Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction
"Once or twice in every generation a historian has the patience and enterprise to return to some supposedly established conception of our past, carve away a long-standing mistinterpretation, and expose a part of the true surface....Woodward has done exactly that, and I believe he has provided us with one of the major historical insights of our time."--Richard Hofstadter,Columbia University"In this eminently readable volume Woodward has made a major contribution to our understanding of Southern interests and issues.  His penetrating and provocative analysis of this most far-reaching compromise of our national history indicates clearly the inadequacy and superficiality of long accepted myths.  And it provides us with important insights into the realities of contemporary Southern and national politics.  This is history as it should be written--and read."--R.D. Heffner,The Nation"An important book, and a work of live scholarship."--The New Yorker"Woodward must be given credit for bringing together the story in a superb bit of historical craftmanship....A convincing account, with a detective's skill and keen sense of the meaning of small leads and an understanding of the larger aspects of history."--E.M. Coulter,Saturday Review ofLiterature"A magnificent book....This circumstantial account of the inner workings of the Compromise that ended Reconstruction reads like a detective story."--Rupert B. Vance,University of North Carolina"A fresh, vital thing, full-bodied, incisive, revealing.  At long last we know all the unsavory details."--Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Sciences"An illuminating and thorough study....[Woodward] writes political history with an appreciation of its drama, excitement, and larger meaning."--Library Journal