shiped on time, in great condition.
the book was shipped on time, condition was same as stated online. gread overall experience.
Reconstruction and the American West
In "West from Appomatox", Professor Heather Cox Richardson focuses on the role of the American West in defining the American experience and the American character in the decades following the Civil War to the present. Richardson is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The story of Reconstruction is usually viewed as involving the victorious North and the defeated South. In the opening chapters of her book, Richardson gives a good brief summary of the Reconstruction era. But she does not stop there. She goes on to show how the West became emblematic during Reconstruction, for both Northerners and Southerners, of the promise of America. The idealized image of the American West came to symbolize "individualism. economic opportunity, and political freedom." (p. 221) In many ways, Richardson's view of the importance of the West is similar to that of the great early historian of this period, Frederick Jackson Turner. Richardson indeed brefly discusses (pp 281-283) Turner's famous thesis of the end of the American frontier and its significance.
The West became attractive to Northerners as a place for independence and opportunity, where the corruptions of large businesses and the agitation of the labor unions could be put aside. For Southerners, the West became a place to escape from the poverty that followed the Civil War and from the difficulties of Reconstruction. With the idealizing of the West, for Richardson, came a view that all Americans shared the same interests and the same ways of achieving success -- that they were "working their way up together." (p.1) This view led to the formation of a broad middle class, opposed on one side to the large concentrations of economic power in corporations and financial institutions and on the other side to "special interest groups" such as labor unions, African Americans, the poor, and strident advocates of women's rights. The emerging middle class viewed these groups as seeking special favors and entitlements while the middle class saw the role of the government as preserving impartiality and equality in its treatment of all people. The groups on the outside of this consensus, in their turn, pointed to structural factors in the United States which promoted inequality and unfairness and which required government intervention to correct. The middle class also tended to overlook the many affirmative government actions necessary to sustain its own view of America.
Richarson develops her narrative from the Reconstuction Era through the first appearance of "Liberal Republicanism" in 1872, to the terms of the reforms of Grover Cleveland, and through President McKinley and the Spanish American War. The political figure that most exemplifies, for Richardson, the spirit of this era is Theodore Roosevelt, who gets a great deal of attention in his early reforming years in New York City, in his venture to the West, as the leader of the Rough Riders on San Juan Hill and as the President. Richardson also devotes a great deal of attention to Owen Wister's novel, "The Virginian" as emblematic of American values at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Richardon's narrative tells of both broad events and of individuals that she sees as representative of some aspect of the development of the United States during the post-Civil War period. These individuals include, among others, former Confederate General Wade Hampton, Julia Ward Howe, the African American cowboy Nat Love, Buffalo Bill, Samuel Gompers, Indian leaders such as Sitting Bull, Geronimo and the Commanche leader Quanah. Their stories are told together with the broader historical narrative of Richardson's account, and sometimes interfere with its flow.
Richardson sees in the rise of the American middle class that followed the Civil War the sources of the divisions that continue to characterize American society between those who favor government intervention to assist disadvantaged groups and those who oppose it, even while benefiting from government activism themselves. Richardson finds much to be said for both sides, and for the opportunity for advancement and independence created by the emerging middle class, even though her sympathies clearly lie on the side of an activist government role. She writes, (p. 7): "America is neither excellent nor oppressive; rather it is both at the same time. In 1865, Americans had to reconstruct their shattered nation. Their solution "reconstructed" America into what it is today."
This is a thoughtful study of American history with provocative observations on the American character.
Robin Friedman
American dialogue
Heather Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox
I have been searching for something on reconstruction after the civil war written since Eric Foner's books. I found it in Ms Richardson's book but not in the way I was seeking. Her book reglosses post civil war history from the perspective of the dialogue between might ex pre facto be called the entitlement society versus the ownership society. This is certainly an interesting way of thinking about American society in the last 35 years of the nineteenth century and it does show how racist Southerners were able to reassert their despotic political control over the South. Nonetheless I missed being able to read about the nitty gritty of failed reconstruction in the South. I misconstrued her subtitle. Ms. Richardson's reconstruction is that of American society back with a racist South using it minority political clout to get its way and the entitlement which owners insisted for themselves while denying it to blacks, workers and women which was beginning to be hedged in by emerging social reform. Her book is interesting and worthwhile to read but I still want a historian's update of the subject I originally sought. Charlie Fisher author of Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World
US History, 1865 to circa 1901
The period of US History between the US civil war and the Theodore Roosevelt administration is currently an extremely overlooked period, and it is nice to see a book that takes a good look at this time frame. You can see the starts of many aspects of US life in the twentieth century that began in this both relatively peaceful era (at least compare to other time periods) where various "special interests" began to take shape - the women's movement, large corporations/"trusts", African Americans, etc. Richardson's thesis is that the individuals who came out on top by Roosevelt's presidency was a rather nebulous group known as the middle class -mostly white, mostly male, mostly owning a small but definite chunk of the US economy (small businesses, farms, etc.).
A few things you should know before reading this book. First of all, this is a pretty general survery of late 19th century America squished into 360 pages- it does not focus on westward expansion specifically, nor the southeast US, as the title may make you think. Richardson picks notable individuals that span the race and economic spectrum. It is the breadth rather than depth that is both this book's main strength AND weakness. As far as bias is concerned, I would disagree with other reviewers in that there's any obvious liberal bias - her coverage of the haymarket riots, for example. If anything, she is biased towards the middle class in this book. Her epilogue bashing Reagan as a pseudo-cowboy was surprising to me.
In terms of flow, at some points its very nice, at other times it is as stiff as a college textbook (I could easily see this being a part of a junior/senior undergraduate course).
I'm glad I read this book, and I recommend it, despite some flaws.
wonderful addition to the literature
I am not going to say much because I agree with all the positive comments made by the other reviewers... after reading this excellent book I had a much better understanding of present day history and how it unfolded after the Civil War.
(9 reviews)
