Building on arguments presented in The Struggle for Equality; James McPherson shows that many abolitionists did not retreat from Reconstruction; as historical accounts frequently lead us to believe; but instead vigorously continued the battle for black rights long after the Civil War. Tracing the activities of nearly 300 abolitionists and their descendants; he reveals that some played a crucial role in the establishment of schools and colleges for southern blacks; while others formed the vanguard of liberals who founded the NAACP in 1910. The author's examination of the complex and unhappy fate of Reconstruction clarifies the uneasy partnership of northern and southern white liberals after 1870; the tensions between black activists and white neo-abolitionists; the evolution of resistance to racist ideologies; and the origins of the NAACP.
#5065171 in Books Princeton University Press 1997-05-05Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.13 x 6.47 x 9.59l; #File Name: 069102894X321 pages
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. A much needed; study of the revival of Japanese folk a artBy Dr. D. J. AshmoreTravellers to; and scholars of; Japan have always marvelled at the wonderfully intricate and romantic Bunraku puppet theatre tradition.However; few writers in the English language have ever gone beyond the form of the art which is known to us today to look at the root and branch of puppet tradition in Japan. Yet; though the Bunraku tradition can be said to be the ultimate evolved form of Japanese puppet art as a whole; in ignoring the traditions which gave raise to it students of the art are unable to appreciate some of the aspects of the art to their fill extent. This is why this work by professor Law is of such great import to the world of Japanese theatre arts. In deconstructing a single puppet theatre tradition - the Awaji Island school (possibly the oldest in Japan and probably the branch of the art from which most if not all later schools emerged) - right down to its most basic elements; the reader is made acutely aware of the fact that puppet arts did not spring into being; whole and immaculate; in the nineteenth century as some descriptions of the rise of Bunraku might have it; neither were they the product of the partnership of Chikamatsu Monzaemon and the Takemoto Theatre as other schools of thought maintain. Professor Law shows her audience quite clearly how and (the probable reasons) why puppet arts became important to the Japanese people and - which is more - why they retained their popularity long into the Early Modern era when such arts were being almost universally discarded or marginalized on the continent. She reminds us of the socio religious aspects of the art which have become so divorced from the very touristy puppet theatre traditions which form the of the Bunraku Association and presents to the reader physical evidence of the survival of other; older traditions which are equally deserving of study as the monotheistic National Puppet theatre (and; one might argue; which are far more deserving of recognition because of the way in which some of these traditions even now teeter on the brink of oblivion - driven there by the academic indifference of a century and more).In brief then. A most marvellous book; which has opened up the world of Japanese puppet arts in a way never attempted before.Clearly the most important work in this area of study for many decades.
