The Ordeal of the Reunion

Archival Summary & Scope

Mark Wahlgren Summers's *The Ordeal of the Reunion* re-examines the Reconstruction era, moving beyond the traditional focus on emancipation to explore the challenge of forming an enduring Union while preserving federalism and republican democracy. Offering a national assessment, Summers integrates the war's impact, conservative strains, the American West, and foreign policy into a comprehensive narrative. This fresh analysis provides a new explanation for Reconstruction's demise, illuminating its successes—securing nationhood and emancipation—and its profound failures, revealing the true cost of meeting the victors' post-war aims.