The author places the blame for the failure of reconstruction in the state on the Republicans for corruption and for not fighting harder. It's true they weren't perfect, but once the former Confederates got the vote, they took control and passed the Jim Crow laws, reinstated the pre-war Southern aristocracy, and doomed the state to 100 years of poverty.

Still, the book was well-written and easy to follow. It never got boring, even when covering politics.