Synopses & Reviews
After conquering Atlanta in the summer of 1864 and occupying it for two months, Union forces laid waste to the city in November. William T. Sherman's invasion was a pivotal moment in the history of the South and Atlanta's rebuilding over the following fifty years came to represent the contested meaning of the Civil War itself. The war's aftermath brought contentious transition from Old South to New for whites and African Americans alike. Historian William Link argues that this struggle defined the broader meaning of the Civil War in the modern South, with no place embodying the region's past and future more clearly than Atlanta.
Review
"Lively and original. Link presents a thorough and carefully nuanced account of the role of race in the remarkable story of Atlanta's destruction and re-emergence as a center of black intellectual and economic life thereafter. This will be the definitive account of Atlanta and the rise of the New South for many years to come."--Lacy Ford, University of South Carolina
About the Author
William A. Link is Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida. He is author or editor of thirteen books, including Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism.