{"product_id":"debunking-the-yule-log-myth-the-disturbing-history-of-a-plantation-legend-9798881801786","title":"Debunking the Yule Log Myth: The Disturbing History of a Plantation Legend","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA powerful new book that corrects a false myth in African American history that \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e calls \"a thoughtful antidote to white Southern propaganda.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAccording to an oft repeated legend, during Christmas before the Civil War, all enslaved people in the American South enjoyed lengthy vacations of a week or more depending on how long an oversized \"Yule log\" burned in their master's fireplace. As long as the log held out, slaves escaped heavy labor and their masters' whips and enjoyed a rare freedom of movement to go and do what they wished as well as gorge themselves on food and drink they never got the rest of the year. No wonder they soaked those logs in swamps to make them burn even longer.\u003cp\u003eBut is it true? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this book, historian Robert May takes readers on a detective caper as he investigates a story that reaches back to colonial America and continues today. May finds no evidence of the Yule log tradition in the historical record, instead showing that it originated with pro-Confederate Lost Cause propagandists attempting to present the South's prewar system of human bondage in as soft tones as possible. Tales about good-natured masters and unresentful slaves jovially sharing Christmases played to this impulse beautifully.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDebunking the Yule Log Myth\u003c\/i\u003e does more than correct the historical record. It serves as a highly instructive case study in the process of historical mythmaking. This captivating tale will appeal to all readers interested in African American history and the long struggle to support white supremacy by creating a mythical antebellum American South.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eRobert E. May is Professor Emeritus of History at Purdue University and the author of \u003ci\u003eYuletide in Dixie: Slavery, Christmas, and Southern Memory; Slavery, Race, and Conquest in the Tropics: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Future of Latin America\u003c\/i\u003e and other works about slavery and the South.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Rowman \u0026 Littlefield Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50875268661522,"sku":"9798881801786","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_140895e1-e7fc-49db-99df-283abadb72ad.jpg?v=1738284441","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/debunking-the-yule-log-myth-the-disturbing-history-of-a-plantation-legend-9798881801786","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}