The Civil War is America's collective, unresolved childhood trauma. It's the inevitable sequel to the Revolution. An event "when, paradoxically, in order to become one, we tore ourselves in two."*

For over a century, we've prioritized comfort over truth. As soon as Lee surrendered, we rushed to reconcile, shielding villains from consequences and reestablishing the old social order. we invented a pseudo-historical mythology to protect our dignity. "We conspired to cloak the Civil War in bloodless, gallant myth, obscuring its causes and its great ennobling outcome..."* we integrated this fiction into our textbooks, family lore, and public art. And the lies grew alongside us.

the ways we avoid facing our mistakes doom us to continue making them. The Civil War and its neglected lessons loom over today's social and political landscape, whether we're aware of it or not. It echos in every racial flashpoint, every political debate, every regional divide. Even our language is scarred by micro-aggressive idioms rooted in our antebellum past. Refusing to embrace our historical truth, we've trapped ourselves in the same old cycles that caused the Civil War in the first place.

Once you see it, you can never un-see it. For Americans who internalize its lessons, the civil war offers a roadmap for living through 'unprecedented times.' Its ghosts and shadows are everywhere. "...the further we get from those four horrible years... the more central and defining that war becomes."*

Larger than life. Stranger than fiction. But at the same time, familiar and relatable. the civil war is a tragedy, a comedy, a hero's quest, a coming-of-age tale, a corporate training, a sprawling sci-fi fantasy epic. shit's entertaining.