Promotional Information

Nystrom does an excellent job of showing Reconstruction, at least in New Orleans, in a new light-as a longer process and a far more complex one in which both white Democrats and Republicans of all ethnic traditions seem less certain and more pragmatic than previous histories of the period would have it. New Orleans after the Civil War offers a very useful new perspective on a central event in American history. -- Gaines M. Foster, Louisiana State University

Table of Contents

The Quests
Part I
1. Voices from the Field
Part II
2. Origins, Schisms, and Crises
3. "Nobel or Rebel?"
4. MSF Greece Ostracized
5. The Return of MSF Greece
Part III
6. La Mancha
Part IV
7. Struggling with HIV/ AIDS
8. In Khayelitsha
9. A "Non-Western Entity" Is Born
Part V
10. Reaching Out to the Homeless and Street Children of Moscow with Olga Shevchenko
11. Confronting TB in Siberian Prisons with Olga Shevchenko
Coda
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

About the Author

Justin A. Nystrom is an assistant professor of history at Loyola University New Orleans and the co-director of the Center for the Study of New Orleans.

Reviews

A richly detailed, thought-provoking study of politics in postbellum New Orleans... Breaks new ground and will generate fresh thinking about Reconstruction in New Orleans and the nation. Journal of American History Nystrom takes the reader on the journey from slavery to freedom, emancipation to suffrage then back into a harsh period of disfranchisement by the end of the nineteenth century... He moves beyond previous revisionist studies on Reconstruction by examining indicators of change by way of those making the decisions. Southern Historian A fascinating and complex story that Nystrom's narrative incisively clarifies to a degree no work before has managed to accomplish. H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews An excellent choice for any collection in U.S. history. Choice Nystrom now adds nuance to these studies by providing a close biographical reading of several New Orleanians as they struggled with questions of secession, occupation, emancipation, racial equality, and political division. -- Anthony J. Stanonis American Historical Review This is an important book for understanding postwar urban politics in the largest city in the South. It is deeply researched, splendidly written, and well contextualized within the larger historiography of Reconstruction. -- Aaron Astor Register of the Kentucky Historical Society