The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction
This impressive work on the South in the last third of the 19th century, taken in conjunction with the publication of James M. McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom ( LJ 3/1/88) and Eric Foner's Reconstruction ( LJ 4/1/88), demonstrates that synthesis of a vast amount of new scholarship on a much-studied and critical period of American history is not only possible but can also be extraordinarily interesting and well written. Ayers (history, Univ. of Virginia) brings together in his highly readable study recent research on the New South era, much of it dealing with such previously neglected groups as poor whites and taking advantage of 25 years of "revisionist" history to employ such once-innovative, now standard methods as quantification and community studies. While not ignoring events in traditional seats of power, Ayers shows the interconnection of political and social change. He doesn't try to cover every topic but offers a comprehensive overview of an important era, drawing on the best work of many historians.- Charles K. Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.