The Great Task Remaining Before Us: Reconstruction as America's Continuing Civil War

Reconstructing America

by Paul A. Cimbala (Editor), Randall M. Miller (Editor)

Through informative case studies, this illuminating book remaps considerations of the Civil War and Reconstruction era by charting the ways in which the needs, interests, and experiences of going to war, fighting it, and making sense of it informed and directed politics, public life, social change, and cultural memory after the war's end. In doing so, it shows that the war did not actually end with Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination in Washington. As the contributors show, major issues remained, including defining freedom; rebuilding the South; integrating women and blacks into postwar society, culture, and polities; deciding the place of the military in public life; demobilizing or redeploying soldiers; organizing anew party system; and determining the scope and meanings of union.

Genres: History

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2010

About the author

Paul Alan Cimbala (b.1951) is a professor of history at Fordham University (NY). Dr. Cimbala's research focus is the American Civil War.