While this book provides an alternate perspective on the history of the reconstruction era the scholarship involved is often questionable.
Claude Bowers was a southern historian of the Dunning school, a group which sought to interpret the events of reconstruction from the perspective of the white southerners who lived through it. In this aim Bowers is perhaps too successful, in that he minimizes the negative repercussions of the southern whites struggle to regain control of the state governments. The Tragic Era covers the period from the assassination of Lincoln to the election of Hayes in 1877. This book was published in the 1920s and steps into many of the pitfalls of historical writing of that period. These include but are not limited too a focus on narrative which can easily lose sight of the big picture. An over reliance on certain types of sources such as newspapers and letters also hurt the books ability to give readers a sense of things more generally.
However questionable his sources Bowers is doubly to blame for the oblique and convoluted method by which he provides information. Often political figures are referenced only by a single name or title rather than being specified. This means that a reader unfamiliar with the time period will need to constantly look up information from other sources to fill in the gaps. While this book has some value for its unorthodox perspective the statements contained within must not be confused for facts and its interpretation of events must be treated as suspect.
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ISBN-13: 978-1406773644
ISBN-10: 1406773646
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These include but are not limited too a focus on narrative which can easily lose sight of the big picture
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Why Southerners might hold a grudge: they were sorely and cruelly abused after an honorable surrender.
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