a short history of reconstruction 1863 1877

There are a slew of new issues that need addressing in any broad work on Reconstruction, including notions of nationalism and whiteness, the gendering of labor practices, religion and popular culture, and art and literature. Even Vernon Burton's new synthetic work on the Civil War, The Age of Lincoln, progresses further in time than Foner's account. At this point, Reconstruction is without a definitive starting point (some begin in 1861 some in 1863 and some in 1865) and without a definitive ending point (some conclude in 1877 some in 1898 and some in 1917). I have tried to tie notions of whiteness, religiosity, and American nationalism into the story with Reforging the White Republic. Scott Poole investigated the power of religion in the saga of Reconstruction. David Blight followed the older work of Paul Buck to show how historical memories of the Civil War influenced Reconstruction, while Daniel Stowell and W. Heather Cox Richardson identified the American West as a crucial site of activity and imagination, while Cecilia O'Leary showed how new terms of nationalism were constructed in the decades following the war. Kirk Savage demonstrated how racial ideas were mapped onto the sculpture of Reconstruction. Labor and class historians, including Susan O'Donovan in her recent Becoming Free, uncovered the intricate relationships between labor, power, work, and gender at the local level of everyday life. Edwards, LeeAnn Whites, and Nina Silber, have shown that Foner neglected issues of gender that were central to the postwar recreation of southern and northern societies. The entire field of Reconstruction is once again open for debate. Still Bloody, Still Tragic: The History of ReconstructionĪlmost twenty years ago, historian Michael Perman ended his review of Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 with a troubling question: 'Ironically, because this synthesis is so successful and thorough, it does raise one unsettling question and leave it unanswered-what is left to be done?' Thankfully, the last twenty years has seen its number of challengers to Foner.

A short history of reconstruction 1863 1877