Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877
by Eric Foner
View on GoodreadsIn Eric Foner's history, Reconstruction starts in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation rather than at the war's end, and freed people are the ones driving it. You watch violence, racism and fading Northern commitment undo their gains, though the civil rights movement later built on what they laid down.
Core ideas
- Their own aims: Freed people pursued land and education and served in government as officeholders and voters.
- Land was decisive: In Foner's argument, the failure to redistribute plantation land was decisive, and Reconstruction was bound up with Northern industry and labor conflict.
- How it ended: Klan violence, the depression of 1873 and the settlement of 1877 ended federal intervention, overturning the white supremacist story of failure.
Published1988
Pages690
ISBN9780060937164
ReadJan 2021
