| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

John M. Coski. The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University. 2005. Pp. xi, 401. $29.95.
Few emblems in history have elicited more passionate responses, both positive and negative, than has the Confederate battle flag. Its supporters uphold the flag as a symbol of heritage, heroism, and southern history. Its detractors regard the flag as divisive, racist, and argue that at best, it should only be displayed in a museum. The battle flag is enigmatic, its history has been clouded by political debate, and it is often referred to, erroneously, as the "Stars and Bars." John M. Coski's analysis of the flag's history, its uses, and its various meanings, therefore, is both welcome and needed.	1
Coski's book examines the flag from its creation during the Civil War up to the present day. The book is divided into three sections that are both thematic and chronological. Part one examines the Confederate flag from the Civil War through World War II, during which time it established itself as a symbol of southern popular culture and was rarely criticized. Part two, entitled "Rebel Flag," traces the development of the flag as a symbol of violence and racism from the 1950s through the early 1970s, when the flag was taken up by rebellious youth and became the emblem of massive resistance to the civil rights movement. In the final portion of the book, Coski surveys the period since the 1970s, during which time the Confederate flag was front and center of what he calls "flag wars."	. . .

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