Professor writes book on Reconstruction in Alabama

Dr. Warren Rogers, a University of North Georgia (UNG) professor of history, has published a new book.

Rogers said "Reconstruction Politics in a Deep South State: Alabama, 1865-1874" offers a fresh perspective on "how politics translated from Washington, D.C., to Montgomery, Alabama" during the pivotal period.

"The book concerns Reconstruction politics, and it uses elections and the issues. Race is at the crux of the debate in this day of white supremacy when Republicans challenged that mantra," Rogers said. "The resulting cultural passions made for the passionate expression of competing ideas, and accounted for the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and political violence. What the reader gets is a strong feel for the give and take of politics on a grassroots level."

Rogers examines the shifting political dynamics following the Civil War. He spent 17 years researching the book, including at the Library of Congress and in Alabama. He drew upon newspapers, correspondence and various federal investigations.

"These firsthand voices are passionate, unvarnished and filled with conviction. They offer a startling immediacy and illustrate the temper — or distemper — of the times," according to the description on the website for the University of Alabama Press, which released the book.