Why read The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic?

Book cover of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920

Book description

We are told that the present moment bears a strong resemblance to Reconstruction, when freed-people and the federal government attempted to create an interracial democracy in the south after the Civil War. That effort was overthrown and serves as a warning today about violent backlash to the mere idea of…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Eugene L. Meyer

Author

I loved this book for its expansive view of the Civil War era, extending from the election of Abraham Lincoln through the immediate postwar Reconstruction well into the 20th century. As history has taught us, gains made soon after the Confederate defeat were soon lost, and battles remained to be fought over the same constitutional grounds for decades—and are still being fought today.

Historian Manisha Sinha has crafted a sweeping new history that relates the “lords of the lash” with “the lords of the loom,” linking Southern slaveholders to Northern industrialists. I found this connection convincing and essential for understanding…

From Eugene's list on The best books about slavery and the Civil War era you should not miss.