A major contribution to the continuing re-evaluation of the mountain region's history. This volume marks an extension of that rich scholarship, providing a vital bridge between the agrarian/sectional and industrial/national eras.
~Martin Crawford, author of Ashe County's Civil War: Community and Society in the Appalachian South
The mountain people and small farmers didn't own many slaves or care too much about states' rights.... But they bore a great amount of the war's destruction. It left them embittered, resentful of any government authority and suspicious of outsiders.
~Louisville Courier-Journal
This impressive new study will pave the way for additional scholarship. Excellent, readable, and absorbing history, it gives us a better understanding of this compelling aspect of the Civil War. Highly recommended for both general readers and specialists
~Library Journal
Reconstructing Appalachia is the story of a region coming to grips with the aftermath of a devastating homegrown war.
~kydirect.net
In a collection of essays, several Southern historians examine life in Appalachia after the War Between the States ravaged the region.
~Lexington Herald-Leader
The end of the Civil War was only the beginning.
~Knoxville News-Sentinel
The American Civil War left a lasting mark on the lands and people of Appalachia, where there are diverse collection of communities where the values of place and family are crucial importance.
~Lone Star
Reconstructing Appalachia is outstanding.
~North Carolina Historical Review
"Reconstructing Appalachia addresses a gap in the nation's chronicles, as it explores little-known aspects of history with a particular focus on the Reconstruction and even the post-Reconstruction periods of the late 1800s."—Bristol Herald Courier
"This much needed and very useful collection highlights the Appalachian region's diverse responses to the Civil War and complicates, while it illuminates, several long-standing historical debates."—Civil War Book Review
"Many of the essays reveal how outsiders shaped the long-lasting hillbilly steretype. An important book. Highly recommended."—Choice
"Necessary reading for those interested in Reconstruction, Appalachia or America after the war."—TOCWOC
"It invites reinterpretation and helps to redefine a region characterized by a multitude of stereotypes."—Maryland Historical Magazine
"The collection provides a well-constructed and much needed historiographical connection between the Civil War era and the industrialization of Appalachia." —West Virginia History
This collection of essays is a sign that the era of missed opportunities is coming to an end, and it contains a range of thought-provoking essays.... [It] has the potential to be an important influence on Reconstruction historiography.
~American Historical Review
This is an essential work for Appalachian Studies scholars whether historians or not.
~H-Net Reviews
All of [the chapters] are of high quality and well worth the read.
~Journal of American History
"[Slap] has collected 13 essays.... examining a wide array of topics related to the tough, often halting, healing process in our region."—Goldenseal
"The stereotypical myth of a homogenous people, ethnically similar, united in political allegiances and economic pursuits may finally be laid to rest."—H-CivWar
"Slap and twelve other historians... offer important revisionist insights into Reconstruction-era Appalachia's cultural, economic, political, and social history." — Florida Historical Quarterly
"Achieving the editor's worthy objective of stimulating additional work, these essays on post-Civil War Appalachia and its long reconstruction will become a necessary touchstone... the volume incidentally makes a strong case for Appalachian exceptionalism for the last four decades of the nineteenth century."—The Journal of Southern History
"Is about how the mountaineers endured the war's consequences....this is a great book."—H-War
Provides deeply researched and generally well-argued topical chapters that offer important revisionist insights into Reconstruction-era Appalachia's cultural, economic, political, and social history.
~Florida Historical Quarterly
I hope southern historians will seek it out as a fresh contribution.
~Journal of East Tennessee History
This is an excellent book to add to your Reconstruction Period library.
~The Lone Star Book Review
Andrew L. Slap's anthology...reveals life in Appalachia after the ravages of the Civil War, an unexplored area that has left a void in historical literature. Addressing a gap in the chronicles of our nation, this vital anthology explores little-known aspects of history....Reconstructing Appalachia is a timely and essential study of a region rich in heritage and tradition.
~McCormick Messenger
