xlii, 690 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 23 cm

Historian Eric Foner chronicles the way in which Americans -- black and white -- responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. He addresses the quest of emancipated slaves searching for economic autonomy and equal citizenship, and describes the remodeling of Southern society, the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations, and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans

"A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1988 by Harper & Row, Publishers. First Perennial Classics edition published 2002"--Title page verso

"With a new introduction"--Back cover

Includes bibliographical references (pages 615-641) and index

The world the war made -- Rehearsals for Reconstruction -- The meaning of freedom -- Ambiguities of free labor -- The failure of presidential Reconstruction -- The making of radical Reconstruction -- Blueprints for a Republican South -- Reconstruction: Political and economic -- The challenge of enforcement -- The Reconstruction of the North -- The politics of Depression -- Redemption and after -- Epilogue: "The river has its bend."

National Book Award finalist

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