The period following the Civil War was one of the most controversial eras in American history. This comprehensive account of the period captures the drama of those turbulent years that played such an important role in shaping modern America.
Eric Foner brilliantly chronicles how Americans, black and white, responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the Civil War and the end of slavery. He provides fresh insights on a host of other issues, including,
The ways in which the emancipated slave’s quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction;The remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it;The evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations;Abraham Lincoln’s attitude toward Reconstruction;The role of “carpet-baggers” and “scalawags;” andThe role of violence in the period.This “smart book of enormous strengths” (Boston Globe) has become the classic work on the wrenching post–Civil War period, an era whose legacy reverberates in the United States to this day.
Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and the author of several books. In 2006 he received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia University. He has served as president of the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Society of American Historians. He lives in New York City.
Norman Dietz is a writer, an actor, and a solo performer. Since 1962, he has toured coast to coast, presenting his work before audiences all over the United States and Canada. He is the author of the comic novel Nailing It, as well as Fables & Vaudevilles & Plays and The Lifeguard and the Mermaid, collections of his work for the stage. Norman has also performed frequently on radio and television, and he has recorded over 150 audiobooks, many of which have earned him awards from AudioFile magazine, the ALA, and Publishers Weekly. Additionally, AudioFile named Norman one of the Best Voices of the Century. He lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.