Scan barcode
Reviews
West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson
kmhst25's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
While informative and at times entertaining, I didn't get the information that I was hoping for from this book, and I don't think that the information it did provide actually tied together neatly.
I was hoping to learn more about what happened in the South after slavery ended. Where did the former slaves go, how did they live, how were they treated, and why is Johnson generally considered to have betrayed them specifically and Reconstruction in general. Instead, the focus of the book is on politics.
The overall thesis is that modern politics were shaped by Reconstruction politics, which were largely composed of: those who believed that anyone could succeed through hard work versus those who believed that disadvantaged groups required the government's assistance in order to have a shot at economic prosperity.
But that link to modern politics is hardly discussed after the first few pages. Instead, the political happenings of the Reconstruction period are detailed, largely in a vacuum. There's still a lot of interesting information in that, and Cox Richardson works hard to tie the lives of individual people into the political happenings, but the thesis isn't really played out to the end and the people that I am most curious about (the former slaves) are given the least attention.
I was hoping to learn more about what happened in the South after slavery ended. Where did the former slaves go, how did they live, how were they treated, and why is Johnson generally considered to have betrayed them specifically and Reconstruction in general. Instead, the focus of the book is on politics.
The overall thesis is that modern politics were shaped by Reconstruction politics, which were largely composed of: those who believed that anyone could succeed through hard work versus those who believed that disadvantaged groups required the government's assistance in order to have a shot at economic prosperity.
But that link to modern politics is hardly discussed after the first few pages. Instead, the political happenings of the Reconstruction period are detailed, largely in a vacuum. There's still a lot of interesting information in that, and Cox Richardson works hard to tie the lives of individual people into the political happenings, but the thesis isn't really played out to the end and the people that I am most curious about (the former slaves) are given the least attention.
bookwyrmsam's review against another edition
3.0
Though I did gain a lot of insight into post-Civil War America from this book and I appreciated the nuanced approach to discussions of the many political topics covered throughout, I ultimately found the writing to be somewhat dry and repetitive which made it difficult to get through. While it's probably more engaging than a straight up textbook I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are particularly interested in the development of modern political party lines between the Civil War and the 1890's. All that being said, I will remind that non-fiction is not my typical reading preference so if you enjoy reading about history this might be your jam!
greeniezona's review against another edition
informative
4.0
So early in the pandemic I was looking for something to give some structure to my days, and something to talk to my parents about other than pandemic stress, and I missed our Civil War reading group, so I called my dad and asked if he wanted to start a series of buddy reads, starting with Reconstruction as a topic.
I chose this book from a list of books on Reconstruction, and while I agree that it was about the U.S. in the period after the Civil War, and the way the concept of the U.S. was changing during that time, I was a little disappointed with how little time was spent on capital R Reconstruction of the South. The book did give a lot of interesting context to what else was going on in America at they time -- what shaped the forces that perhaps caused Reconstruction to go the way that it did -- however I did feel that the subtitle (The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War) gives a misleading impression. I wouldn't recommend this as the first book you read on Reconstruction, but I would certainly recommend it as the second or the third.
There is a lot of context to give. I think I appreciated most the information on the settling of the West post-Civil War, on Deadwood and Black cowboys and the beginning of the National Park system. As always, with any good history book, this left me with a list of topics I want to learn more about -- the towns settled, owned, and governed by Black people after the war, the ways the once united abolition and women's suffrage movements were split apart, the history of Chinese immigration and exclusion in the west.
An ambitious and valuable work.
I chose this book from a list of books on Reconstruction, and while I agree that it was about the U.S. in the period after the Civil War, and the way the concept of the U.S. was changing during that time, I was a little disappointed with how little time was spent on capital R Reconstruction of the South. The book did give a lot of interesting context to what else was going on in America at they time -- what shaped the forces that perhaps caused Reconstruction to go the way that it did -- however I did feel that the subtitle (The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War) gives a misleading impression. I wouldn't recommend this as the first book you read on Reconstruction, but I would certainly recommend it as the second or the third.
There is a lot of context to give. I think I appreciated most the information on the settling of the West post-Civil War, on Deadwood and Black cowboys and the beginning of the National Park system. As always, with any good history book, this left me with a list of topics I want to learn more about -- the towns settled, owned, and governed by Black people after the war, the ways the once united abolition and women's suffrage movements were split apart, the history of Chinese immigration and exclusion in the west.
An ambitious and valuable work.
leestewart's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Though not a breezy read, this book is worth the mental labor and stamina it requires. This isn’t to say that it’s stuffy or poorly written. Quite the contrary. Richardson has created a readable and illuminating account of Reconstruction that may surprise some, especially in regard to its contemporary relevance. To boil the book down, this is an account of how Reconstruction is actually the story of how the middle class came to be, and how the West played a role in constituting the individualism at its heart. Glad to have read it. Learned a lot about both the past and the present.
i_am_still_bb's review against another edition
4.0
As the title suggests, West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America After the Civil War deals with Reconstruction. Rather than sticking to the traditional narrative of North and South, Richardson includes the West. She attempts to include the frontier lands of the Texas and the territories into this story. For the most part the narrative follows a familiar pattern only this time the effects of Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction on the Western parts of the country are included. Richardson includes the origins of cattle drives and “Cow Boy[s]” as part of this narrative. However, not as much time is spent on the “West” as one would expect given the title. Despite this, Richardson ties westward expansion, the gold rush, and the rapid increase of the non-Indian population in territories to the story of Reconstruction.
These elements are included to add to Richardson’s argument. She seeks to answer the question “Clearly there is a stark regional contrast in American though between the reality of government activism and Americans’ image of it. How did nineteenth-century Americans negotiate this contrast? … How did nineteenth-century Americans justify the expansion of government activism and still retain their wholehearted belief in individualism?” Richardson explores the dialectical tensions between the ideal of free labor and self-determination and the reality of government aid. The West is included because she says these issues play out most clearly in the West, which was unhampered by the baggage and stigma of the war and the Western states and territories lacked long established governments and laws that would complicate the paradox of the middle-class advocating for self-determinism and condemning special interest groups while receiving government aid.
To tell this story Richardson uses narrative from characters that fit her definition of middle class was “Regardless of how much money they made those who believed they could make it on their own saw themselves as part of the ‘great middle’ between rich monopolists and the lazy poor.” This allows her to include a diverse cast of characters including Wade Hampton, Buffalo Bill, Julia Ward Howe, Sitting Bull, Andrew Carnegie, among others. Her definition of “middle class” allows for the inclusion of Hampton, who was the wealthiest man in antebellum South Carolina and lost his position after the war, and Carnegie, the steel giant that made his fortunes in industry after the war.
To tell the story of her host of characters Richardson pulls from their memoirs and letters to construct her “narrative history.” It is her focus on these primary source documents that led her to exclude other famous figures of the time, they failed to leave behind journals, correspondence, or memoirs to provide insight into their daily lives and feelings. Richardson wanted to immerse herself, and by extension the reader, in the world of the late 1800s. Her use of primary sources aides her in this endeavor, because the reader often encounters excerpts from Julia Ward Howe’s journals describing how she felt about the changes that were taking place around her.
Richardson’s focus is unique. Few monographs of Reconstruction touch on the West at all, even though it was disagreements over whether new states should allow slavery or not. And fewer still claim to deal with the West as thoroughly as Richardson claims to do. Her overall narrative, the struggles over labor and the paradox of ideals versus reality, is not new, it is the arena that is new. It places the story of Reconstruction in the “Wild West” among the American folk heroes of Buffalo Bill, John Henry, and many others; a time and place that seems utterly detached from the Civil War in many aspects. While the majority of the book deals with familiar places and themes the sections on the West are enlightening and unique.
The context combined with the narrative format makes the book compulsively readable and accessible. As mentioned earlier, less of the book focuses on the West than the title leads one to believe, which is disappointing. The information it does include about different Native American tribes, clashes between settlers, railroad men and Native Americans and their origins, combat that initial disappointment. Richardson tries to tie her narrative to the 2004 presidential election map which she uses to open and close her book. This, however feels strained. More than 100 years pass between the end of Reconstruction and the 2004 election, demographics have changed, cities are no longer dealing with the growing pains of industrialization, instead they are struggling to create post-industrial identities. It may have been better to connect the historic idea of the West and the modern idea of the West and wilderness and use that to frame the narrative.
These elements are included to add to Richardson’s argument. She seeks to answer the question “Clearly there is a stark regional contrast in American though between the reality of government activism and Americans’ image of it. How did nineteenth-century Americans negotiate this contrast? … How did nineteenth-century Americans justify the expansion of government activism and still retain their wholehearted belief in individualism?” Richardson explores the dialectical tensions between the ideal of free labor and self-determination and the reality of government aid. The West is included because she says these issues play out most clearly in the West, which was unhampered by the baggage and stigma of the war and the Western states and territories lacked long established governments and laws that would complicate the paradox of the middle-class advocating for self-determinism and condemning special interest groups while receiving government aid.
To tell this story Richardson uses narrative from characters that fit her definition of middle class was “Regardless of how much money they made those who believed they could make it on their own saw themselves as part of the ‘great middle’ between rich monopolists and the lazy poor.” This allows her to include a diverse cast of characters including Wade Hampton, Buffalo Bill, Julia Ward Howe, Sitting Bull, Andrew Carnegie, among others. Her definition of “middle class” allows for the inclusion of Hampton, who was the wealthiest man in antebellum South Carolina and lost his position after the war, and Carnegie, the steel giant that made his fortunes in industry after the war.
To tell the story of her host of characters Richardson pulls from their memoirs and letters to construct her “narrative history.” It is her focus on these primary source documents that led her to exclude other famous figures of the time, they failed to leave behind journals, correspondence, or memoirs to provide insight into their daily lives and feelings. Richardson wanted to immerse herself, and by extension the reader, in the world of the late 1800s. Her use of primary sources aides her in this endeavor, because the reader often encounters excerpts from Julia Ward Howe’s journals describing how she felt about the changes that were taking place around her.
Richardson’s focus is unique. Few monographs of Reconstruction touch on the West at all, even though it was disagreements over whether new states should allow slavery or not. And fewer still claim to deal with the West as thoroughly as Richardson claims to do. Her overall narrative, the struggles over labor and the paradox of ideals versus reality, is not new, it is the arena that is new. It places the story of Reconstruction in the “Wild West” among the American folk heroes of Buffalo Bill, John Henry, and many others; a time and place that seems utterly detached from the Civil War in many aspects. While the majority of the book deals with familiar places and themes the sections on the West are enlightening and unique.
The context combined with the narrative format makes the book compulsively readable and accessible. As mentioned earlier, less of the book focuses on the West than the title leads one to believe, which is disappointing. The information it does include about different Native American tribes, clashes between settlers, railroad men and Native Americans and their origins, combat that initial disappointment. Richardson tries to tie her narrative to the 2004 presidential election map which she uses to open and close her book. This, however feels strained. More than 100 years pass between the end of Reconstruction and the 2004 election, demographics have changed, cities are no longer dealing with the growing pains of industrialization, instead they are struggling to create post-industrial identities. It may have been better to connect the historic idea of the West and the modern idea of the West and wilderness and use that to frame the narrative.
mrpink44's review against another edition
4.0
Grade: B+
A well-written look at the Reconstruction Era through a narrative of a number of individuals such as Carnegie, Muir, Jane Addams, Leland Stanford, Geronimo, Samuel Gompers, and a host of other players from 1865-1901. The discussion revolving around big business, government intervention, special interest, and capital vs. labor, are not only relevant today, but show that in 100+years very little has changed and we are still grappling with the same issues from the Reconstruction Era. Definitely worth a read - enjoy.
A well-written look at the Reconstruction Era through a narrative of a number of individuals such as Carnegie, Muir, Jane Addams, Leland Stanford, Geronimo, Samuel Gompers, and a host of other players from 1865-1901. The discussion revolving around big business, government intervention, special interest, and capital vs. labor, are not only relevant today, but show that in 100+years very little has changed and we are still grappling with the same issues from the Reconstruction Era. Definitely worth a read - enjoy.