The Reconstruction of America After the Civil War
Heather Cox Richardson
Yale University Press
A sweeping history of the United States from the era of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, West from Appomattox stretches the boundaries of our understanding of Reconstruction. Heather Cox Richardson ties the North and West into the post–Civil War story that usually focuses narrowly on the South, and in so doing, shows that the story of Reconstruction is not simply about the rebuilding of the South after the Civil War.
Instead, the late nineteenth century defined modern America, as Southerners, Northerners, and Westerners gradually hammered out a national identity that united three regions into a country that could become a world power. By weaving together the stories of a wide range of individuals, West from Appomattox paints a compelling portrait of a pivotal period in the formation of modern America.