Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877

Eric Foner

Dec 2011 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

From the "preeminent historian of Reconstruction" (New York Times Book Review), a newly updated edition of the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period which shaped modern America, with a new introduction from the author.

Eric Foner's "masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history" (New Republic) redefined how the post-Civil War period was viewed.

Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans—black and white—responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves' 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; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans.

This "smart book of enormous strengths" (Boston Globe) remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War period—an era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.

Ratings and reviews

An exhaustive (and sometimes exhaustingly detailed) account of Reconstruction in both the South and North. It is hard to imagine that any other work on this subject is as complete. One would like to audit the author's lectures at Columbia. The main defect, for which the publisher is to blame, is the extraordinary number of typos and blocks of misplaced text, which become an aggravating distraction. As this volume is "newly reissued," one wonders that it wasn’t proofed for such errors.

About the author

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.