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Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
by: Eric Foner

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.8
EAN: 9780060937164
ISBN: 0060937165
Label: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 736
Publication Date: February 01, 2002
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Release Date: February 05, 2002
Sales Rank: 22358
Studio: Harper Perennial Modern Classics

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
This 'masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history' (New Republic) made history when it was originally published in 1988. It redefined how Reconstruction was viewed by historians and people everywhere in its chronicling of how Americans -- black and white -- responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. This 'smart book of enormous strengths' (Boston Globe) has since gone on to become the classic work on the wrenching post-Civil War period -- an era whose legacy reverberates still today in the United States.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A Masterpiece
This book, along with Foner's Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, provides extremely valuable insights into a crucial turning point in American history, which still resonates today. Both are masterpieces of synthesis and interpretation. Both are scholarly and detailed, yet convey a feeling of excitement at the events described. Both enable the reader to relive the tensions, aspirations, thoughts, and struggles of the times they describe.
Foner was a Marxist-Leninist when he wrote both books. But he never allowed his Marxism to vitiate his historical analysis. On the contrary, he constantly emphasized that the motives that propelled the participants were ideas and ideals, not economic interest or social class (e.g., pages 233-4, 468-70, 486-7). Moreover, he pointed out (page xxv) that during Reconstruction "Americans made their first attempt to live up to the noble professions of their political creed - something ... Read More

Rating:

- Worth Every Page
This exhaustive, comprehensive and completely detailed masterpiece is a complete post-revisionist account of Reconstruction, providing analysis of every conceivable angle. It includes a convincing refutation of the Dunning school, why a revisionist school emerged, the nuts and bolts of Presidential Reconstruction, why "Radical Reconstruction" was never truly radical. The book describes how the undertaking was too vast for a small 19th century central government, why the state governments were unwilling and unable to deliver very much, and how ultimately, the effort failed.

There is an abridged version of this work for the general reader. However, I suggest a reading of the longer book. Even at 600 pages, it is worth it. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is the definitive account of reconstruction.

Rating:

- Long, dry but very complete account
If you are looking for a cursory overview of the Reconstruction years following the American Civil War, this is NOT the book for you. However, if you are not afraid to take on a lot of historical facts, this is a good book that covers the political waxing and waning era. I've often wondered how we got from such a "righteous cause" to the turn of the century civil rights mess we had. This book helped me better understand the realities of the times. Not easy to read but worth the effot.

Rating:

- Where Did You Go Mr. Thaddeus Stevens...
I finished this book this weekend. It took me the better part of the summer to get through the 600+ pages of text. This is not an easy read, in many cases it was downright depressing. Oftentimes, I stopped because I just couldn't read anymore. There was only so much 'man's inhumanity to man' you can take. While good, and righteous people sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

Other times this book had me racing to Google or Wikipedias to bring back knowledge about people and places Foner describes more fully. For all the salacious things said about the Radical Republicans a huge debt is owed to Senator Thaddeus Stevens. He led the charge for overturning President Johnson's veto on the 13th Amendment and help craft the 14th and 15th as well. Steven's was a visionary, and had we done what he advocated we might have preempted 100 years of prolonged guerilla warfare after the Civil War. I read that ... Read More

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