The myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest

"In an era that produced Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest emerged as a legend in his own right - a notorious character of mythic proportions even in his day. In the twenty-first century, his legacy continues to polarize the South: as a symbol of the Lost Cause and hero to working-class Southerners on the one hand, and as an emblem of slavery and lingering racial tensions on the other." "Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill explore the creation of the relentless Forrest Myth. Scrutinizing literature, art, cinema, and popular culture from the past 150 years, the authors contend that the legend is a creation of the nation's literature, its obsession with the Civil War, and its media."--BOOK JACKET.