From the preeminent historian of Reconstruction (New York Times Book Review), an updated abridged edition of Reconstruction, the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period which shaped modern America.Reconstructionchronicles the way in which Americansblack and whiteresponded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It 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 one committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans. This masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history (New Republic)remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War periodan era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.