In the book After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace, the author A. J. Langguth brings forward two truths about the Civil War that not a lot of people will be willing to face.

First is that the war did not end after the fighting was over. The only thing that changed was the conflict moved away from armies and into the arms of the politicians. In a very good and easily read way Langguth takes you behind the scenes of Reconstruction in a way that makes you realize how much Lincoln was missed on this process and that without his vision, lesser men were allowed to shape the future. Regardless of what you know about the Civil War or Reconstruction, this is book will have you shaking your head at the realization that even good men like Grant were completely overwhelmed with the prospect of reuniting the country while not losing surrendering the gains that were made.

The second truth that comes out of this book is that in many, many ways Reconstruction is still going on. The process never truly ended and the descendants of the  different sides still find themselves searching for meaning. In many ways the Civil Rights movement saw its origins in the years after the Civil War, but Reconstruction set the movement back almost a hundred years.

A good book, but two issues keep it from being great. The author has organized the book with each chapter focusing on a certain personality. Which is fine with the exception that the chapter often meanders away from that personality so it is easy to lose your place. It would have been much better presented in a chronological format, but the timeline shucks and jives. The second issue is that near the end when it does a good job of tying the events to the modern struggle for equality, it makes the case, but the book ends before truly delving deep. If ever a book could have used fifty more pages, this is one.

All said though, well done. If you are curious about the period of Reconstruction, this is an excellent book.