What if the central event of U.S. history has been fundamentally misunderstood? What if the ethos of the Confederacy didn’t just survive the Civil War, but actually came to dominate American politics and culture, right up to the present day?

That’s the radical thesis proposed by Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson in her new book, "How The South Won The Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, And The Continuing Fight For The Soul Of America."