The Civil War is America's collective, unresolved childhood trauma - 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 criminals from consequences and reestablishing the old social order. Along the way, we invented pseudo-historical mythologies 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. 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, echoing in every racial flashpoint, every political debate, every regional divide, every micro-aggression. 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 not only a guide to the past, but also a roadmap for navigating the future. "...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.