Splendid Failure

By Michael W. Fitzgerald

Book Overview

Michael W. Fitzgerald's new interpretation of Reconstruction shows how the internal dynamics of this first freedom movement played into the hands of white racist reactionaries in the South. Splendid Failure recounts how postwar financial missteps and other governance problems quickly soured idealistic Northerners on the practical consequences of the Radical Republican plan, and set the stage for the explosion that swept Southern Republicans from power and resulted in Northern acquiescence to the bloody repression of voting rights. The failed strategy offers a chastening example to present-day proponents of racial equality.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566637392
• ISBN13: 9781566637398
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An excellent survey evolves

SPLENDID FAILURE: POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH is a pick recommended for any college-level collection strong in American Civil War history in general and Southern history in particular. It analyzes and surveys the role of the Radical Republication Reconstruction policies which followed the war with particular attention to the role they played in the overthrow of their own program, offering a different interpretation of Reconstruction and the struggle for civil liberties in the South. An excellent survey evolves which offers depth and detail especially suitable for classroom debate and discussion.

An excellent book

Splendid Failure by Fitzgerald is an excellent book which can give anyone a good background in the history of Reconstruction. The book is easy to read and is accessible to anyone without much knowledge in American history. Most of all, however, the book places the Reconstruction in the larger context of American history, also examining the forces of industrialization in America and the impacts that the Civil War had on the South. Through this multi-faceted approach, the reader can gain a thoughtful and clear perspective on the Reconstruction. -Highly Recommended