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

Now available from Waveland Press, this thinly veiled account of Judge Albion W. Tourgee's own career as a forceful advocate of civil rights was a bestseller in the 1880s and continues to occupy a place in the history of American literature. Judge Tourgee's reflections on the fundamental post- abolition problem of how to build a bridge from black emancipation to black equality provide readers with a clear picture of the South during the Reconstruction era. Presented as a work of fiction, this engaging and provocative work discusses Reconstruction and the many problems surrounding it. An introduction by George Fredrickson provides historical context for both the author and the novel.

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