Not the Civil War but its Reconstruction aftermath rumbles on as
the bloodiest battleground for American historians. In sheer
numbers, there is nothing to compare with the continuing
avalanche of war buff books on every brigade, every skirmish,
every general in the North-South conflict. But these remain
details about outcomes already known. What makes Reconstruction
history so contentious, ideological and ever changing is its
relevance, year after year, to the ferment of race relations in
American society. As the 20th century began, the South had won
its long psycho-propaganda campaign to overcome its defeat and
the stigma of slavery -- at least in the minds of most Americans
on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line. This was the result of
sheer intensity and passion as Southern novelists, journalists,
pamphleteers, politicians and assorted apologists wrestled with
the burdens of the past. While Northerners went about building
their industrial empire, often content to accept Woodrow
Wilson's assurance that the