Douglass R. Egerton Reconstruction

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While the Reconstruction Era lasted only a short time its impact on the nation’s progression was far reaching. Scholar Douglas R. Egerton attempts to encapsulate the trials and tribulations of Reconstruction in his publication, The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era. The slaves might not have freed themselves, but it was up to them, according to Egerton, to build some sort of appreciable meaning into that freedom. For that purpose Egerton sets Reconstruction in the South.Unlike many of his contemporaries, Egerton does not rely on narrative stylings to tell Reconstruction’s story; instead he utilizes an array of local primary sources such as newspaper reports, case law, and various other outlets

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