Lecture 02: Reconstruction Concluded (From the 11:00 section)

In this lecture we take a closer look at the reasons why the old "Tragic era" interpretation of Reconstruction does not survive the test of documentary and historical scrutiny. I know of no historians who still subscribe to that older interpretation. Certainly Reconstruction was not a story of heroes and villains and the Radical Republicans had their ulterior motives along with all the others involved. But old facts have been looked at anew in the last fifty years, resulting in the now-respected revisionist view of such historians as Eric Foner.

Lecture 02: Reconstruction Concluded (from the 11:00 section)

Watching the Podcasts

Some of you are having difficulty loading the podcasts onto your computers. The problem is that you need the free Quicktime player installed on your computer. You should be able to download it from http://www.apple.com. I will try to get the Computer center to install this on the computers in Collins 224. if you watch them during labtime in this classroom, you will still need headphones so as not to distract the other students working there.

Lecture 01: Reconstruction

Was Reconstruction after the Civil War truly "a tragic era," as historians once thought, or a time of promising reforms that just did not go far enough? We begin to examine the subject and the controversies surrounding this time in this, our first, lecture.

Lecture 01, Reconstruction: A "Tragic" Era?

Introduction to Course

Today we went over the syllabus and I provided an overview of why the study of history is important: why it is a social science, not just an art. Students often wrongly think that history is about names and dates when it is really about interpretations and arguments. If you have questions about the syllabus or mechanics of the class, ask me anytime or review the video podcast below.

Course Introduction: About Your Syllabus

What is this Page?

This blog is the container for all the full-length podcats in our course. Not every lecture will be podcast, but those that are recorded will appear here. There will also be a link to FAQ for this page.