Reconstruction: A Concise History

Reconstruction: A Concise History

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Summary

Allen C. Guelzo's Reconstruction: A Concise History is a gracefully-written interpretation of Reconstruction as a spirited struggle to re-integrate the defeated Southern Confederacy into the American Union after the Civil War, to bring African Americans into the political mainstream of American life, and to recreate the Southern economy after a Northern, free-labor model.

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Reconstruction: A Concise History by Allen C Guelzo

The era known as Reconstruction is one of the unhappiest times in American history. It succeeded in reuniting the nation politically after the Civil War but in little else. Conflict shifted from the battlefield to the Capitol as Congress warred with President Andrew Johnson over just what to do with the South. Johnson's plan of Presidential Reconstruction, which was sympathetic to the former Confederacy and allowed repressive measures such as the "black codes," would ultimately lead to his impeachment and the institution of Radical Reconstruction. While Reconstruction saw the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments, expanding the rights and suffrage of African Americans, it largely failed to chart a progressive course for race relations after the abolition of slavery and the rise of Jim Crow. It also struggled to manage the Southern resistance towards a Northern free-labor economy. However, these failures cannot obscure a number of accomplishments with long-term consequences for American life, among them the Civil Rights Act, the election of the first African American representatives to Congress, and the avoidance of renewed civil war. Reconstruction suffered from poor leadership and uncertainty of direction, but it also laid the groundwork for renewed struggles for racial equality during the civil rights movement. In this concise history, award-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo delves into the constitutional, political, and social issues behind Reconstruction to provide a lucid and original account of a historical moment that left an indelible mark on the American social fabric.
Allen CGuelzo's Reconstruction: A Concise History is a streamlined overview of the era by one of the major historians of the Civil War period. In this succinct but informative work, Mr. Guelzo traces the course of Reconstruction over time - its troublesome political and legal path - and helps us grasp both what it accomplished and why it failed. * Wall Street Journal *
A well-balanced assessment of the achievements and lost opportunities of an era, Allen Guelzo's Reconstruction: A Concise History is a solid introduction to the topic. It's also a fitting gateway for those curious enough to want to investigate the more in-depth treatments of all kinds that populate the modern Reconstruction bookshelf. * Civil War Books and Authors *
Allen C. Guelzo is Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Three-time winner of the Lincoln Prize, he is the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, which won the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780190865696
ISBN 10 0190865695
Title Reconstruction: A Concise History
Author Allen C Guelzo
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Year published 2018-06-14
Number of pages 192
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable