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Edmund J. Davis of Texas: Civil War General, Republican Leader, Reconstruction Governor. By Carl H. Moneyhon. Texas Biography Series, No. 2. (Fort Worth, Tex.: Center for Texas Studies at TCU and TCU Press, c. 2010. Pp. [xiv], 337. $27.95, ISBN 978-0-87565-405-8.)
Carl H. Moneyhon rightfully holds a place among the top scholars of Civil War and Reconstruction Texas. In this work Moneyhon reminds us why, with another intriguing look at the political landscape in this tumultuous era. This time the story is told through the life of Edmund Jackson "E. J." Davis (18271883), the state's Republican governor from 1870 to 1874.
This book is the second in TCU Press's Texas Biography Series, a venture designed to bring to the fore neglected yet "important personalities" in Texas's history - or, as with Davis, to shed new light on familiar ones (p. ix). As expected, Moneyhon does a splendid job. Indeed, until recently, Davis has suffered from a less-than-stellar reputation in Texas. The negative image began...