The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest

In an era that produced Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, John Singleton Mosby, and other major Civil War figures, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest emerged as a legend in his own right - a notorious character of mythic proportions even in his day. Rumored to be ruthless, fearless, and insatiably bloodthirsty, he conjured horrific images in the minds of a Northern public who never met the man, but certainly knew his name. Just how this myth emerged is a fascinating journey and is thoroughly explored in Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill's The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was probably the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He claimed to have killed as many as 30 men by his own hand. And, he led what the New York Times called "one the most atrocious and coldblooded massacres that ever disgraced civilized warfare" - the merciless slaughter of black Union soldiers at Fort Pillow in 1864. In this brisk and lively new book, the authors contend that the Forrest myth is a creation of the nation's literature, its obsession with the Civil War, and its press. A reportedly shameless self promoter, Forrest enjoyed media attention almost from the start, when he manipulated the press of his day like a skilled puppeteer. And, close to 150 years later, the fascination with Nathan Bedford Forrest shows no signs of waning. He is the subject of seven biographies, countless articles, and he is given full treatment in many histories of the Civil War, including Ken Burns' popular series, "The Civil War," and The History Channel's "Civil War Journal" His Ku Klux Klan was the subject of several novels by Thomas Dixon, the source for D.W. Griffith's white supremacist film, The Birth of a Nation, and he appears as a character in nine novels and eight short stories by William Faulkner. The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest is an insightful exploration of the creation of this relentless Forrest myth. The authors scrutinize the collective public memory of Forrest as it has evolved through the press, memoirs, popular literature, and popular culture over the past century and a half. Enthralling and informative, this book will captivate its readers with the enigma that was Nathan Bedford Forrest.

About the Author :
Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill are professors of journalism at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They are co-authors of The Mosby Myth: A Confederate Hero in Life and Legend (SR Books, 2001), which was a selection of the History Book Club. Dr. Ashdown has written and lectured extensively about popular culture and the Civil War, most recently in "Tracking the Old Sow Bear: Fact and Fiction in Charles Frazler's Cold Mountain," in Proteus. Dr. Caudill is the author of several books and articles on popular culture, and is also the associate dean for graduate studies, College of Communications, University of Tennessee.