Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877 (American History) Paperback – August 5, 2014

This is a well researched and stylistically accessible history of the years preceding, during, and after the Civil War as they pertain to the conflict-ridden evolution of civil rights in America, not only for the African American but for the Native American and for women. Ms. Wineapple writes with an appealing personal perspective and organizational style. Although the book is very thorough, I still experienced a sense of mild surprise when the extensive Notes, Bibliography, and Index appeared after only 63 percent of the Kindle version, a testimony to the years the author invested in the work's foundation. The story itself is not of the feel-good variety, although if one looks for heroes and victories, they are certainly to be found, almost regardless of one's civil rights views. Perhaps for most readers, this book is an insightful explortion of the politics, values, and actions of many of the significant players of the period; and a reminder of the conflicts, tragedies, even horrors, that we find in our civil rights history as we move forward.

A very good history of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise of 1850 was a stop gap measure to soothe tensions between the North and South over slavery in the territories. The South wanted to allow popular sovereignty in the new states where they could vote on the slavery question. The North wanted to restrict slavery to new states south of the Missouri Compromise line. The biggest win for the South was enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act where escaping slaves could be arrested in the North and returned to their owners.As we know the compromise did not hold for long and just a little over a decade later the Civil War broke out. Reconstruction followed; even though the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed the blacks did not end up getting the protection they needed. The Supreme Court ruled against many of the enforcement provisions effectively relegating control to the whites. There was a LOT of violence in the South including massacre of blacks and Liberal Republicans who tried to support civil rights. Eventually, the North tired of the conflict and the country's attention turned to the west.The election of 1876 ended in a dispute between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. The Compromise of 1877 gave the election to Hayes in return for the removal of federal troops from southern states and the support for a new transcontinental railroad in the south.The book does a wonderful job of covering all this history in three sections: pre-Civil war, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Like our government today, compromise was seen as betrayal. Both sides felt that the compromises built into the Constitution that tacitly allowed for slavery would eventually doom the country to conflict.The book does a great job of providing a basis for reflection on our current government dysfunction. While we have a large degree of polarization, we don't have the armed rebellion, and mass killings in the streets that occurred both before and after the Civil War. I wonder if a big reason we haven't reached such an extreme level is the two sides are not geographically distinct.

Ecstatic Nation, Brenda WineappleIt is impossible to overpraise this historically insightful and captivating book, which tells the fascinating multi faceted story of an America caught between greatness and tragedy. It paints a portrait of the pre through post civil war years, through reconstruction and its tragic end, to the beginning of the gilded era which sounded the death knell of ideologic passiontry; all the while building indelible portraits of the fascinating cast of characters who contributed to the ecstatic period -- from abolitionists to barristers to con artists, politicians to philosophers to poets - and deftly filling in the cultural as well as political background in which they acted.Ms. Wineapple is a wonderfully witty writer who deftly injects humor and irony into her narrative. But she is also a dedicated academic writer whose quotes and impressions are thoroughly annotated. The reader will find him(her)self going back and forth from text to back-of-the-book references to reinforce the reading. So it is slow going; this is a dense book. But the curious, committed - the ecstatic reader - will find it more than worth the effort.

This book is a fascinating look at America from 1848 - 1876, It was during that time that the issue of slavery hung over the country and divided the nation. The author deals with the issue of freedom, but not only for slaves. The author's vast scope includes the unresolved promise of freedom for women and native Americans. The author presents well known characters of the period, Lincoln, Grant, Clay, Calhoun, Sherman, and Lee. However, I found the author's discussion of lesser known personalities such as P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and L. C. Q. Lamar equally fascinating.Introduced with scrupolous objectivity and splendid prose, this penetrating story is balanced, and insightful. I especially enjoyed the way that the author seamlessly weaved cultural and political history throughout the narrative. In addition, I found the author's analysis of the events that preceded the Civil War, and the complex aftermath of that war and Reconstruction very enlightening. A MUST READ for anyone interested in this riveting time period of American history!!.