Reconstruction, Old and New

American historical writing has in recent years taken an increasingly reflective and self-critical turn. The proportion of the writing about the writing of history has steadily increased. Much of this literature has been marked by genuine distinction, and by a sophistication that distinguishes it from both the old-style debunking and the traditional war-fare of the schools. Two outstanding examples that come to mind are Thomas J. Pressly’s Americans Interpret Their Civil War (Princeton, 1954), and Merrill D. Peterson’s The Jeffersonian Image in the American Mind (Oxford, 1960). The latter, although it purports only to be a book about the books about Jefferson, taught me more about Jefferson himself than any of the standard biographies. The reason, I believe, is that from the variety of highly plausible viewpoints about Jefferson, one learns why the study of Jefferson is such a problem.

The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, by Kenneth M. Stampp. Knopf, $4.95

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About the Author

Harry V. Jaffa

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American historical writing has in recent years taken an increasingly reflective and self-critical turn. The proportion of the writing about the writing of history has steadily increased. Much of this literature has been marked by genuine distinction, and by a sophistication that distinguishes it from both the old-style debunking and the traditional war-fare of the schools. Two outstanding examples that come to mind are Thomas J. Pressly’s Americans Interpret Their Civil War (Princeton, 1954), and Merrill D. Peterson’s The Jeffersonian Image in the American Mind (Oxford, 1960). The latter, although it purports only to be a book about the books about Jefferson, taught me more about Jefferson himself than any of the standard biographies. The reason, I believe, is that from the variety of highly plausible viewpoints about Jefferson, one learns why the study of Jefferson is such a problem.

The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, by Kenneth M. Stampp. Knopf, $4.95