Reconstruction

The definitive history of America's unfinished revolution, the years after the Civil War when the country tried to build a multiracial democracy and was forced, by violence and fatigue, to stop. Foner restored Reconstruction to its rightful place as the hinge of the national story: a moment of genuine possibility, betrayed. To understand why the franchise fight never ended, you start here. The promise was made after Appomattox and abandoned within a generation.

The historian who made Reconstruction central to how Americans understand their own unfinished revolution. His Reconstruction is the definitive account of the years after the Civil War when the country tried, and was forced to stop trying, to build a multiracial democracy. The Second Founding reads the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as a refounding of the republic. He writes about the promise the country made after Appomattox and then abandoned.