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Ed. by Eric Anderson and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991. xii + 239 pp. Cloth, $29.95, ISBN 0-8071-1666-1. Paper, $14.95, ISBN 0-8071-1691-2.)
This book honors John Hope Franklin for his contributions to revisionist scholarship. It consists of nine original essays on as many aspects of Reconstruction. Seven are by Professor Franklin's students; two are by other distinguished scholars. Whether it was intended or not, the volume is a response to the question one of the contributors posed in his review of Eric Foner's comprehensive Reconstruction (1988): "What is left to be done?" To judge by The Facts of Reconstruction, the answer is "a lot"--much in the way of rethinking, much in the way of research. The essayists survey recent literature, present their own conclusions, and suggest research strategies that they believe may prove productive. This volume, then, serves both as an assessment of the present state of Reconstruction historiography and as a guide to paths for future study.
The book's...