Reviews for Who Killed John Clayton?: Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South, 1861-1893

The average rating for Who Killed John Clayton?: Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South, 1861-1893 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-24 00:00:00 Larry Stucki The general consensus among historians today is that Reconstruction contrary to popular belief was not a period where the South threw of the oppression of cruel outsiders and put an end to incompetent black rule but rather was a period of intense violence and turmoil in which the vanquished powers of the defeated Confederacy reasserted their rule over the South. This book examines this struggle as it played out in one Arkansas county. The titular murder is not really the main event in the book but rather the most notable killing among a two decades violent struggle between former confederate Democrats against a coalition of poor white farmers, union loyalist, and black freedmen and farmers. This book does a good job of explaining how these conflict played out on the ground and how the Democrats would slowly through election fraud and terroristic violence slowly reassert their dominance. While this is a scholarly book it is not a difficult read and would be of interest to anyone interested in the postwar history of Reconstruction.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-25 00:00:00 Joseph Stumpf An interesting look at a little slice of Arkansas during Reconstruction.