For a generation; scholarship on the Reconstruction era has rightly focused on the struggles of the recently emancipated for a meaningful freedom and defined its success or failure largely in those terms. In The Ordeal of the Reunion; Mark Wahlgren Summers goes beyond this vitally important question; focusing on Reconstruction's need to form an enduring Union without sacrificing the framework of federalism and republican democracy. Assessing the era nationally; Summers emphasizes the variety of conservative strains that confined the scope of change; highlights the war's impact and its aftermath; and brings the West and foreign policy into an integrated narrative. In sum; this book offers a fresh explanation for Reconstruction's demise and a case for its essential successes as well as its great failures. Indeed; this book demonstrates the extent to which the victors' aims in 1865 were met--and at what cost.Summers depicts not just a heroic; tragic moment with equal rights advanced and then betrayed but a time of achievement and consolidation; in which nationhood and emancipation were placed beyond repeal and the groundwork was laid for a stronger; if not better; America to come.
#2598118 in Books 2016-02-29 2016-02-29Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .31 x 6.50l; .4 #File Name: 1467115649128 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful and insightful look into an inland Navy base during ...By Okie_guyWonderful and insightful look into an inland Navy base during WW II and after. Oklahoma most always has wind. The Navy did a great job of picking a place to train carrier pilots and get excellent support from the people of the heartland.
