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mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
I was introduced to Tourgee in the book [b:We as Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson|2687657|We as Freemen Plessy v. Ferguson|Keith Weldon Medley|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1340682310s/2687657.jpg|2712982], which described Tourgee's advocacy of Plessy before the Supreme Court. That book also described Tourgee's fiction of the Reconstruction in enough interesting detail that I decided to try his first major work. By the way, I read the electronic version of the work available at http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/tourgee/menu.html.
The novel is based upon Tourgee's time in the South as a "carpet-bagger". Our protagonist is Comfort Servosse, a Union soldier who moves his family south (in the area where he fought) after the Civil War. His aim is to carry out the changes in Southern politics and society that he believes he fought for in the war. However, the title is apt --- Servosse acts as a fool in the early going (as he fails to understand how his words and actions impact supporters of the former Confederacy) and then realizes how foolish the entire endeavor is in the latter part of the novel.
It is this realization that is the strongest part of the novel. Tourgee outlines not only what the North and South believe, but what they believe about each others' beliefs. The result is a dramatization of the immense gulf between the intentions of the North and the unyielding nature of the South. In a reversal of the usual saying, Tourgee argues that the South lost the war, but won almost every subsequent political and moral battle. The efforts of "radical" Northerners and newly freed slaves, even with the help of Reconstruction, are ultimately cast aside. (Note that Tourgee argues that Reconstruction did not go far enough, and his protagonist is not surprised when the compromise eventually fails.)
In many ways, this is a novel of polemic. Tourgee, for much of the book, focuses not on action, but communication: letters to and from the Servosse family (including one from a Senator urging the quick work of Reconstruction for political reasons) as well as oral descriptions of various events. For most of the book, I was fascinated with the documentation (assumably slightly fictionalized) that Tourgee provides. The section on the development and power of the Ku Klux Klan is particularly chilling.
However, in the last third or so of the book, Tourgee turns to plot. Servosse's daughter, barely present throughout the beginning of the book, becomes a central figure. We have a thrilling escape from the KKK and thwarted romance. It's nicely written (if somewhat florid), but not of a piece with the first part of the book. Indeed, with this turn, the rest of the novel is mostly concerned with rich white Southerners and how they will live with each other, not the freed slaves.
A solid read to help with understanding Reconstruction, but a flawed ending.
The novel is based upon Tourgee's time in the South as a "carpet-bagger". Our protagonist is Comfort Servosse, a Union soldier who moves his family south (in the area where he fought) after the Civil War. His aim is to carry out the changes in Southern politics and society that he believes he fought for in the war. However, the title is apt --- Servosse acts as a fool in the early going (as he fails to understand how his words and actions impact supporters of the former Confederacy) and then realizes how foolish the entire endeavor is in the latter part of the novel.
It is this realization that is the strongest part of the novel. Tourgee outlines not only what the North and South believe, but what they believe about each others' beliefs. The result is a dramatization of the immense gulf between the intentions of the North and the unyielding nature of the South. In a reversal of the usual saying, Tourgee argues that the South lost the war, but won almost every subsequent political and moral battle. The efforts of "radical" Northerners and newly freed slaves, even with the help of Reconstruction, are ultimately cast aside. (Note that Tourgee argues that Reconstruction did not go far enough, and his protagonist is not surprised when the compromise eventually fails.)
In many ways, this is a novel of polemic. Tourgee, for much of the book, focuses not on action, but communication: letters to and from the Servosse family (including one from a Senator urging the quick work of Reconstruction for political reasons) as well as oral descriptions of various events. For most of the book, I was fascinated with the documentation (assumably slightly fictionalized) that Tourgee provides. The section on the development and power of the Ku Klux Klan is particularly chilling.
However, in the last third or so of the book, Tourgee turns to plot. Servosse's daughter, barely present throughout the beginning of the book, becomes a central figure. We have a thrilling escape from the KKK and thwarted romance. It's nicely written (if somewhat florid), but not of a piece with the first part of the book. Indeed, with this turn, the rest of the novel is mostly concerned with rich white Southerners and how they will live with each other, not the freed slaves.
A solid read to help with understanding Reconstruction, but a flawed ending.
snowlilly's review against another edition
4.0
sort of cheating. but not really since I read it all.
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