A review by dolanmara
The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox by Stephen Budiansky

read upon recommendation from a friend! wish I was able to integrate it into a history class/discussion as there was lots of coming up for me around how this historian/writer works to illuminate pieces of how Southern (white) resistance to Reconstruction looked and happened that I wanted to be in conversation about. i appreciated the narrative-driven style of writing. the story of white terrorism after the Confederacy was defeated - and federal deference and inability to address it - should obviously be covered in any u.s. history course but typically sucks. wish there was a bit less of an emphasis on the well-intentioned white political leaders or at least a critical eye to some of their more selfish ambitions.