As one of the most complexly divisive periods in American history, Reconstruction has been the subject of a rich scholarship. Historians have studied the period's racial views, political maneuverings, divisions between labor and capital, debates about woman suffrage, and of course its struggle between freed slaves and their former masters. Yet, on each of these fronts scholarship has attended overwhelmingly to the eastern United States, especially the South, thereby neglecting important transnational linkages. This volume, the first of its kind, will examine Reconstruction's global connections and contexts in ways that, while honoring the field's accomplishments, move it beyond its southern focus.
The volume will bring together prominent and emerging scholars to showcase the deepening interplay between scholarships on Reconstruction and on America's place in world history.