"An Era of Great Hope and Brutal Disappointment"

"Of course, these changes also produced a violent reaction. As his title suggests, Egerton devotes considerable attention to the actions of homegrown 'terrorists' like the Ku Klux Klan and kindred organizations, which systematically targeted local political leaders and teachers and were probably responsible for the deaths of more Americans than Osama bin Laden. Egerton makes the important point that the old idea of the South being subject to an overbearing military occupation is a myth. The Army was rapidly demobilized after the war ended.

"'Reconstruction did not fail,' Egerton states, 'it was violently overthrown.'"

Eric Foner in The New York Times reviews Douglas R. Egerton's The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era.