Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He is the author of many books, including The Civil War: A Concise History, The Soiling of Old Glory, and Lincoln's Last Speech. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Slate.
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What did Abraham Lincoln envision when he talked about "reconstruction?" Assassinated in 1865, the president did not have a chance to begin the work of reconciling the North and South, nor to oversee Reconstruction as an official postwar strategy. Yet his... SEE MORE