“Distinguished historians Ari Hoogenboom, John Marzsalek, and Alan Peskin, and other rising scholars offer useful essays on the presidents and an array of other topics central to this pivotal period.” (Expofairs.com, 4 August 2014)
“Edward Frantz has gathered a wide-ranging group of experts who thoroughly cover the lives and overlapping administrations of the three so-called “Reconstruction Presidents.” Often dismissed or disdained, Johnson, Grant, and Hayes emerge from these lively and up-to-date essays not only as crucial figures deserving of serious scholarly scrutiny and reassessment, but also as engagingly human representatives of a turbulent era. A splendid and worthwhile historiographical resource!”
―Joan Waugh, UCLA
“This most valuable collection of essays by renowned experts offers an insightful survey of the scholarship covering the lives of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes, three men who helped secure military victory in the American Civil War and who as presidents did much to shape the reconstructed American republic that emerged from that conflict.”
―Brooks Simpson, Arizona State University
“Distinguished historians Ari Hoogenboom, John Marzsalek, and Alan Peskin, and other rising scholars offer useful essays on the presidents and an array of other topics central to this pivotal period.”
―Charles W. Calhoun, East Carolina University
From the Inside Flap
A Companion to Reconstruction Presidents presents a series of original essays that explore a variety of important issues, themes, and debates associated with the presidencies of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Chapters feature analyses of each president individually as well as taking a comparative look at their time in office. Key topics include these presidents’ political careers; foreign policy; domestic policy; military history; and social context. Featuring contributions from presidential scholars and leading historians, essays represent a dedicated, systematic study that fills an important void in scholarship while revealing a wealth of insights into issues of presidential leadership during this watershed moment in American history.
From the Back Cover
A Companion to Reconstruction Presidents presents a series of original essays that explore a variety of important issues, themes, and debates associated with the presidencies of Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Chapters feature analyses of each president individually as well as taking a comparative look at their time in office. Key topics include these presidents’ political careers; foreign policy; domestic policy; military history; and social context. Featuring contributions from presidential scholars and leading historians, essays represent a dedicated, systematic study that fills an important void in scholarship while revealing a wealth of insights into issues of presidential leadership during this watershed moment in American history.
About the Author
Edward Frantz is Associate Professor of History at the University of Indianapolis. He is the author of The Door of Hope: Republican Presidents and the First Southern Strategy, 1877-1933 (2011).