Oracle of Lost Causes

Matthew Christopher Hulbert is an Elliott Associate Professor of History at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He is the author of The Ghosts of Guerrilla Memory: How Civil War Bushwhackers became Gunslingers in the American West, winner of the 2017 Wiley-Silver Book Prize, and coeditor of Writing History with Lightning: Cinematic Representations of Nineteenth-Century America.

"The author has researched his story deeply, and he tells it well."-Gerard Helferich, Wall Street Journal "Hulbert uncovers distinctive details and lesser-known perspectives on the Civil War. Midwestern history buffs, take note."-Publishers Weekly "More than a biography of a 'natural-born troubadour' and 'fiercely loyal friend,' this fascinating book shows the Civil War and post-Civil War West for what it was, and how myths and legends were made."-Johnny D. Boggs, True West "Oracle of Lost Causes is an entertaining and informative read that is pushing the field of Civil War history in new and exciting directions-both in its style and content."-Summer Perritt, Civil War Monitor "Seasoned readers and readers new to Civil War–era historiography will find much to consider in this biography."-Claire M. Wolnisty, Journal of Arizona History "Hulbert provides a fine example to scholars of how to produce entertaining and productive scholarship."-Emerging Civil War "Hulbert's book is a vital contribution to our current efforts to confront the enduring legacies of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras."-Christopher Grasso, Missouri Historical Review "A thorough and admirable attempt to elevate a fascinating supporting character from the Civil War into a starring role . . . Hulbert's effort meets with great success."-Cecily N. Zander, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society "While the famous figures of the Civil War have garnered untold amounts of attention and while the South's Lost Cause has resulted in a glut of new scholarship in recent years, Matthew Cristopher Hulbert's Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War accomplishes a remarkable feat by adding something new to both Civil War biography and the study of Lost Cause memory."-Journal of Southern History “The life of John Newman Edwards defies belief. Florid, romantic, and intoxicated by barbarity, he championed the Old South in the quintessential border state, helping former Confederates gain power before he drank himself to death. In Matthew Hulbert’s capable hands, Edwards’s extraordinary story brings into focus the conflicts that made modern America, in a region that defies definition.”-T. J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Custer’s Trials and The First Tycoon

• List of Illustrations Preface: Coming of Age in an Age of Crisis Introduction: A Man at War with the World 1: Into the Forge 2: A Brigade of Iron 3: The Costs of Valor 4: In Quest of Camelot 5: War by Other Means 6: Architect 7: The Ghost and the Monster Epilogue: Fallen Prince Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index