'89

by Albion W. Tourgée, Edgar Henry (Pseudonym)

The elaborate chronicle of the dissolution of the Union and the formation of two distinct governments, one under Southern rule, the other under the rule of Northern capitalists -- which some ambitious writer calling him or herself "Edgar Henry" has been at the trouble to write -- is manifestly little more than a political document intended for use during the coming electoral campaign. It is, in fact, a covert attack on President Cleveland and his administration, and is written with sufficient artfulness to justify a better purpose. It is immensely clever, and that is all we can say about it from teh literary point of view. Its political bearing we cannot discuss here. We will simply remind "Edgar Henry" that open warfare is more honorable than a stab in the dark.

--The Literary World, July 7 1888, p. 221)

498 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Albion Winegar Tourgée was an American soldier, lawyer, writer, politician, and diplomat. Wounded in the Civil War, he relocated to North Carolina afterward, where he became involved in Reconstruction activities. He served in the constitutional convention and later in the state legislature. A pioneer civil rights activist, he founded the National Citizens' Rights Association, and founded Bennett College as a normal school for freedmen in North Carolina (it has been a women's college since 1926).

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Albion Tourgee, under the pseudonym "Edgar Henry", wrote this fictional account of the peaceful separation of the North and South in 1889. Could be useful in a study of Southern and Northern sentiments during and following the Civil War as well as of the "Gilded Age."