A Fool's Errand: A Novel of the South During Reconstruction (Cosimo Classics Literature) - Softcover

Albion W. Tourgee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596055995 ISBN 13: 9781596055995

Publisher: Cosimo Classics, 2005

Synopsis

There had been rumors in the air, for some months, of a strangely mysterious organization, said to be spreading over the Southern States, which added to the usual intangibility of the secret society an element of the grotesque superstition unmatched in the history of any other.... Here and there throughout the South, by a sort of sporadic instinct, bands of ghostly horsemen, in quaint and horrible guise, appeared, and admonished the lazy and trifling of the African race... -from "Chapter XXVII: A New Institution" Subtitled "A Novel of the South During Reconstruction," this 1879 bestseller, by a participant in that great social experiment, is the barely fictionalized account of the career of a Northern lawyer in North Carolina after the Civil War. A champion of the poor and landless of any race, and a keen observer of the dilemmas facing uneducated Negroes in the postwar period, Tourgée offers us an important eyewitness account of one of the most tumultuous eras of American history, one that continues to influence the course of the American experiences of race and class to this day.

About this title

About the Author

American abolitionist and lawyer ALBION W. TOURGÉE (1838-1905) also wrote Figs and Thistles (1879).

Review

First published in 1879, A Fool's Errand created much interest among readers and literary critics of the day and enjoyed, for a novel, a remarkable sale of some 200,000 copies. It is the story of Comfort Servosse, a Union officer, who at the end of the Civil War decides to make his home in the South. The author tells of Servosse's reception there and the difficulties he and his family encounter in the trying years of Reconstruction, a portrait of these tragic years, the novel is especially interesting. (Library Journal)

Among the many admirable reprints issued by the John Harvard Library; one of the most welcome and attractive is this one-time best selling novel. Written by a carpetbagger following fourteen trying years (1865-1879) in the South, A Fool's Errand not only reveals the thoughts of a carpetbagger on southern Reconstruction, but it remains one of the more perceptive descriptions of that puzzling fiasco as well as an enjoyable fictional tale. Professor Franklin's introductory vignette satisfactorily establishes the author's identity and the historical and ideological significance of his work... A Fool's Errand is a significant and unusually original portrayal, criticism, and analysis of postwar southern society... it also offers excitement, idealism, and romance. (The North Carolina Historical Review)

The editor, John Hope Franklin has written a “helpful introduction [in which he] indicates the relevance of Tourgee's hook to the history of the time. Professor Franklin and his publisher are to be commended. They have made a significant hook easily available, and in a much more attractive and readable format than that of any previous edition.” (History News)

About this edition

• Publisher: Cosimo Classics
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1596055995
• ISBN 13: 9781596055995
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 412