Overview

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. Link frames the city as both exceptional - because of the incredible impact of the war there and the city's phoenix-like postwar rise - and as a model for other southern cities. He shows how, in spite of the violent reimposition of white supremacy, freedpeople in Atlanta built a cultural, economic, and political center that helped to define black America.

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9781469626550

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Reviews

Meticulously researched . . . Link's book is a well-crafted study well worth the attention of those interested in the early dynamics of race relations.-- H-Net Reviews

No reader will come away . . . doubting Atlanta's status as the cradle of the New South.-- Journal of Southern History

[A] rich and nuanced case study of post-Civil War Atlanta.--The Historian A most welcome addition to studies on Atlanta's role as the birthplace of Henry Grady's New South.--West Virginia History An unparalleled introduction to the history of nineteenth-century Atlanta. . . . Link's pioneering and engaging study merits the attention of professional historians and general readers alike.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society Filled with useful information and is richly detailed.--Journal of American Studies Give[s] us a better sense of why Atlanta serves well as an exemplar of this era in the South's history.--Journal of American History Its strength lies in its detailed explication of the New South narrative of destruction and rebirth and its successful exclusion of African Americans.--Georgia Historical Quarterly Link has . . . uncovered some fascinating stories of how Atlanta became such a symbol in a contest over the memory of the war and the meaning of the South's future.--American Historical Review Link's lively work presents post-Civil War Atlanta in the context of competing historical narratives evolving in tension with one another. . . . A compelling look at how the pro-industrial, New South version of Lost Cause mythology championed by boosters such as Henry W. Grady became woven into the city's consciousness while African American residents, including W. E. B. Du Bois, made determined efforts to keep their progress from being obscured as white supremacy took hold throughout the city, the South, and the nation.--South Carolina Historical Magazine Meticulously researched . . . Link's book is a well-crafted study well worth the attention of those interested in the early dynamics of race relations.--H-Net Reviews No reader will come away . . . doubting Atlanta's status as the cradle of the New South.--Journal of Southern History Recommended. Undergraduate libraries and up.--Choice This is an important book, and William Link shows that Atlanta was indeed a place where the past and the future, the Civil War and the New South, race and economics, and memory and reality converged.--North Carolina Historical Review

Link has . . . uncovered some fascinating stories of how Atlanta became such a symbol in a contest over the memory of the war and the meaning of the South's future.--American Historical Review A most welcome addition to studies on Atlanta's role as the birthplace of Henry Grady's New South.--West Virginia History Its strength lies in its detailed explication of the New South narrative of destruction and rebirth and its successful exclusion of African Americans.--Georgia Historical Quarterly This is an important book, and William Link shows that Atlanta was indeed a place where the past and the future, the Civil War and the New South, race and economics, and memory and reality converged.--North Carolina Historical Review Give[s] us a better sense of why Atlanta serves well as an exemplar of this era in the South's history.--Journal of American History An unparalleled introduction to the history of nineteenth-century Atlanta. . . . Link's pioneering and engaging study merits the attention of professional historians and general readers alike.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society No reader will come away . . . doubting Atlanta's status as the cradle of the New South.--Journal of Southern History Filled with useful information and is richly detailed.--Journal of American Studies [A] rich and nuanced case study of post-Civil War Atlanta.--The Historian Recommended. Undergraduate libraries and up.--Choice Meticulously researched . . . Link's book is a well-crafted study well worth the attention of those interested in the early dynamics of race relations.--H-Net Reviews

Author Information

William A. Link is Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida, USA. He is author or editor of thirteen books, including Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism.

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