Review
Effectively captures the turmoil and frustrations of the era. . . . [and] shows how economic woes affected Reconstruction's prospects.--Publishers Weekly
Marvelously written.--CHOICE
A new narrative of the period featuring novel interpretations and sparkling insight.--North Carolina Historical Review
No short review can do this rich book justice.--Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Skillfully written and a benefit to students, scholars, and those fascinated with the postwar years.--Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Summers's rich and careful new history of Reconstruction stands out in a crowded field....[His] mastery of the sources has allowed him to write an impressively thorough history of the period, and to pull together diverse strains with uncommon sophistication.--H-Net Reviews
Readers interested in Reconstruction will find Summers' book to be a rollicking, deeply researched overview....[A] colorful guide to the politics of the era.--Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Summers has devoted almost half a century to a study of the period, and it shows.--Blue & Gray Magazine
A valuable resource for scholars who teach in the field of Reconstruction.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
A superb spinner of tales. . . . An important book, full of details and insights, and it deserves serious attention.--Journal of Southern History
An overall framework for understanding the key problems of the period. . . . This is an important book, providing food for thought, if only because, tonally as well as substantively, it offers a counterpoint to the dominant narrative.--Journal of the Civil War Era
Understanding Reconstruction as its contemporaries did, as a time to consolidate the nation but not to remake it, to guarantee its peaceful future and to secure its evolution, but not to revolutionize it, Mark Summers follows the Reconstruction story chronologically as well as thematically in a fast-paced narrative. The Ordeal of the Reunion exhibits the hand of a seasoned and thoughtful historian, thoroughly conversant with both the time period and its sources.--John David Smith, author of Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops
Mark Summers, one of the more prolific scholars of the Reconstruction era, has written on everything from ideas of paranoia to political corruption. The Ordeal of the Reunion is characterized by a depth of research that reflects a lifetime of labor and reflection. Summers's newest work is worthy of scholarly attention while being lively enough for a popular audience.--Michael Fitzgerald, St. Olaf College
About the Author
Mark Wahlgren Summers is professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of A Dangerous Stir: Fear, Paranoia, and the Making of Reconstruction.
