The Great Task Remaining Before Us: Reconstruction as America’s Continuing Civil War
This collection of 11 essays is a volume in Fordham University’s “Reconstructing America Series.” Building on the theme that the Civil War did not truly end with the cessation of hostilities between the opposing armies, the essays explore various topics in the history of the South in the aftermath of Appomattox. Each essay is brief but well researched with copious endnotes reflecting both knowledge of recent scholarship and primary sources. Selections include discussions of Unionists in West Tennessee; the plight of Free Blacks in New Orleans before, during and after the war; and the development and experiences of South Carolina general and future politician Wade Hampton in the postwar years. Other writings consider the evolution of the Republican Party from its free-soil roots to an alliance with established business interests and the plight of USCT troops in postwar Kentucky. Those interested in case studies on Reconstruction or familiar with the historical bent of Eric Foner’s Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution will find this slim volume well executed and well worth reading.
Reviewer: Kenneth Williams Kenneth D. Williams is writing a book on the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteers and is doing doctoral level work in American history. He has worked as a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site.
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Notes, index, 205 pp., 2010, Fordham University Press,