A Fool's Errand: A Novel of the South During Reconstruction - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

“We tried to superimpose the civilization, the idea of the North, upon the South at a moment’s warning … It was a Fool’s Errand.”

The year is 1865 and the war between the states of North and South has ended.

Comfort Servosse, a Union officer, has decided to make his life in the South.

But is he only a fool for doing so?

Drawing upon his own experiences Albion Tourgee constructed a novel which vividly brings to life the world of the South during the Reconstruction.

“The native Southron, the 'poor white,' the carpet-bagger, the old Unioner, the freedman, the Ku-Klux, and the social, moral, and political life of the South, are all handled with uncommon power and humor, coupled with a relentless satire.” Washington (D.C.) National Republican.

Originally published anonymously it was an immediate success in the late nineteenth century, selling over 200,000 copies.

With its commentary on racial issues in the American South it continues to be essential reading for citizens of the twenty-first century as it was for those of the nineteenth.

“We have not anywhere seen an account of the troubles that beset a Northern family's residence in the South which impressed us as being more truthful, more complete, or more powerfully written, than this." Chicago Tribune.

"Its word-pictures are so realistic that one sees, hears, and feels the very presence of the individuals that crowd its pages. The night-ride of young Lily Servosse . . . . is one of the finest and most thrilling incidents that has ever been told in history or romance." San Francisco Chronicle.

"What is most remarkable about the book is the spirit of fairness that pervades it." Philadelphia Times.

"Considered as a frank and candid picture of the difficulties encountered by Northern emigrants to the South during the time of reconstruction, by a writer who honestly sets down what he believes to be the truth, and who appears to be sincerely disposed to do strict justice to all men, the book will interest a large circle of readers." N. Y. Evening Post.

Albion Tourgee was an American soldier who was wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Perryville. After the American Civil War he wrote a number of books including A Royal Gentleman, Bricks Without Straw and A Fool’s Errand which was published in 1879. He died in 1905.

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