to defending the Lost Cause championed for a positive and patriotic view of Lee along with numerous buildings, statues, and scholarships in his honor. The author meticulously curates the wide-spread, insidious, and unrelenting efforts to deny losing the war and preserve White superiority. Evidence of propaganda in plantations, modern textbooks, flags, holidays, laws protecting statues, and White supremacist activities, as well as in broader issues like racial disparity, critical race theory, and book challenges, is presented. Humanizing this cold catalogue, the author recounts her childhood in Virginia and what she understood as truth before living outside of the South. For meaningful context, Bauman discusses cultural deprogramming efforts in post-WWII Germany. Highly discussable, this is a timely tome for dedicated young historians.