Reviews
Highly recommended.
--Choice
Persuasively argues that many questions remain unanswered about this frequently misunderstood period in American history. . .a necessary and welcome contribution to the historiography of American Reconstruction.
--Southern Historian
This fine collection is highly recommended for scholars of emancipation and the postbellum South.
--Journal of American History
What the essays capture, more than anything else, is the indeterminate nature of, and connection between, the struggle over labor relations, the reconstitution of kinship and community, and the un-link between violence, class, and the postwar state....In all, the essays contained in After Slavery make for essential and compelling reading for anyone interested in new trends, questions, and methodologies in the study of Reconstruction.
--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
A welcome book . . . [An] ambitiously conceived, admirably innovative collection.
--The Historian
Show[s] how black political activism almost invariably led to violence by white conservatives. . . . [and] depict[s] a diverse and courageous group of black communities during Reconstruction.
--North Carolina Historical Review
Represent[s] some of the most innovative work in the field of Reconstruction history. . . . An important book that all scholars of the Civil War and Reconstruction will need to engage.
--Louisiana History
The essays highlight how the Reconstruction era was truly a tumultuous period in which black self-determination, the plight of white yeoman farmers, labor radicalism of urban workers, and the desires of emasculated masters converged. . . . Will truly enhance both undergraduate and graduate courses on the legacy of emancipation, and, most importantly, they will spark new avenues of research for young scholars.
--Reviews in American History