Reconstruction's Ragged Edge
The Politics of Postwar Life in the Southern Mountains
Published on 30. August 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-4696-4554-4 (ISBN)
Description
In this illuminating study, Steven E. Nash chronicles the history of Reconstruction as it unfolded in the mountains of western North Carolina. Nash presents a complex story of the region's grappling with the war's aftermath, examining the persistent wartime loyalties that informed bitter power struggles between factions of white mountaineers determined to rule. For a brief period, an influx of federal governmental power enabled white anti-Confederates to ally with former slaves in order to lift the Republican Party to power locally and in the state as a whole. Republican success led to a violent response from a transformed class of elites, however, who claimed legitimacy from the antebellum period while pushing for greater integration into the market-oriented New South.
Focusing on a region that is still underrepresented in the Reconstruction historiography, Nash illuminates the diversity and complexity of Appalachian political and economic machinations, while bringing to light the broad and complicated issues the era posed to the South and the nation as a whole.
Focusing on a region that is still underrepresented in the Reconstruction historiography, Nash illuminates the diversity and complexity of Appalachian political and economic machinations, while bringing to light the broad and complicated issues the era posed to the South and the nation as a whole.
Reviews / Votes
Deconstructs post-Civil War mountain politics. . . . [and] shows how the bitter clash took a long time to truly wind down."" - Jon Elliston, WNC Magazine""Smart, well-researched, and well-written. . . . Indispensable not only for the study of North Carolina but the whole South in the war's aftermath."" - H-Net
""A very effective study that does more than just fill in one of the blank spaces on the map of Reconstruction historiography in the South. It provides an interesting and instructive story on its own terms, but also gives us a useful comparison to other regions across the South."" - Reviews in History
""Nash does a splendid job of showing how local experience was key in western North Carolina's Reconstruction years. . . . A story worth understanding in this place and many more across the South."" - Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
""[An] excellent study of Reconstruction in western North Carolina. Highly recommended."" - Choice
""Deeply researched and engagingly written, Reconstruction's Ragged Edge provides new insight into a complex and tumultuous past and can be warmly welcomed as further evidence of the upland region's escape from the margins of southern historiography."" - Journal of American History
""Written in an accessible style, thoroughly researched, and well argued. . . . Will be of interest to students of national and state Reconstruction efforts, Appalachian studies, and Civil War-era politics."" - Journal of the Civil War Era
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
498 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-4554-4 (9781469645544)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2016
The University of North Carolina Press
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Steven E. Nash is assistant professor of history at East Tennessee State University.