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Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877
Dazzling in scope, Ecstatic Nation illuminates one of the most dramatic and momentous chapters in America's past, when the country dreamed big, craved new lands and new freedom, and was bitterly divided over its great moral wrong: slavery.
With a canvas of extraordinary characters, such as P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and L. C. Q. Lamar, Ecstatic Nation brilliantly balances cultural and political history: It's a riveting account of the sectional conflict that preceded the Civil War, and it astutely chronicles the complex aftermath of that war and Reconstruction, including the promise that women would share in a new definition of American citizenship. It takes us from photographic surveys of the Sierra Nevadas to the discovery of gold in the South Dakota hills, and it signals the painful, thrilling birth of modern America.
An epic tale by award-winning author Brenda Wineapple, Ecstatic Nation lyrically and with true originality captures the optimism, the failures, and the tragic exuberance of a renewed Republic.
With a canvas of extraordinary characters, such as P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and L. C. Q. Lamar, Ecstatic Nation brilliantly balances cultural and political history: It's a riveting account of the sectional conflict that preceded the Civil War, and it astutely chronicles the complex aftermath of that war and Reconstruction, including the promise that women would share in a new definition of American citizenship. It takes us from photographic surveys of the Sierra Nevadas to the discovery of gold in the South Dakota hills, and it signals the painful, thrilling birth of modern America.
An epic tale by award-winning author Brenda Wineapple, Ecstatic Nation lyrically and with true originality captures the optimism, the failures, and the tragic exuberance of a renewed Republic.
741 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 2, 2013
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1679 people want to read
About the author
Brenda Wineapple
20 books132 followersBrenda Wineapple is the author of the award-winning Hawthorne: A Life, Genêt: A Biography of Janet Flanner, and Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in many publications, among them The American Scholar, The New York Times Book Review, Parnassus, Poetry, and The Nation. A Guggenheim fellow, a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, and twice of the National Endowment for the Humanities, she teaches in the MFA programs at Columbia University and The New School and lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
February 4, 2024
Brenda Wineapple’s Ecstatic Nation offers a sprawling, picaresque look at America in the mid-19th Century, from the Mexican War through the Civil War and Reconstruction, with numerous stops and side roads in between. The book's major flaw is the lack of a real through-line, ultimately becoming more a collection of vivid anecdotes and character sketches than a comprehensive history like, say, Battle Cry of Freedom, which covers roughly the same period. But what anecdotes and character sketches! Besides the obvious figures you'd expect (Lincoln, Grant, Mark Twain), Whiteapple spends time on fascinating side characters (Cuban-American filibuster Narciso Lopez, feminist Victoria Woodhull, numerous abolitionists and racial activists) and forgotten incidents (the Christiana riot against Southern slave catchers, the violent Reconstruction battles in South Carolina and Louisiana) that demonstrate the lengths to which America would contort and torture its self, compromise and redefine its values in an effort to remain whole - even at horrendous cost in blood and moral authority.
August 19, 2025
An Ecstatic America
Brenda Wineapple's new book, "Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848 -- 1877" (2013) offers an unusual, passionate portrayal of the United States from the years following the end of the War with Mexico through the Civil War, and to the conclusion of Reconstruction in 1877. Wineapple writes with literary flair, with an emphasis on both characters, familiar and unfamiliar, and on the telling incident or detail, The author or editor of many books primarily on Nineteenth Century American literature, Wineapple is the Doris Zemurray Stone Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies at Union College. She also teaches in the MFA programs at the New School University and Columbia University.
How, in Wineapple's view, was the United States an "ecstatic" nation in the decades surrounding the Civil War? Her answer is complex and focus on the brashness, self-confidence and yet inwardness of Americans in the mid-19th Century. Wineapple begins her answer with Ralph Waldo Emerson's description of the United States as a "country of beginnings, of projects, of designs, and expectations" before qualifying Emerson's answer in her own voice. "[T]he present was and the future would also be a time of delirium, failure, greed, violence, and refusal; refusal to listen and to find -- or create -- that hard common ground of compromise; refusal to bend, so great was the fear of breaking; refusal to change and refusal to imagine what it might be like to be someone else. ...In short, American was an ecstatic nation; smitten with itself and prosperity and invention and in love with the land from which it drew its riches -- a land grand and fertile, extending from one sea to another and to which its citizens felt entitled. Yet there was a problem -- a hitch, a blot, a stain. The stain was slavery."
Again, Wineapple writes: "For in the roiling middle of the nineteenth century, when Americans looked within, not without, there was an unassailable intensity and imagination and exuberance, inspirited and nutty and frequently cruel or brutal. There was also a seemingly insatiable and almost frenetic quest for freedom, expressed in several competing ways, for the possession of things, of land, and -- alas-- of persons. And in many instances there was a passion, sometimes self-righteous, sometimes self-abnegating, for doing good, even if that good included, for its sake and in its name, acts of murder."
Besides the bravura of America, Wineapple focuses on the conflict between compromise and principle. The discussion frequently moves into the realm of secularism -- the use of human reason and laws to explain and justify courses of conduct and the resort to a "higher law", usually religious, to which human institutions must respond. The tension between compromise and principle and the claimed resort to "higher law" have large ramifications throughout the study. Wineapple also explores how the American vision of freedom and opportunity all too often narrowed into a pursuit of financial success and, still more tragically, brushed aside the aspirations of some Americans, particularly in the case of slavery.
Although lengthy at nearly 600 pages of text, the book is short for the period it considers. The study consists of three large parts, the first dealing with the pre-Civil War years 1848 -- 1861, the second dealing with the Civil War itself, 1861 -- 1865, and the concluding section with Reconstruction, 1865 -- 1877. Each of these time periods has been the subject of many extended studies. Wineapple's study thus offers a broad overview which tries to find continuities and trends in this pivotal 30 year period. The study is suggestive rather than thorough and it flows quickly. Wineapple's approach tends to rely more on literature than would be the case in most historical studies. She relies and discusses the works of famous writers, including Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman as well as lesser-known authors, such as the Southern poet, Henry Timrod. She pays a great deal of attention as well to photography as it developed during this period, to newspapers, and to the showman P.T. Barnum.
The book frequently reads like a a series of moving biographies. The narrative will reach a person that Wineapple considers worth pursuing, and she will discuss that person at length, sometimes at different points in the study. She does so throughout with the novelist's eye for details that illuminate character. Some of her characters, of course, are the key figures of the era: Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Frederick Douglass, Jefferson Davis. Others are less well known. For example Wineapple discusses the abolitionist and children's book author Lydia Martin Child, (the author of the song "over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go") the feminist and free love advocate Victoria Claffin Woodhull, and the explorer and scientist Clarence King. Wineapple also focuses on details that frequently receive little attention in histories, such as the tragic Pemberton Mill Collapse in 1860, resulting in hundreds of deaths to millworkers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The result is a book that both takes a broad perspective and makes large claims and also uses stories and details of people to create an intimate account.
The book is a collage and portrayal of the United States, its conflicted goals, and the way the nation achieved or failed to achieve these goals. Overall, the section of the book dealing with the Civil War is the least effective as Wineapple focuses more on details than on the history of the conflict. The approach works better for the pre-Civil War years and, for the most part for Reconstruction. Portions of the history are perhaps treated too quickly.
Wineapple has written a thoughtful provocative book on the United States as an "ecstatic nation". The book will encourage its readers to reflect upon American history and upon the conflicts and tensions from the Civil War era that remain with Americans today.
Robin Friedman
Brenda Wineapple's new book, "Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848 -- 1877" (2013) offers an unusual, passionate portrayal of the United States from the years following the end of the War with Mexico through the Civil War, and to the conclusion of Reconstruction in 1877. Wineapple writes with literary flair, with an emphasis on both characters, familiar and unfamiliar, and on the telling incident or detail, The author or editor of many books primarily on Nineteenth Century American literature, Wineapple is the Doris Zemurray Stone Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies at Union College. She also teaches in the MFA programs at the New School University and Columbia University.
How, in Wineapple's view, was the United States an "ecstatic" nation in the decades surrounding the Civil War? Her answer is complex and focus on the brashness, self-confidence and yet inwardness of Americans in the mid-19th Century. Wineapple begins her answer with Ralph Waldo Emerson's description of the United States as a "country of beginnings, of projects, of designs, and expectations" before qualifying Emerson's answer in her own voice. "[T]he present was and the future would also be a time of delirium, failure, greed, violence, and refusal; refusal to listen and to find -- or create -- that hard common ground of compromise; refusal to bend, so great was the fear of breaking; refusal to change and refusal to imagine what it might be like to be someone else. ...In short, American was an ecstatic nation; smitten with itself and prosperity and invention and in love with the land from which it drew its riches -- a land grand and fertile, extending from one sea to another and to which its citizens felt entitled. Yet there was a problem -- a hitch, a blot, a stain. The stain was slavery."
Again, Wineapple writes: "For in the roiling middle of the nineteenth century, when Americans looked within, not without, there was an unassailable intensity and imagination and exuberance, inspirited and nutty and frequently cruel or brutal. There was also a seemingly insatiable and almost frenetic quest for freedom, expressed in several competing ways, for the possession of things, of land, and -- alas-- of persons. And in many instances there was a passion, sometimes self-righteous, sometimes self-abnegating, for doing good, even if that good included, for its sake and in its name, acts of murder."
Besides the bravura of America, Wineapple focuses on the conflict between compromise and principle. The discussion frequently moves into the realm of secularism -- the use of human reason and laws to explain and justify courses of conduct and the resort to a "higher law", usually religious, to which human institutions must respond. The tension between compromise and principle and the claimed resort to "higher law" have large ramifications throughout the study. Wineapple also explores how the American vision of freedom and opportunity all too often narrowed into a pursuit of financial success and, still more tragically, brushed aside the aspirations of some Americans, particularly in the case of slavery.
Although lengthy at nearly 600 pages of text, the book is short for the period it considers. The study consists of three large parts, the first dealing with the pre-Civil War years 1848 -- 1861, the second dealing with the Civil War itself, 1861 -- 1865, and the concluding section with Reconstruction, 1865 -- 1877. Each of these time periods has been the subject of many extended studies. Wineapple's study thus offers a broad overview which tries to find continuities and trends in this pivotal 30 year period. The study is suggestive rather than thorough and it flows quickly. Wineapple's approach tends to rely more on literature than would be the case in most historical studies. She relies and discusses the works of famous writers, including Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman as well as lesser-known authors, such as the Southern poet, Henry Timrod. She pays a great deal of attention as well to photography as it developed during this period, to newspapers, and to the showman P.T. Barnum.
The book frequently reads like a a series of moving biographies. The narrative will reach a person that Wineapple considers worth pursuing, and she will discuss that person at length, sometimes at different points in the study. She does so throughout with the novelist's eye for details that illuminate character. Some of her characters, of course, are the key figures of the era: Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Frederick Douglass, Jefferson Davis. Others are less well known. For example Wineapple discusses the abolitionist and children's book author Lydia Martin Child, (the author of the song "over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go") the feminist and free love advocate Victoria Claffin Woodhull, and the explorer and scientist Clarence King. Wineapple also focuses on details that frequently receive little attention in histories, such as the tragic Pemberton Mill Collapse in 1860, resulting in hundreds of deaths to millworkers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The result is a book that both takes a broad perspective and makes large claims and also uses stories and details of people to create an intimate account.
The book is a collage and portrayal of the United States, its conflicted goals, and the way the nation achieved or failed to achieve these goals. Overall, the section of the book dealing with the Civil War is the least effective as Wineapple focuses more on details than on the history of the conflict. The approach works better for the pre-Civil War years and, for the most part for Reconstruction. Portions of the history are perhaps treated too quickly.
Wineapple has written a thoughtful provocative book on the United States as an "ecstatic nation". The book will encourage its readers to reflect upon American history and upon the conflicts and tensions from the Civil War era that remain with Americans today.
Robin Friedman
October 31, 2015
This was a faboulas book by a prised historian and author. It covers the times band after the American Civil war. She speaks of America's strengths hopes and desires as well as her shames of womens inequality and slavery. The breadth and scope of this book are breath taking. I recommend this book to all interested in American history.
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond
Enjoy and Be Blessed.
Diamond
October 26, 2020
What a unique and engaging way to tell a story you might think you already know.
At first glance, it seems as though a book that sets out to tell the history of the United States from 1848-1877, encompassing the pre-war period, the entirety of the Civil War and then Reconstruction, with a dizzying array of supporting characters, can't possibly work. It must be either superficial, or unfocused.
Instead, Wineapple succeeds wonderfully. Beginning with the death of John Quincy Adams, who feared that only civil war could solve the vexing issue of slavery, and concluding with the end of Reconstruction, she tells the story of everything that happened in between through the eyes of those who lived it.
Lincoln, Grant, Lee - they're all in here, but the focus isn't on them, on Washington or on the battlefield. Instead, we hear from what seems like a cast of thousands from all walks of life - Walt Whitman! Elizabeth Cady Stanton! P.T. Barnum! All are introduced with biographical sketches that flow together well and don't feel like disconnected vignettes. This is especially valuable in the case of well-known figures like Frederick Douglass or John Brown, who appear in other history books only after they are fully-formed, but here you get a sense of how they came to be. All of their stories help to illustrate the various thoughts, opinions, debates and actions of the citizenry throughout this difficult and momentous era.
A book of this scope can't get ALL of the details right - for example, it tells of a meeting of all the ex-presidents ahead of the Civil War as though it actually happened, when in reality it was proposed but never actually occurred.
But overall, this is a literate and captivating way to tell a familiar story. There are other places to read about Civil War battles, strategy and pre- and post-war politics. But to get a sense of what it was like to actually live through this era and participate in the debates of the time, you could do no better than to read this book.
At first glance, it seems as though a book that sets out to tell the history of the United States from 1848-1877, encompassing the pre-war period, the entirety of the Civil War and then Reconstruction, with a dizzying array of supporting characters, can't possibly work. It must be either superficial, or unfocused.
Instead, Wineapple succeeds wonderfully. Beginning with the death of John Quincy Adams, who feared that only civil war could solve the vexing issue of slavery, and concluding with the end of Reconstruction, she tells the story of everything that happened in between through the eyes of those who lived it.
Lincoln, Grant, Lee - they're all in here, but the focus isn't on them, on Washington or on the battlefield. Instead, we hear from what seems like a cast of thousands from all walks of life - Walt Whitman! Elizabeth Cady Stanton! P.T. Barnum! All are introduced with biographical sketches that flow together well and don't feel like disconnected vignettes. This is especially valuable in the case of well-known figures like Frederick Douglass or John Brown, who appear in other history books only after they are fully-formed, but here you get a sense of how they came to be. All of their stories help to illustrate the various thoughts, opinions, debates and actions of the citizenry throughout this difficult and momentous era.
A book of this scope can't get ALL of the details right - for example, it tells of a meeting of all the ex-presidents ahead of the Civil War as though it actually happened, when in reality it was proposed but never actually occurred.
But overall, this is a literate and captivating way to tell a familiar story. There are other places to read about Civil War battles, strategy and pre- and post-war politics. But to get a sense of what it was like to actually live through this era and participate in the debates of the time, you could do no better than to read this book.
June 3, 2014
Ecstatic Nation caught me up completely with its a sweeping, exuberant, unflinching cultural and political history of the era surrounding the American Civil War, 1848--1877, years when the country was deeply divided by slavery, fiercely debating the rights of women, and bent on expanding westward into what was to have been lands set aside for Native Americans. Not just a series of events, Ecstatic Nation also tells the stories of the people of the time and their changing schemes, viewpoints, desires, values, moods, and circumstances.
Embedded in the narrative are incisive mini biographies of characters famous and not, including George Armstrong Custer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Childs, Jefferson Davis, Walt Whitman, Red Cloud, P. T. Barnum, William T. Sherman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson among far too many others to note them all here. Fascinating and eye-opening, with almost 600 pages of text supported by over 100 pages of notes Ecstatic Nation still manages to rip along presenting a lively sometimes disturbing but almost always compelling back-story of today’s United States.
Embedded in the narrative are incisive mini biographies of characters famous and not, including George Armstrong Custer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Childs, Jefferson Davis, Walt Whitman, Red Cloud, P. T. Barnum, William T. Sherman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson among far too many others to note them all here. Fascinating and eye-opening, with almost 600 pages of text supported by over 100 pages of notes Ecstatic Nation still manages to rip along presenting a lively sometimes disturbing but almost always compelling back-story of today’s United States.
August 8, 2015
Not entirely sure what prompted Brenda Wineapple to write a general history of the US during the Civil War/Reconstruction period. (Okay, I'm lying, I know this was probably more marketable than a niche history book.) The book shines when she has the opportunity to examine nooks and crannies of the period, from war correspondents during the Civil War to nature photography as a way to celebrate a unified America during the postwar period. Her emphasis on American imperialism in Latin America was a welcome surprise. And her discussion of radical politics during the era feels very vital. Wineapple finds in figures like Victoria Woodhull and Wendell Phillips a comprehensive critique of American society that is (sadly) still relevant in the 21st century, as well as a long-running friction between white feminists and supporters of black civil rights that has never entirely gone away. There is in ECSTATIC NATION a book of essays that I would give five stars too.
Then there's the Civil War, which can have a stations-of-the-Cross quality in popular history because of the familiarity of the major events. Wineapple can't escape that, and often falls back on tired cliches. So we learn that Robert E. Lee was graceful and dignified, but not that his Army of Northern Virginia kidnapped and enslaved black people during the Gettysburg campaign. She presents Lincoln as inactive during the succession crisis, ignoring his correspondence with Seward (which makes it clear that Lincoln was actively directing the Republican response as president-elect). And she laments that no politician during the 1850s was creative enough to develop a compromise that would satisfy North and South, but never says what compromise would have done that. (I would argue, along with Lincoln and Seward, that there was none; and beyond that, it's not clear to me that a compromise that may have preserved slavery for decades would have been preferable to war.) In short, it's not that different from the Civil War narrative in my high school textbook, and in some ways it felt seriously outdated.
If you're looking for general narratives of the Civil War and Reconstruction, there are better books out there. ECSTATIC NATION was a disappointment, in part because it can be very good when Wineapple covers something that engages her.
Then there's the Civil War, which can have a stations-of-the-Cross quality in popular history because of the familiarity of the major events. Wineapple can't escape that, and often falls back on tired cliches. So we learn that Robert E. Lee was graceful and dignified, but not that his Army of Northern Virginia kidnapped and enslaved black people during the Gettysburg campaign. She presents Lincoln as inactive during the succession crisis, ignoring his correspondence with Seward (which makes it clear that Lincoln was actively directing the Republican response as president-elect). And she laments that no politician during the 1850s was creative enough to develop a compromise that would satisfy North and South, but never says what compromise would have done that. (I would argue, along with Lincoln and Seward, that there was none; and beyond that, it's not clear to me that a compromise that may have preserved slavery for decades would have been preferable to war.) In short, it's not that different from the Civil War narrative in my high school textbook, and in some ways it felt seriously outdated.
If you're looking for general narratives of the Civil War and Reconstruction, there are better books out there. ECSTATIC NATION was a disappointment, in part because it can be very good when Wineapple covers something that engages her.
September 27, 2021
More of an historical overview than an actual case study, this book lives up to the hype it generated when it was released in 2013. The author does a great job of holding the reader's attention with a brisk, lively writing style and manageable chapter length. If you are looking to gain general knowledge about the time period concerned, this book is definitely worth you time. If you are looking for a more nuanced and esoteric narrative, this book may not be for you. But overall, a very good read.
September 21, 2014
I've been making an attempt, in the past 4 years, to learn as much as I possibly can about the United States in the 19th Century, because I deeply believe that the fuller understanding I am able to achieve about the America in the 1800s, the better I will understand the USA now. I've had the pleasure, over the past few years, of reading some masterful historians (Wills, Goodwin, Foner, Millard, Goodheart, Horwitz, Ackerman, McPherson, Oates, to name a few)and it's with great joy that I am able to add Brenda Wineapple's name to that list.
Ecstatic Nation is a riveting and lyric masterpiece, brilliantly told and transporting. Wineapple manages to swing her narrative through the sectional conflicts of the 1850s, through the Civil War, and the debacles of Reconstruction and the massacres of Indians. It's compelling storytelling, made all the more amazing through her masterful prose. Highly recommended.
Ecstatic Nation is a riveting and lyric masterpiece, brilliantly told and transporting. Wineapple manages to swing her narrative through the sectional conflicts of the 1850s, through the Civil War, and the debacles of Reconstruction and the massacres of Indians. It's compelling storytelling, made all the more amazing through her masterful prose. Highly recommended.
January 29, 2025
This is a history of the Civil War era in America. It starts in 1848 with the end of the Mexican-American War and the annexation of the Oregon territory. This forced the question of whether slavery would be permitted in newly created states. It ends in 1877 when the North gives up on attempting to protect the freed former slaves in the South.
Wineapple has an interesting approach to telling the story. This is not a military history. There are no detailed accounts of the great battles of the Civil War and no battle maps. This is not a hard-core political history. The political positions and trends are discussed but there is no close analysis of the debates, motions and bills in Congress or in the states. This is not an economic history. Monetary policy is barely mentioned. The development of industry and manufacturing is not discussed much, although she does discuss the employment conditions in the Northern mills.
This is an impressionistic portrait of the country. Wineapple features P. T. Barnum and his museum, the Mormons in Utah and Pemberton Mill collapse in Lawrence MA. She focuses on the Southern guerilla fighters like William Quantrill, and the creation of Yosemite National Park.
The idea, I think, is to give a sense of the full society rather than focusing only on the big subjects usually covered. She has a very interesting section on the tension between woman suffragettes and the supporters of Black suffrage after the war. The question was whether the campaigns for the vote for woman and for black citizens should both be supported at the same time. If not, which should go first?
She is very good on explaining the connections between things. The drive to annex Cuba, Nicaragua, or other Latin American countries was primarily a drive by Southerners to add new slave territory. There were few good battlefield reporters but the on the scene illustrators like Winslow Homer and the first photographs of dead bodies in a battlefield by Matthew Brady and his men, gave Americans a sense of the horror of the war.
This is not a narrative history. Wineapple jumps around and clearly focuses on issues that interest her. She seems fascinated by the intersections and disagreements between the ardent abolitionist, the committed woman suffragettes and the more moderate supporters of both causes.
This is a book with plenty of good pieces but no great overriding theme. That may be a good thing because this was a fragmented era.
Wineapple has an interesting approach to telling the story. This is not a military history. There are no detailed accounts of the great battles of the Civil War and no battle maps. This is not a hard-core political history. The political positions and trends are discussed but there is no close analysis of the debates, motions and bills in Congress or in the states. This is not an economic history. Monetary policy is barely mentioned. The development of industry and manufacturing is not discussed much, although she does discuss the employment conditions in the Northern mills.
This is an impressionistic portrait of the country. Wineapple features P. T. Barnum and his museum, the Mormons in Utah and Pemberton Mill collapse in Lawrence MA. She focuses on the Southern guerilla fighters like William Quantrill, and the creation of Yosemite National Park.
The idea, I think, is to give a sense of the full society rather than focusing only on the big subjects usually covered. She has a very interesting section on the tension between woman suffragettes and the supporters of Black suffrage after the war. The question was whether the campaigns for the vote for woman and for black citizens should both be supported at the same time. If not, which should go first?
She is very good on explaining the connections between things. The drive to annex Cuba, Nicaragua, or other Latin American countries was primarily a drive by Southerners to add new slave territory. There were few good battlefield reporters but the on the scene illustrators like Winslow Homer and the first photographs of dead bodies in a battlefield by Matthew Brady and his men, gave Americans a sense of the horror of the war.
This is not a narrative history. Wineapple jumps around and clearly focuses on issues that interest her. She seems fascinated by the intersections and disagreements between the ardent abolitionist, the committed woman suffragettes and the more moderate supporters of both causes.
This is a book with plenty of good pieces but no great overriding theme. That may be a good thing because this was a fragmented era.
June 11, 2015
A very nice survey of events in the US in the immediate antebellum period, during the Civil War, and during reconstruction. It was very readable; including an especially interesting chapter on the post Civil War struggle for women's sufferage, and the chapter on Clarence Rivers King. Overall, the post war section was more interesting. I had expected more coverage on the role of women in the antebellum antislavery movement, on the antebellum women's rights movement, and on the religious tie-ins.
One oddity in Chapter 11:
“the hero of First Manassas (?), Albert Sidney Johnston, mortally wounded at Shiloh” - Albert Sidney Johnston was not at First Manassas
One oddity in Chapter 11:
“the hero of First Manassas (?), Albert Sidney Johnston, mortally wounded at Shiloh” - Albert Sidney Johnston was not at First Manassas
July 23, 2013
This is the best work of history I've read this year -- and I'm pretty sure you'll feel the same way. If you like Doris Kearns Goodwin, Joseph Ellis, Jon Meacham, Annette Gordon Reed, then I promise you will love Brenda Wineapple.
March 7, 2017
A pretty interesting book that looks at the Civil War through it's politics and cultural events. A perspective I've never read read before.
April 27, 2024
I had no idea what to expect from this book. Was this book mainly a historical narrative? Was there any sort of focus? Why was the focus on these particular years? Who is Brenda Wineapple? Well, the book popped up as a discount offering from many of the “book sale” e-mail lists I receive, so I figured I’d give it a go. If I didn’t like it, it was cheap and could be easily dismissed and discarded. Fortunately I did like it. I liked it a lot. The book is quite big. It’s quite thick. Had it not been an e-book I may have shied away simply due to the volume. Electronic books are so much less intimidating where size is concerned.
As I first started reading this book, the main focus seemed to be the persistent issue of slavery (often referred to as “that peculiar institution” in the 1800s) and how it divided the young nation of America more than any other issue. I thought this was going to be the focus of the book. In a sense, it was; but that really wasn’t the intention. It’s just that the 30-year time period that this book focuses on really can’t diverge too much from the topic since it was so prevalent in all of the headlines. There really wasn’t that much else going on that warrants historical reflection. Yes, this book does focus on other things, but those areas don’t feel as rich nor even necessary. Author Brenda Wineapple manages to be a consistent, linear storyteller, and even though there are multiple areas of focus, she never seems to lose the reader by jumping around too much.
Essentially this book is broken into three sections: Pre-Civil War, Civil War, and Post-Civil War. The book is basically peppered with various anecdotes of the times. There were many unfamiliar individuals that played a relevant part in history as well as many familiar faces that I managed to learn more about as I read the book. We read some about the literature of the time, the geography (mostly the still unexplored part of the continent), Women’s suffrage, and the unfortunate fate of the North American Indian. Mostly, though, this book is about slavery, racism, and failed reconstruction attempts after the Civil War due to an incompetent commander in chief who abrasively got the job when his predecessor was killed at Ford’s Theatre.
Even though the focus itself tends to be somewhat narrow, the scope is quite large. There are a lot of stories to tell and a lot of moving parts within a young country. In other words, the author doesn’t just focus on the main movers and the shakers that we already have multiple biographies and histories that have been written and read. I would almost ascertain that this book just might be a good textbook for classroom reading; or perhaps supplemental reading as part of a college syllabus. I can sincerely see a university class being offered with the years covered here making an excellent course. History teachers take note. This time period was a very important and volatile part of the country’s history.
I have to sincerely say, though, that this book was not an easy read due to the country’s brutal treatment of non-white people. Although the author doesn’t specifically state so on the pages, a horrible lesson that our country learned is that even though we fought an incredibly bloody Civil War that eventually freed the slaves (and gave us 3 amendments around the issue), the victory ended up being very small and very minor, and many would argue we still haven’t received racial harmony 150 years after the fact. I hear a lot of white (always conservative) people maintain that racism doesn’t exist anymore and that this was “such a long time ago”. But if one were completely honest, we’d have to maintain that change has come incredibly slowly, and even though this book ends in 1877, one can easily see just how slowly civil rights issues have taken effect.
I would highly recommend this book, yet it really is difficult to “pinpoint” a key area of focus. This book is for the history lover, and for anyone who simply wants to learn more about this particular time in American History. This book is an excellent place to start, as well as excellent supplemental reading for those who already know a bit. Although it seemed quite long (again, hard to tell on an e-reader) it’s very well written and easy to understand and digest. All time periods in history deserve such a comprehensive account as what is available here.
As I first started reading this book, the main focus seemed to be the persistent issue of slavery (often referred to as “that peculiar institution” in the 1800s) and how it divided the young nation of America more than any other issue. I thought this was going to be the focus of the book. In a sense, it was; but that really wasn’t the intention. It’s just that the 30-year time period that this book focuses on really can’t diverge too much from the topic since it was so prevalent in all of the headlines. There really wasn’t that much else going on that warrants historical reflection. Yes, this book does focus on other things, but those areas don’t feel as rich nor even necessary. Author Brenda Wineapple manages to be a consistent, linear storyteller, and even though there are multiple areas of focus, she never seems to lose the reader by jumping around too much.
Essentially this book is broken into three sections: Pre-Civil War, Civil War, and Post-Civil War. The book is basically peppered with various anecdotes of the times. There were many unfamiliar individuals that played a relevant part in history as well as many familiar faces that I managed to learn more about as I read the book. We read some about the literature of the time, the geography (mostly the still unexplored part of the continent), Women’s suffrage, and the unfortunate fate of the North American Indian. Mostly, though, this book is about slavery, racism, and failed reconstruction attempts after the Civil War due to an incompetent commander in chief who abrasively got the job when his predecessor was killed at Ford’s Theatre.
Even though the focus itself tends to be somewhat narrow, the scope is quite large. There are a lot of stories to tell and a lot of moving parts within a young country. In other words, the author doesn’t just focus on the main movers and the shakers that we already have multiple biographies and histories that have been written and read. I would almost ascertain that this book just might be a good textbook for classroom reading; or perhaps supplemental reading as part of a college syllabus. I can sincerely see a university class being offered with the years covered here making an excellent course. History teachers take note. This time period was a very important and volatile part of the country’s history.
I have to sincerely say, though, that this book was not an easy read due to the country’s brutal treatment of non-white people. Although the author doesn’t specifically state so on the pages, a horrible lesson that our country learned is that even though we fought an incredibly bloody Civil War that eventually freed the slaves (and gave us 3 amendments around the issue), the victory ended up being very small and very minor, and many would argue we still haven’t received racial harmony 150 years after the fact. I hear a lot of white (always conservative) people maintain that racism doesn’t exist anymore and that this was “such a long time ago”. But if one were completely honest, we’d have to maintain that change has come incredibly slowly, and even though this book ends in 1877, one can easily see just how slowly civil rights issues have taken effect.
I would highly recommend this book, yet it really is difficult to “pinpoint” a key area of focus. This book is for the history lover, and for anyone who simply wants to learn more about this particular time in American History. This book is an excellent place to start, as well as excellent supplemental reading for those who already know a bit. Although it seemed quite long (again, hard to tell on an e-reader) it’s very well written and easy to understand and digest. All time periods in history deserve such a comprehensive account as what is available here.
September 9, 2019
To the general public today I sometimes fear the issue of slavery comes down to a few simple talking points. Lincoln freed the slaves, the South lost the Civil War and slavery was abolished, end of story. However, that simplistic version of history is exposed as horribly inaccurate in Brenda Wineapple's fine book "Ecstatic Nation."
Although I'm not entirely convinced that is the correct title for this book, it is a wonderful collection of stories both about the great leaders of the day and common folk who had to deal with the Civil War and its aftermath. Anyone who reads this lengthy history will come away with a much better understanding of just how difficult it was for this country to put slavery behind it even after the Civil War. It is especially compelling to read how writers of the day characterized the pressures the country was experiencing during and after the Civil War. The author also has done a very good job of capturing the overt racism that continued to exist not only against blacks but for the American Indian as well.
It is difficult for any writer to capture an entire nation during a particular period because of the many varied factors that come into play. Wineapple has done a masterful job of painting the most complete picture I've ever experienced.
I read that the author took eight years to finish this book. From one grateful reader, I want to say thank you.
Although I'm not entirely convinced that is the correct title for this book, it is a wonderful collection of stories both about the great leaders of the day and common folk who had to deal with the Civil War and its aftermath. Anyone who reads this lengthy history will come away with a much better understanding of just how difficult it was for this country to put slavery behind it even after the Civil War. It is especially compelling to read how writers of the day characterized the pressures the country was experiencing during and after the Civil War. The author also has done a very good job of capturing the overt racism that continued to exist not only against blacks but for the American Indian as well.
It is difficult for any writer to capture an entire nation during a particular period because of the many varied factors that come into play. Wineapple has done a masterful job of painting the most complete picture I've ever experienced.
I read that the author took eight years to finish this book. From one grateful reader, I want to say thank you.
October 9, 2025
“The truth is, the close of the war with our resources unimpaired gives an elevation, a scope to the ideas of leading capitalists, far higher than anything ever undertaken in this country before. They talk of millions as confidently as formerly of thousands.”—Senator John Sherman, quoted in this book
“Crushing the slavocracy in 1865 brought the capitalist class definitive control over the nation. A general recasting of governmental policies and social institutions followed, so as to bring them into full conformity with bourgeois needs. That cleared the way for qualitative leaps in machine production, railroad construction, etc., already accelerated by the Civil War. Huge concentrations of capital were amassed to finance large-scale enterprises. Big corporations came into existence. Giant trusts were formed by industrial and banking combines in moves to establish monopolies. This trend soon produced a bumper crop of multimillionaires who fattened on harsh exploitation of wage-labor and wanton depredation of national resources. These plutocrats became the real power behind the bourgeois-democratic governmental facade, and they dealt brutally with all who resisted their ruthless methods of coining superprofits.
“Expansion of the factory system also led to transformation of the working class. Unskilled laborers serving as appendages of machines became an increasingly larger section of the class and the weight of the skilled workers declined proportionately. As these contrasting trends revealed, wage-labor was becoming substantially proletarianized. This signified that - in terms of objective developments - the country was entering a new phase. Capitalism, which had just triumphed over the planter aristocracy and which was making fewer and fewer compromises with the independent producers, was already beginning to create ‘its own gravediggers.’
“This period also saw the definitive end to a progressive role for any wing of the bourgeoisie or its political parties.
“By 1877 radical Reconstruction had gone down to bloody defeat, and not only Afro-Americans but the entire working class had suffered the worst setback in its history. The defeat was engineered by the dominant sectors of the industrial ruling class, who were incapable of carrying through a radical land reform in the old Confederacy and rightly feared the rise of a united working class in which Black and white artisans and industrial workers would come together as a powerful oppositional force, allied with free working farmers.”—Farrell Dobbs, Revolutionary Continuity: the Early Years, 1848-1917.
I had read ‘The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation and enjoying it thought I’d give this earlier book by Brenda Wineapple a try. I’ve read a lot on the Civil War/Reconstruction, also known as the Second American Revolution. This one, in starting from 1848 and discussing many of the other issues of the day gives a somewhat broader perspective than many other books (for example, on the early stages of the women’s rights movement; useful material on the Indian wars that came at the end of the Civil War). But other than mentioning that Wendell Phillips’ sympathy with labor, there is virtually nothing about the labor movement, not even the most spectacular strike the country has ever seen, The Great Labor Uprising of 1877, which started as a rail strike and became a general strike in several cities. Brenda Wineapple used other books by Philip S. Foner in her bibliography, but not this.
And the book is generally lacking a working-class viewpoint. So, while I recommend it, I feel the necessity of recommending other books to read along with it.
To get an overview of US history from the American Indians through the triumph of the monopolists in the period between the end of the Civil War to the first imperialist war the US fought in, the Spanish-American War (modern imperialism is a stage of capitalism, and is not the same as previous expansionism), I recommend ‘America's Revolutionary Heritage. It also has two essays on the victory of the first women’s rights movement in winning suffrage.
For the Civil War, read The Civil War in the United States. For reconstruction read Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877: The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction and Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877.
“Crushing the slavocracy in 1865 brought the capitalist class definitive control over the nation. A general recasting of governmental policies and social institutions followed, so as to bring them into full conformity with bourgeois needs. That cleared the way for qualitative leaps in machine production, railroad construction, etc., already accelerated by the Civil War. Huge concentrations of capital were amassed to finance large-scale enterprises. Big corporations came into existence. Giant trusts were formed by industrial and banking combines in moves to establish monopolies. This trend soon produced a bumper crop of multimillionaires who fattened on harsh exploitation of wage-labor and wanton depredation of national resources. These plutocrats became the real power behind the bourgeois-democratic governmental facade, and they dealt brutally with all who resisted their ruthless methods of coining superprofits.
“Expansion of the factory system also led to transformation of the working class. Unskilled laborers serving as appendages of machines became an increasingly larger section of the class and the weight of the skilled workers declined proportionately. As these contrasting trends revealed, wage-labor was becoming substantially proletarianized. This signified that - in terms of objective developments - the country was entering a new phase. Capitalism, which had just triumphed over the planter aristocracy and which was making fewer and fewer compromises with the independent producers, was already beginning to create ‘its own gravediggers.’
“This period also saw the definitive end to a progressive role for any wing of the bourgeoisie or its political parties.
“By 1877 radical Reconstruction had gone down to bloody defeat, and not only Afro-Americans but the entire working class had suffered the worst setback in its history. The defeat was engineered by the dominant sectors of the industrial ruling class, who were incapable of carrying through a radical land reform in the old Confederacy and rightly feared the rise of a united working class in which Black and white artisans and industrial workers would come together as a powerful oppositional force, allied with free working farmers.”—Farrell Dobbs, Revolutionary Continuity: the Early Years, 1848-1917.
I had read ‘The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation and enjoying it thought I’d give this earlier book by Brenda Wineapple a try. I’ve read a lot on the Civil War/Reconstruction, also known as the Second American Revolution. This one, in starting from 1848 and discussing many of the other issues of the day gives a somewhat broader perspective than many other books (for example, on the early stages of the women’s rights movement; useful material on the Indian wars that came at the end of the Civil War). But other than mentioning that Wendell Phillips’ sympathy with labor, there is virtually nothing about the labor movement, not even the most spectacular strike the country has ever seen, The Great Labor Uprising of 1877, which started as a rail strike and became a general strike in several cities. Brenda Wineapple used other books by Philip S. Foner in her bibliography, but not this.
And the book is generally lacking a working-class viewpoint. So, while I recommend it, I feel the necessity of recommending other books to read along with it.
To get an overview of US history from the American Indians through the triumph of the monopolists in the period between the end of the Civil War to the first imperialist war the US fought in, the Spanish-American War (modern imperialism is a stage of capitalism, and is not the same as previous expansionism), I recommend ‘America's Revolutionary Heritage. It also has two essays on the victory of the first women’s rights movement in winning suffrage.
For the Civil War, read The Civil War in the United States. For reconstruction read Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877: The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction and Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877.
February 2, 2017
I'll admit I'm a sucker for grand, sweeping histories of the Civil War era; and this book did nothing to dissuade me from that prejudice. Although a bit short on the military facets, this book makes up for it with excellent cultural critiques, including capsule profiles of authors, poets and others normally left out of the typical histories that emphasize Lincoln-Grant-Lee and their ilk. I also appreciated the evenhanded assessment of Stephen A. Douglas and a fairly generous interpretation of the Grant presidency. Recommended.
April 7, 2022
A serviceable history book that focuses on pre-Civil War through Reconstruction eras and it does a great job of talking about things that may not have been covered in your APUSH class. Thankfully, it does take the correct view that the Civil War was about slavery. I only marked it 3 stars because History books are never interesting enough to get 4 or 5 stars. but it is a good telling of that time period.
May 21, 2020
An acrimonious nation
A very interesting well written book about America and it's people. The personality vignettes of many of our ancestors
are well researched and personalize the read. Although there is bias, it is limited, and the account of historical events given in a
well connected flow makes it seem to be a factual account.
A very interesting well written book about America and it's people. The personality vignettes of many of our ancestors
are well researched and personalize the read. Although there is bias, it is limited, and the account of historical events given in a
well connected flow makes it seem to be a factual account.
June 28, 2025
This was a very long book. I was very interested and engaged for most of the book. It told stories that I had never heard or considered. However it did skip around a lot. The book started to lose me at women's suffrage chapter. Into that chapter my mind decided it was done, skimmed over the next few chapters, then quit. I appreciate the author's research and hard work on this book.
October 26, 2025
Excellent Book
This is a great series and always provides excellent detail. I've read quite a bit on Reconstruction but this book really bought home what a failure it was and how it betrayed Lincoln and the aims of the Civil War. Not to mention the betrayal of the aims of Civil Rights.
This is a great series and always provides excellent detail. I've read quite a bit on Reconstruction but this book really bought home what a failure it was and how it betrayed Lincoln and the aims of the Civil War. Not to mention the betrayal of the aims of Civil Rights.
December 14, 2025
The there’s not a lot that’s original about this book, but that doesn’t detract from its worth. Wineapple is a magnificent writer, and there’s some genuinely excellent literary references and associations she makes that are worth the price of admission. As a piece of literary and popular history, it’d be hard to improve on.
Read
April 30, 2024Facts a teacher did not know
If I had this information when I was teaching I could have come closer to the truth.
The persistence of race hatred, violence and greed make me blush to admit that I was born in the U.S.A.
Dr. Richard von Fuchs
If I had this information when I was teaching I could have come closer to the truth.
The persistence of race hatred, violence and greed make me blush to admit that I was born in the U.S.A.
Dr. Richard von Fuchs
June 23, 2024
Brenda as a young English professor introduced me to contemporary fiction, which enriches me to this day. Thanks Brenda.
That said, I was kind of hoping in this book for more culture and less politics. But a good survey history if you haven't thought about the Civil War since high school.
That said, I was kind of hoping in this book for more culture and less politics. But a good survey history if you haven't thought about the Civil War since high school.
October 8, 2017
I am using social media to encourage people to spend more time with books than with social media.
December 25, 2019
I LIKE THIS BOOK.
January 5, 2020
Well done, filled in my limited knowledge of this time in history.
August 11, 2022
Echos of today
A must read for clarity on current events. Seems some things change more slowly than we imagine. Pity that is so.
A must read for clarity on current events. Seems some things change more slowly than we imagine. Pity that is so.
Read
November 2, 2022I enjoyed this narrative history of the key characters and events of this tumultuous period.
December 21, 2024
It was great to read about the period covered—an excellent resource for research and term papers. Enjoy!
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