Reconstruction after the Civil War [Paperback]

John Hope Franklin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226260798 | ISBN-13: 978-0226260792 | Publication Date: 1994 | Edition: 2nd

Ever since its original publication in 1961, Reconstruction after the Civil War has been praised for cutting through the controversial scholarship and popular myths of the time to provide an accurate account of the role of former slaves during this period in American history.

In this edition Franklin has updated his work to acknowledge the enormous body of research and scholarship that followed in the wake of the first edition. New are Franklin’s references to important, later texts that enrich the original narrative. In addition, the extensive bibliography has been thoroughly revised.

What has not changed, however, is the foundation Franklin has laid. Still compelling are his arguments concerning the brevity of the North’s military occupation of the South, the limited amount of power wielded by former slaves, the influence of moderate southerners, the flaws of the constitutions drawn up by the Radical state governments, and the reasons for the downfall of Reconstruction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 2nd edition (1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226260798
• ISBN-13: 978-0226260792
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very worth reading, December 25, 2008

By 

Metallurgist (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Reconstruction after the Civil War (Paperback)

I completely disagree with those reviewers who found this book to be poorly written or confusing. In my opinion it is neither. I found this book to be very clear and well written. This is a short book that provides many interesting insights into a period of American history that is very often neglected in most history books. If one reviewer found the book confusing it is possibly because this is a very controversial and highly confusing period of American history. This book is a good antidote for those whose knowledge of reconstruction was obtained by the distortions and bigotry of films like Birth of a Nation or from the books written by revisionist southern historians. Dr. Franklin outlines the several stages of reconstruction: the initial confederate dominated governments that passed "black" laws that introduced de facto slavery, the reaction of congress and the passage of laws which helped install state governments that contained former slaves and northern "carpetbaggers", the southern reaction to this that was dominated by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and finally the readmission and rehabilitation of the Southern states that led to the political marginalization of the former slaves. Along the way he discusses the almost impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and the disputed election of Rutherford B. Hays. I found this extremely interesting as he shows that the oft cited reason for the Southern Democratic support for the Republican Hays was not primarily because of a deal to remove Federal troops from the three states that had not yet been rehabilitated. The Democrat Tilden had promised to remove these troops. Dr. Franklin cites studies that show that the deal by which the Southern Democrats switched their votes to Hays was motivated primarily by a deal concerning federal support for southern railways.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Work, December 13, 2004

By 

jca360 (Monterey CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstruction after the Civil War (Paperback)

It's appalling that previous reviewers have denigrated this classic work by one of our counry's most distinguished historians. Born in 1915, Franklin was subject to the ugly aftermath of Reconstruction and wrote many definitive works on African-American history and the history of race relations. He has won innumerable honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and has chaired the American Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, the American Studies Association, the Southern Historical Association, and the President's Commission on Race (1997). Reviews that accuse him of being a poor writer or offering nothing beyond a high school history text (which would not have been written without his pioneering scholarship) only display the ignorance of the reviewers. Read this book, and Franklin's others!

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book But Dry Writing, September 17, 2010

By 

John Doe (Somewhere in New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstruction after the Civil War (Paperback)

Reconstruction After the Civil War reads like a tome, a boring one at that. The writing is dry at times, and my mind kept wandering also at times. No question the subject of Reconstruction after the end of Civil War is a fascinating one. There is an array of rich information in the book, and John Hope Franklin does a nice job of pointing out the progress whether it be politics, Negro suffrage, reconciliation between Northern and Southern states, public education, policies and laws, amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, and economy. I remember some weird pieces of information that I learned in a history textbook during high school that seemed to me a bias or perhaps just really off the mark, and the author actually addressed these points, the myths and stereotypes, in Reconstruction After the Civil War. It makes more sense from his explanations. Moreover, what I liked about the book is the careful analysis of many elements that were going on at once, and the author breaks them down in respective chapters. I wished that he could be more entertaining with his words. Make no mistake about it: Reconstruction After the Civil War represents a vital and important piece of African American history because it exactly lays out the roots of the problems that would lay ahead of the Negroes in the South throughout the 20th century, most especially the Civil Rights movement of 1960s. It's fascinating when I think about it: the creation of Jim Crow laws stemming from the hatred of the Whites, the hate groups (the Ku Klux Klan was actually not the only one), the ignorance by the Northern states of the real problems going on in the South, and the lack of sincere effort to educate the Freedmen (since they were going to stay in United States for good, what could they do?) from the outset which actually led future decaying morals and values among African Americans along with high rates of imprisonment and penury. Henceforth, the problems have brought out long term ramifications in terms of cost that would throw United States in debt. All in all, Reconstruction After the Civil War is an excellent book in spots yet the writing needs to be less dry.