Rating: 
Summary: Reconstruction Revisited
Review: A major undertaking. Eric Foner and Leon Litwack (Been in the Storm so Long) have rescued Reconstruction from the dustbin of history. Each has offered a timely re-exploration into one of the most pivotal periods in American History. For Foner, Reconstruction represents the often forgotten conclusion to the Civil War, an attempt to address the social injustices that resulted from over two centuries of slavery. What is even more compelling about Foner's account is that he absorbs the early women's suffrage movement into this early battle for Civil Rights.This remarkably well-researched book gives probably the most thorough examination of Reconstruction to date. Foner begins in 1863 with the emancipation proclamation, and carries the era through to 1877, when a fateful compromise was reached by Republicans and Democrats which led to the notorious period of Redemption, in which most of the gains during this period of time were nullified. Foner covers a tremendous amount of ground. He has uncovered old court records and other valuable information, which demonstrate just how active a role Blacks had in Reconstruction. He notes the seminal work of W.E.B. DuBois (Black Reconstruction in America), which went largely ignored by the "Dunning School," which interpreted Reconstruction as an unmitigated failure in social improvement. Foner, like DuBois, notes how many beneficial social changes came as a result of Reconstruction such as public health, education and welfare. But the Redeemers could hardly stand to see Blacks in power, and fought tooth and nail to re-establish the old social order in the South, finally winning over the Grant administration, which pardoned the Southern states, and allowed them to regain the political ascendency, much to the chagrin of the Radical Republicans, who had been instrumental in shaping the Civil Rights legislation of this time. This book presents so many revealing portraits. It is as much a social as it is a political history of Reconstruction. Of the many compelling stories was the attempt by Blacks to make a thriving concern of the former Jefferson Davis plantation. Despite the fact that Jefferson Davis' brother had ceded the plantation to the former slaves, the Mississippi courts eventually gave title to Davis' heirs. During this brief halcyon period, the freedmen had made a success of the plantation, never realized under the Davis administration. Foner offers this case, as well as many others, to demonstrate that the former slaves were fully committed to Reconstruction, and so this as the opportunity to gain the social and political ascendency they had long been denied. One is left to wonder what it might have been like had callous Republicans like Rutherford B. Hayes not sold out Reconstruction, and allowed the process to continue through the late 19th century. Instead, the Redeemers nullified much of what had been gained, leading to the notorious era of Jim Crow.
Rating:
Summary: Reconstruction Revisited
Review: A major undertaking. Eric Foner and Leon Litwack (Been in the Storm so Long) have rescued Reconstruction from the dustbin of history. Each has offered a timely re-exploration into one of the most pivotal periods in American History. For Foner, Reconstruction represents the often forgotten conclusion to the Civil War, an attempt to address the social injustices that resulted from over two centuries of slavery. What is even more compelling about Foner's account is that he absorbs the early women's suffrage movement into this early battle for Civil Rights. This remarkably well-researched book gives probably the most thorough examination of Reconstruction to date. Foner begins in 1863 with the emancipation proclamation, and carries the era through to 1877, when a fateful compromise was reached by Republicans and Democrats which led to the notorious period of Redemption, in which most of the gains during this period of time were nullified. Foner covers a tremendous amount of ground. He has uncovered old court records and other valuable information, which demonstrate just how active a role Blacks had in Reconstruction. He notes the seminal work of W.E.B. DuBois (Black Reconstruction in America), which went largely ignored by the "Dunning School," which interpreted Reconstruction as an unmitigated failure in social improvement. Foner, like DuBois, notes how many beneficial social changes came as a result of Reconstruction such as public health, education and welfare. But the Redeemers could hardly stand to see Blacks in power, and fought tooth and nail to re-establish the old social order in the South, finally winning over the Grant administration, which pardoned the Southern states, and allowed them to regain the political ascendency, much to the chagrin of the Radical Republicans, who had been instrumental in shaping the Civil Rights legislation of this time. This book presents so many revealing portraits. It is as much a social as it is a political history of Reconstruction. Of the many compelling stories was the attempt by Blacks to make a thriving concern of the former Jefferson Davis plantation. Despite the fact that Jefferson Davis' brother had ceded the plantation to the former slaves, the Mississippi courts eventually gave title to Davis' heirs. During this brief halcyon period, the freedmen had made a success of the plantation, never realized under the Davis administration. Foner offers this case, as well as many others, to demonstrate that the former slaves were fully committed to Reconstruction, and so this as the opportunity to gain the social and political ascendency they had long been denied. One is left to wonder what it might have been like had callous Republicans like Rutherford B. Hayes not sold out Reconstruction, and allowed the process to continue through the late 19th century. Instead, the Redeemers nullified much of what had been gained, leading to the notorious era of Jim Crow.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of American history
Review: Based on 98 sets of private papers and more than fifty contemporary periodicals and newspapers, Eric Foner's Reconstruction is a superbly researched work of history. But this book is more than simply a synthesis that refutes the racist Dunning school interpretations. It is an invaluable and innovative work of history in its own right. First, Foner emphasizes the self-activity of the African-American community in its own right, as ex-slaves struggle to form their own churches, educate their children, revive their family life and mobilize themselves for political action. Second, Foner notes that racism cannot be seen as a diabolos de machina, dooming Reconstruction policies on the shoals of immutable prejudice, but as a complex phenomenon that, though very powerful, was also effected by other forces. Third, and perhaps most important, Foner explains the Reconstruction period as part of a transition towards capitalism. He is excellent on the implications and limitations of the Republican free labor policy, and on how African-Americans and white yeomanry tried to maintain their independence from the market and were ultimately sabatoged in this goal by the malevolence of the reconfigured and reconstitued Southern elite. For these passages alone, Foner has made an invaluable contribution to a Marxist interpretation of American history. One should not forget Foner's considerable skills of summarization and detail. One remembers such details as the fact that Andrew Johnson was so cheap and penny-pinching that he opposed aid to assist the victims of the Irish potato famine. One is struck repeatedly by the use of violence to defeat Reconstruction (300 African-Americans alone were murdered by vigilantes in the summer of 1874 in Mississippi). One is also struck by Foner's insight on many issues. When I first read this book thirteen years I was amazed to realize that white opposition to the Confederacy was not simply confined to West Virginia and border states like Tennessee, but also to the interior regions of Alabama and North Carolina. There is also Foner's portrait of Lincoln who, if less than heroic in this account, is redemmed by an open-mindedness and willingness to consider alternatives. Foner also refutes the vulgar Beardian view that the Republican Radicals were nothing more than an advance army for Northern Industrialists, though at the same time pointing out the limitations of their laissez faire ideology. As the best volume in the Harper and Row New American Nation series one should point out that Foner also goes into detail about the transformation of the North, the rise of industrial capitalism, of labor protest, of the fate of the women's suffrage movement, and the brutal conquest of the West. Foner is also acute on the difficulties between the black-white alliance in much of the South, which was not merely the result of white racism, but also the undermining of yeomary independence and the contradictions of Southern Republican policy. (It needed to raise taxes to insure vital public services like education, but it also tried to encourage market production at a time when massive debt and low commodity prices insured the weakening of small landholders.) But what makes Foner's account so superb is that it is a moving and haunting narrative of a great injustice and a great tragedy. Foner discusses the ungeneous attitude of the post Civil war Southern elite as they sought to reintroduce as much of slavery as they could, and as they vitiated education and the judiciary and other protections for freed people. To everyone's surprise the Radical Republicans are able to arouse enough popular opposition to overcome this. But they are limited by a tragic flaw: their free labour ideology cannot recognize the reality of class struggle. Their laissez-faire ideology limits their options. Foner is excellent on the fate of the land question, and he points out that land itself would not have ensured Africa-American prosperity. But every little bit helps and every little bit hurts. As one reads the results of "Redemption," and the rise of violence, disfranchisement, the sacking of black education, the adulteration of the judicial and creditor system to benefits whites against blacks and planters against everyone else, one learns a vital truth. The Reconstruction era was arguably the Republican party's finest hour, as it willingly went to the defense of a despised and powerless minority. By contrast, with its psychotic racism and fatuous laissez-faire cant, this was one of the worst hours of any American conservatism. In his History of the American People, Woodrow Wilson once condescendingly referred to the ex-slaves as "a host of dusky children untimely let out of school." Of course, slavery was a school whose pupils were forbidden to read and never allowed to graduate from. In reading this book, one can feel only rage at those intellectuals who euphemize violence and condescend to its victims.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of American history
Review: Based on 98 sets of private papers and more than fifty contemporary periodicals and newspapers, Eric Foner's Reconstruction is a superbly researched work of history. But this book is more than simply a synthesis that refutes the racist Dunning school interpretations. It is an invaluable and innovative work of history in its own right. First, Foner emphasizes the self-activity of the African-American community in its own right, as ex-slaves struggle to form their own churches, educate their children, revive their family life and mobilize themselves for political action. Second, Foner notes that racism cannot be seen as a diabolos de machina, dooming Reconstruction policies on the shoals of immutable prejudice, but as a complex phenomenon that, though very powerful, was also effected by other forces. Third, and perhaps most important, Foner explains the Reconstruction period as part of a transition towards capitalism. He is excellent on the implications and limitations of the Republican free labor policy, and on how African-Americans and white yeomanry tried to maintain their independence from the market and were ultimately sabatoged in this goal by the malevolence of the reconfigured and reconstitued Southern elite. For these passages alone, Foner has made an invaluable contribution to a Marxist interpretation of American history. One should not forget Foner's considerable skills of summarization and detail. One remembers such details as the fact that Andrew Johnson was so cheap and penny-pinching that he opposed aid to assist the victims of the Irish potato famine. One is struck repeatedly by the use of violence to defeat Reconstruction (300 African-Americans alone were murdered by vigilantes in the summer of 1874 in Mississippi). One is also struck by Foner's insight on many issues. When I first read this book thirteen years I was amazed to realize that white opposition to the Confederacy was not simply confined to West Virginia and border states like Tennessee, but also to the interior regions of Alabama and North Carolina. There is also Foner's portrait of Lincoln who, if less than heroic in this account, is redemmed by an open-mindedness and willingness to consider alternatives. Foner also refutes the vulgar Beardian view that the Republican Radicals were nothing more than an advance army for Northern Industrialists, though at the same time pointing out the limitations of their laissez faire ideology. As the best volume in the Harper and Row New American Nation series one should point out that Foner also goes into detail about the transformation of the North, the rise of industrial capitalism, of labor protest, of the fate of the women's suffrage movement, and the brutal conquest of the West. Foner is also acute on the difficulties between the black-white alliance in much of the South, which was not merely the result of white racism, but also the undermining of yeomary independence and the contradictions of Southern Republican policy. (It needed to raise taxes to insure vital public services like education, but it also tried to encourage market production at a time when massive debt and low commodity prices insured the weakening of small landholders.) But what makes Foner's account so superb is that it is a moving and haunting narrative of a great injustice and a great tragedy. Foner discusses the ungeneous attitude of the post Civil war Southern elite as they sought to reintroduce as much of slavery as they could, and as they vitiated education and the judiciary and other protections for freed people. To everyone's surprise the Radical Republicans are able to arouse enough popular opposition to overcome this. But they are limited by a tragic flaw: their free labour ideology cannot recognize the reality of class struggle. Their laissez-faire ideology limits their options. Foner is excellent on the fate of the land question, and he points out that land itself would not have ensured Africa-American prosperity. But every little bit helps and every little bit hurts. As one reads the results of "Redemption," and the rise of violence, disfranchisement, the sacking of black education, the adulteration of the judicial and creditor system to benefits whites against blacks and planters against everyone else, one learns a vital truth. The Reconstruction era was arguably the Republican party's finest hour, as it willingly went to the defense of a despised and powerless minority. By contrast, with its psychotic racism and fatuous laissez-faire cant, this was one of the worst hours of any American conservatism. In his History of the American People, Woodrow Wilson once condescendingly referred to the ex-slaves as "a host of dusky children untimely let out of school." Of course, slavery was a school whose pupils were forbidden to read and never allowed to graduate from. In reading this book, one can feel only rage at those intellectuals who euphemize violence and condescend to its victims.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive Reconstruction book
Review: Dozens of books have been written about the Civil War, but so few have been written about the period afterward, known as Reconstruction. One picture this book paints is of a 3-way feud among the rich whites (who had owned plantations & slaves before the war), the poor whites (who had been self-sufficient farmers) & the emancipated slaves. The war & Reconstruction changed the lives of all 3 groups forever, not necessarily for the better. For those who want to know more about this chapter of American history than they were taught in high-school & college history classes, this is the definitive book.
Rating:
Summary: The standard for Reconstruction scholarship
Review: Eric Foner breaks no new ground with this book. The demolition of the traditional portrayal of Reconstruction as a period of unmitigated evil and injustice, where rapacious and corrupt Northerners joined with incompetent black Southerners to deny virtuous white Southerners of their rightful place in government, began as early as 1909; with a paper presented by WEB DuBois at Columbia University. The demolition was largely completed by Kenneth Stampp's 1965 book about Reconstruction, and it would be difficult to find a reputable scholar today who would disagree with the general premise of revisionist scholarship about Reconstruction: that while Reconstruction state governments and the Republican Congress were very much creatures of their time, they accomplished much that was good and noble, and that the criticisms of them by the Redeemers and their sympathizers in the academic community were frequently unjust and based on bald racial prejudice. Instead of breaking new ground, Foner's book does an admirable job consolidating the revisionist consensus. With his emphasis on the role that the former slaves themselves played in Reconstruction, he emphatically rejects the notion, sometimes present even in revisionist scholarship, that somehow whites... were the only agents in Reconstruction. Likewise, he presents a nuanced portrayal of the Republican coalition in Congress that enacted the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875, the Reconstruction Acts, the Enforcement Acts, and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871: they were not monolithic Radicals, nor were the Radicals among them monolithic in their goals and ideals. Finally, he does an admirable job of replacing Reconstruction in the social, economic, and global context that so many accounts have managed to remove it from. Foner's prose is lucid and engaging, and his book is well-researched... and well-organized aside from a couple of minor editorial lapses... It is more complete and more all-encompassing than any other single-volume book about Reconstruction that I know about, and it ought to be the starting point for anyone interested in the period. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Even-handed and thorough
Review: Eric Foner is probably the foremost historian of the Reconstruction era. This book is an even-handed, very carefully written explanation of one of the most complicated periods in American history. Foner provides good references and a well-organized bibliography for further reading. Best of all, the text itself is just a pleasure to read.... I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful and thorough look at a nexus in american history
Review: Eric Foner once again makes an important contribution to the understanding of our nations history of the mid-to-late 19th century. In this book, Foner picks an epoch of our nations history that is so fraught with passion and hyberpole that it is often difficult to sift through the heat and noise to undestand the critical substrate. Foner examines the critical contributers to the shaping of this period (abolitionists, negros, southern sympathizers and the 19th century political machines) and fairly and thoroughly articulates their motivations, tactics and the ultimate result of their efforts. Most refreshingly, Foner spends ample time examining the contributions of the freed slaves themselves - a needed counterpoint to history from both sides of the debate which focus on the freed slave as either victim or usurper, but which rarely offers insight into their motivations and the more subtle aspects of their achievements. While other histories have focused on such achievements as the election of negros to the position of senator, etc., Foner looks at more lasting impacts such as the formation of the independent black churches and the shift of black labor patterns from gang-work to independent sharecroppers working subsistence plots. Added to such insights are a wealth of references of other eminent scholars of the period and a wider view of 19th century america within which to place an understanding of reconstruction. All in all an excellent read. I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: An example of what is wrong with academic history today
Review: Eric Foner's Reconstruction is an example of what is wrong with academic historical writing today. It is overwritten, under-edited, and it in no way provides an adequate synthesis of the period. It, therefore, fails to promote a better understanding of the period for anyone without a fair amount of previous knowledge of this era.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent survey of the period
Review: Foner is an excellent writer, and he manages in this book to provide an engaging overview of this period in American history. What's more, the narrative is shaped throughout by a provocative and convincing interpretation of the events and what they meant for this country.
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