Reviews
"Violence is clearly organic to Texas's experience of Reconstruction. No other southern state faced the frontier and borderland circumstances that escalated the body count in Reconstruction Texas."-- Patrick G. Williams , author of Beyond Redemption: Texas Democrats after Reconstruction, "Together, the essays provide a compelling, nuanced examination of the nature of the racial and political violence that characterized Reconstruction Texas. Recommended."--Cary D. Wintz, Choice, "If there is a consensus among these essays, it might be that the rule of law failed, and any attempts to rectify said failure were fatally flawed by either poor design or bad intentions. Even in the worst of times, it seems, Anglo Texans reacted poorly to anything smacking of 'big government.'"-- Journal of Southern History, "This is a valuable contribution to Texas and Reconstruction history. The essays reflect an expanded range of topics about Reconstruction in Texas, especially the chapters on Tejano and African American women."- Alwyn Barr , author of Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906, "All the articles in the book are thoroughly researched, well-documented, and nicely written by distinguished scholars such as Dale Baum, Richard McCaslin, Carl H. Moneyhon, William L. Richter, James M. Smallwood, Charles D. Spurlin, and Andrés Tijerina. . . . It is also an excellent addition to the literature on the violence of the Reconstruction era. . . . Still the Arena of Civil War shows the horrific events that transpired in that era, how Reconstruction has been distorted in the American mind, and the betrayal of its egalitarian ideals forgotten. In so doing, this collection will assist Texans in having a more accurate sense of their past to better guide their future."-- Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, This is a valuable contribution to Texas and Reconstruction history. The essays reflect an expanded range of topics about Reconstruction in Texas, especially the chapters on Tejano and African American women."— Alwyn Barr , author of Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906 Still the Arena of Civil War should attract those interested in Reconstruction and African American history."— Archie P. McDonald , author of Texas: A Compact History Violence is clearly organic to Texas's experience of Reconstruction. No other southern state faced the frontier and borderland circumstances that escalated the body count in Reconstruction Texas."— Patrick G. Williams , author of Beyond Redemption: Texas Democrats after Reconstruction, "This is a valuable contribution to Texas and Reconstruction history. The essays reflect an expanded range of topics about Reconstruction in Texas, especially the chapters on Tejano and African American women."-- Alwyn Barr , author of Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906, " Still the Arena of Civil War should attract those interested in Reconstruction and African American history."-- Archie P. McDonald , author of Texas: A Compact History, "All the articles in the book are thoroughly researched, well-documented, and nicely written by distinguished scholars such as Dale Baum, Richard McCaslin, Carl H. Moneyhon, William L. Richter, James M. Smallwood, Charles D. Spurlin, and Andrs Tijerina. . . . It is also an excellent addition to the literature on the violence of the Reconstruction era. . . . Still the Arena of Civil War shows the horrific events that transpired in that era, how Reconstruction has been distorted in the American mind, and the betrayal of its egalitarian ideals forgotten. In so doing, this collection will assist Texans in having a more accurate sense of their past to better guide their future."-- Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, "This is a valuable contribution to Texas and Reconstruction history. The essays reflect an expanded range of topics about Reconstruction in Texas, especially the chapters on Tejano and African American women."-- Alwyn Barr , author of Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906 " Still the Arena of Civil War should attract those interested in Reconstruction and African American history."-- Archie P. McDonald , author of Texas: A Compact History "Violence is clearly organic to Texas's experience of Reconstruction. No other southern state faced the frontier and borderland circumstances that escalated the body count in Reconstruction Texas."-- Patrick G. Williams , author of Beyond Redemption: Texas Democrats after Reconstruction, "In his detailed introduction, Howell provides an informative overview of the historiography of Reconstruction-era violence in the Lone Star State and in the South generally . . . . Carl H. Moneyhon provides an insightful analysis of the rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan. . . . In another perceptive article, Rebecca A. Kosary examines the sexual violence perpetrated against black women by white men."-- Southwestern Historical Quarterly, " Still the Arena of Civil War provides a definitive view of how Reconstruction failed in Texas specifically and how Texas was a typical example of defeated white Southern attitudes in general. It fills a broad niche in Reconstruction history by exploring the racial intricacies of a region not considered a 'typical' part of the Confederacy, revealing the additional racial dynamic of a Latino population amid the already tense black/white antagonism, and projecting those problems into the future as population migration transformed the West in the decades after the Civil War. Those looking for an outstanding example of Reconstruction history will find it in Still the Arena of Civil War ."--H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews, " Still the Arena of Civil War provides a definitive view of how Reconstruction failed in Texas specifically and how Texas was a typical example of defeated white Southern attitudes in general. It fills a broad niche in Reconstruction history by exploring the racial intricacies of a region not considered a 'typical' part of the Confederacy, revealing the additional racial dynamic of a Latino population amid the already tense black/white antagonism, and projecting those problems into the future as population migration transformed the West in the decades after the Civil War. Those looking for an outstanding example of Reconstruction history will find it in Still the Arena of Civil War ."--H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews, " Still the Arena of Civil War should attract those interested in Reconstruction and African American history."- Archie P. McDonald , author of Texas: A Compact History, "Violence is clearly organic to Texas's experience of Reconstruction. No other southern state faced the frontier and borderland circumstances that escalated the body count in Reconstruction Texas."- Patrick G. Williams , author of Beyond Redemption: Texas Democrats after Reconstruction, "The book clearly demonstrates that both agents of Reconstruction and those opposed to it used violence and fraud as a means to achieve their political goals. . . . Despite Texas' unique characteristics, Howell's compilation provides a framework applicable to future studies of Reconstruction in other Southern states."-- Texas Books in Review, "[A] highly recommended acquisition for Texana and Civil War collections in academic and public libraries. History professors will no doubt want to consider this anthology of Texas Reconstruction essays to be on their reading lists for students."-- Review of Texas Books
