Embattled Banner: A Reasonable Defense of the Confederate Battle Flag

by Don Hinkle

Book by Hinkle, Don This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 5631135469
• ISBN13: 9785631135468
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Turner
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

If Y'All Don't Get It!

As a Southerner I was naturally attracted to this book, which makes a real effort to explain the positive connotations of the Confederate Battle Flag. The question the author does not address sufficiently is why such a defense is necessary at all. After all no one criticizes the American flag because it was the symbol of a slave republic for ninety years and also the symbol of the cultural genocide of Native Americans for longer than that, or the British flag because it was a symbol of the slave trade for over one hundred and on and on. That any public symbol of any group of people can be interpreted negatively is self-evident, but rather than exploring this point Don Hinkle limits himself to making clear (and successfully so) that Southerners (like everyone else) have a right to be proud of their heritage and their emblems, and that Confederate symbols are as much an honored part of American history as the Star Spangled Banner or the Martin Luther King memorial. After all, he contends, Southerners are Americans too, who made and continue to make a sizable contribution to this country. And no, the Confederacy was not about perpetuating slavery, every hear of the Corwin Amendment, or Lincoln's myriad statements that the war was about "preserving the Union" with or without slavery folks? It was instead, as Hinkle implies but should explicate more clearly, more about trying to keep the South from becoming the political, social, and economic colony of the North (and West), which is just what happened after 1865. Despite these limitations, this book is a good start towards an objective understanding of an issue that has been unreasonably clouded by misplaced and self-serving emotions.

There's good people in Alabama...

So said the late and great Ronnie Van Zant in the intro to Sweet Home Alabama, and he was right.It is obscene and a total distortion of reality to describe the Confederate Flag as a "racist symbol". Don Hinkle has certainly done us proud with this much-needed boost for the good people of The South.The supreme irony is that by attempting to ban the Confederate Flag (anti-Flag pedants please note, my capitalization is deliberate) they will turn it into a rallying symbol for every WASP who has had enough of being blamed for all of the evils of the world.Proportionally speaking, very few whites have openly supported the KKK and other Right Wing groups. Yet with a Communist-inspired "Liberal" onslaught on the Confederate Flag, lines are bound to become blurry. Yes, slavery was wrong, we've all figured that out, and if we hadn't been deliberately undermined by reckless and subversive immigration policies, black and white integration would have taken place much more rapidly.The number of lies about The Racist South are equalled only by the pitiful attempts to deify thugs such as Lincoln, whose War Of Northern Aggression only belatedly and incidentally embraced the slavery issue. As another reviewer correctly observed, it was about taxation and the suppression of The South.Good job, Don. It ain't Tolstoy, but it's written from the heart, and The Truth will always get through. Time to give up the Confederate Flag? No, it's time to draw a line in the sand.

Finally, the Truth

Don Hinkle's book, "Embattled Banner: A Reasonable Defense of the Confederate Battle Flag", is a book that I simply could not put down. My great-grandfather fought under that flag, yet he never owned a slave in his life. Our friends in the North often paint a picture that is quite different from the truth, about why the War Between the States was fought. This book was very refreshing. With all the negatives in the news today, I wanted the REAL truth, and this book provided it to me. Mr. Hinkle makes it clear that opponents of the Confederate battle flag are simply ignorant of the truth, and probably make these statements without knowing anything about the flag other than what left-wing opponents of the flag tell them in speeches. Hinkle obviously did quite a bit of research on this book, supporting his arguments with facts, and not distortions. After having read it, I am much more in favor of keeping the flag flying in South Carolina, Gerogia, and Mississippi. It's part of our history, and anyone that doesn't like it can always move to another state.

Embattled Banner: ...Defense of the Confederate Battle Flag

I am a Son of a Confederate Veteran. This book puts many of the facts about the South and the need for all Southernors to stand for the banner out there for everyone. The Battle Flag belongs to everyone, both Black and White, who believes in truth, honesty, and the America we should all strive to believe in. Every man, woman and child should read this book. It covers some unpopular ideas that fly in face of the politically correct. I would say "Forward the Flag", may it fly everywhere, as a reminder of the costitution. A must read for all students of history!

A great book--well researched and informative.

This is a great book on a subject that is often misunderstood. This book explains why the battle flag is a symbol of Southern heritage and pride and DOES NOT represent racism and hatred to the vast majority of people-North and South-who honor it. Most people in this country have never been taught the true history of the war--it's not in our schoolbooks. Remember, conquerors always write history as they want it to appear. It's taken over 100 years for the South to recover economically from the war. It will probably be another 100 years before the events leading to the war, the war itself, and the aftermath can be fairly evaluated without the taint of Northern bias. The events of history speak for themselves when fairly and accurately reported.