A Review of Coulters South During Reconstruction

A Review of coulters South During reconstructive memorySean MooneyTo start, Coulters The South During Reconstruction is an in insight analysis of the Southern United States ( collaborationist States of America, 1861-1865) following the end of the Civil War, the 8th installment of Coulters series A Hi tale of the South. The author, E. Merton Coulter (1890-1981), is a atomic number 31 inhering and a Professor and Historian of the south for University of Georgia. Hes been described as a writer with purpose and a teacher with purpose. (Bailey, 2015). His qualifications come from his time as a professor for the University of Georgia with a very extensive course on the history of the Southern United States pre 1900s. However, his credibility as an author took a child blow in the mid 1960s with his reserve Negro Legislators in Georgia During the Reconstruction Period which casted the African-American legislators at the time as bodacious villains (Bailey, 2001). This, which shall be hig hlighted further in the review, is considered common in Coulters indite as a Southern scholar.Coulters book contains a chapter by chapter analysis of different functions and ca function of the economy post Civil War and during reconstruction. Chapters I-III titled Cost of War, The Way Back, and Short Cut to Civilization, discuss the beginning courts of the war and employ the example of numbered statistics, showing the true cost and how much the south was affected while offering some side points from the side of civics and community. This group of chapters first discusses primarily the cost and levels of destruction, state by state, such as Alabama claimed destruction amounting to $300,000,000. (2, 4) and begins to discuss the destruction of the Southern railway system claiming, Two thirds of the Souths railroads were utterly destroyed (3, 6). However, the book is sometimes written from personal views and beliefs. Chapter V can be regarded as one of the to a greater extent inte resting chapters, a chapter dedicated to The Negro as diddly-squat and Landowner. (92). Here, Coulter can be seen as showing his true colors, highlighting his opinions of negro landowners and freedman stating Basically the freedman did non like to take orders that reminded him of slavery The hardest work before the North now is to teach the Negro what constitutes his freedom. (93, 4).Next, elaborating on the authors qualifications, the book actually does not contain an expected bibliography. Coulter chose not to ready a list of source material, instead the bibliography is replaced with what the author notes a Critical Essay on Authorities He explains the meaning behind the change, stating No onset is made here to compile either an exhaustive or an ideal list of items, but rather to indicate with some evaluation what was examined in writing this volume. (392, 1). The essay offers an extensive outlook on the groups of materials utilize in the making of the book. These materials are arranged in collections pertaining to their function, such as Manuscripts and Government Documents, (392, 393). On the relinquish of credibility, many of the statistics found seem to have come from a personal recollection from manuscripts of soldiers, generals, and politicians as well as the numerate from 1860 to 1880.1 However, using personal manuscripts without offering the authors credentials or credibility leaves room for doubt and skepticism on how accurate the account is. What should also be taken in account with this use of these materials is the time they came from, where race was regarded in a very different way, leading to a one sided account of history in favor of the white and not the colored enslaved at the time or those affected by the Civil Rights movement a century later.Next, to summarize the contents of this review in a few words, good intentions with poor execution. South During Reconstruction could be a very promising book with a magnificent story of the so uth to discover while analyzing the socioeconomic impact of the Confederate states. For a man who writes the Southern Point of View as a scholar. (Cotterill, n.d.), Coulter leaves me wanting for more. One of the more pinnacle and turbulent pieces of history the story of this land can offer goes semi untold in this book, leaving a taste of what the book could be, readers such as myself yearning for a better taste. Nowadays a history book made and published in 1958 would not exactly be as accurate as a modern day book.Now, the unfortunate fact about Coulter is he is considered by some as a Confederate Apologist, and has been revealed to be a racist. One man has described Coulter as a conservative, racist, unreconstructed southerner who defends Southern racist policies and practices (Smith, n.d.) This brings in question the true the true of the information provided in the book. The reasoning is the majority of the book is written by the War of Northern Aggression standpoint which hu manizes the Confederacy and dehumanizes the North. Even then, Coulters history of Reconstruction was already obsolete by the time it was released. Coulter did not test his claims and research by diving into the research and material available. Instead, he told the old story of a liberated people worse off for being on their own and adamant, and of nefarious carpetbaggers and scalawags manipulating them to engender a blackout of veracious regime. Dismissing Ku Klux Klan violence, Coulter claimed that cypher went right until the Souths natural rulers were put back in charge. Coulter rather hoped that his contribution would come in shifting the subject to something less exhaustively covered, by inditing a gregarious history of the South, the magnification of cities, and the habits of white Southerners. In this he came up with plenty of information, but not by utilizing the materials court records, probated wills, diaries and journals, manuscript census returns, a history relying larg ely on conservative bigoted accounts without dipping into a larger database of the souths history and culture. As a scholar and a professor, you would expect Coulter to teach an unbiased and neutral stanced view of history without being tied down to banal Southern policies and statutes. Instead the University of Georgia professor ties himself down to outdated bigoted Southern beliefs and traditions with chauvinism and pride to the land of Ol Dixie.To conclude, what makes the book worth a read is the dramatic contrast on how we write history directly and how we wrote it yesterday. But on the contrary we can see thats where the book keeps some charm. Instead of being a source for analysis, the book can be used as a source for preservation. The preservation of old bigoted policies, the preservation of what was once the true face of the south, a dark and vicious spot in American history that is not to be forgotten, but heeded and preserved, to see how weve progressed and grown as a na tion.Works CitedBailey, Fred Arthur. E. Merton Coulter (1890-1981). New Georgia Encyclopedia. New Georgia Encyclopedia, 05 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.Bailey, Fred Arthur, E. Merton Coulter, in Reading Southern History Essays on Interpreters and Interpretations, ed. Glenn Feldman (Tuscaloosa University of Alabama Press, 2001).Cotterill, R. S. THE SOUTH DURING RECONSTRUCTION. Louisiana State Law School. LSU, n.d. Web.Coulter, E. Merton., and Wendell Holmes. Stephenson. The South during Reconstruction 1865-1877. Baton Rouge, LA Louisiana State U, 1991. Print.Smith, John David. E. Merton Coulter, the Dunning School, and The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky. Digital image. Journal Store. Kentucky Historical Society, n.d. Web.1 Covers the books range of pre reconstruction (before 1865) and after reconstruction (1865-1877)