The Republic for Which It Stands

The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896

By: Richard White

Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine

The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multivolume history of the American nation. In the newest volume in the series, The Republic for Which It Stands, acclaimed historian Richard White offers a fresh and integrated interpretation of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age as the seedbed of modern America.

At the end of the Civil War the leaders and citizens of the victorious North envisioned the country's future as a free-labor republic, with a homogenous citizenry, both Black and White. The South and West were to be reconstructed in the image of the North. Thirty years later Americans occupied an unimagined world. The unity that the Civil War supposedly secured had proved ephemeral. The country was larger, richer, and more extensive but also more diverse. Life spans were shorter, and physical well-being had diminished, due to disease and hazardous working conditions. Independent producers had become wage earners. The country was Catholic and Jewish as well as Protestant and increasingly urban and industrial. The "dangerous" classes of the very rich and poor expanded, and deep differences - ethnic, racial, religious, economic, and political - divided society. The corruption that gave the Gilded Age its name was pervasive.

These challenges also brought vigorous efforts to secure economic, moral, and cultural reforms. Real change - technological, cultural, and political - proliferated from below more than emerging from political leadership. Americans, mining their own traditions and borrowing ideas, produced creative possibilities for overcoming the crises that threatened their country.

In a work as dramatic and colorful as the era it covers, White narrates the conflicts and paradoxes of these decades of disorienting change and mounting unrest, out of which emerged a modern nation whose characteristics resonate with the present day.

©2017 Richard White (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

A Decent History of The Gilded Age

A good history, but certainly from a working-class point of view. I would like to have heard more about social life outside of home and work, especially mutual aid societies.

Outstanding

White's analysis transcends his dry academic style as he frames the second half of the 19th century centered around the concept of "the American Home" and the changes to society around it. It knits a complete picture out of one of the more complicated moments in American history.

High level history with a below average narration.

Richard White has done a great job summarizing the reconstruction and guilded age. The huge bibliography at the end is a testament to how much research went into this book. I thought the themes told a nice story of nation building after the Civil War and showed how this Era really laid a lot of the framework for how we live our lives today.

I did not like the narration. It sounded almost computerized to me. I found it difficult to keep my attention on the book, so I'm sure I didn't get everything the writer intended to portray.

Comprehensive and interesting. Not as good as other Oxford volumes.

The materials was well researched and interesting. The most interesting parts are the immediate Civil War aftermath and then towards the end as you wonder what comes next for the country after all the issues/turmoil during this time (i.e., the Progressive era).

Regarding other reviews, the narrations is completely fine. Then, it’s true that the book is more opinionated than others in the series, especially the debate between labor and corporations/monopolies, but it’s probably rooted in historical fact rather than bias (and also is not a big deal)

I would still recommend, but What Hath God Wrought and Battle Cry of Freedom are better.

Good history made unlistenable by terrible narration

I couldn't finish this one due to the narrator. He spoke in a clipped, robotic manner- almost like an AI voice. It was distracting and very weird.

Awesome read

if you are really into a well thought out discovery into the world as it was during the reconstruction, this is one I would reccomend!! research was qs good as it gets!

Comprehensive and full of great details

White explains how America was changed from 1865 to 1899 by technology, industry, immigration, political party interests, special interests, a new class of powerful oligarchs, and a new Supreme Court that was friendly to big corporations and property rights along with the role the KKK and disregard of Indian rights created an America of wage workers and salary men instead of independent free laborers.

The women’s rights movement and the evangelical movement are thoroughly considered as well

Fantastic

Good history, reasonably well told and read

Well researched and written history of people of the United States and the country's social and political evolution from the end of the Civil War through the end of the 19th century. The book feels a bit post-modern and critical theory-ish, but not overtly or distractingly so. Just understand that there is a bit of bias for what was wrong about the age, in it's treatment of anyone other than the white, anglo-saxon establishment, rather than what was accomplished. The author also has latched onto a theme - that the motivating principle behind people's choices was the sanctity and perfection of family life - to modest excess. It's a clear enough lens for selection and focusing of the author's historical interpretation, that one wonders that it doesn't appear in the subtitle or abstract of the book. Overall these distractions make this an ok, but not great, general history of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.

It's reasonably well read, but with enough odd mispronunciations and cadence switches to be mildly distracting. Particularly because the reader not infrequently correctly pronounces a word once, then later mispronounces it (and I'm not talking about arcane technical words - I mean common English verbs and nouns. Again, not a reason not to listen, but one wonders that publishers can't find readers who actually know the English language well enough to read with meaning.

Much needed history

I've always had a weak grasp on the history from the end of the Civil War ip to WWI, and this book turned out to be not only a much needed corrective, but a fascinating book in its own right. The scholarship is solid.

Very indepth and enlightening

Once again the Oxford History of the U. S. shines. The eras covered, Reconstruction and the Gilded Age were fleshed out excellently. Recommended this book to serious students of history. The only drawback was the narrator who was a lottle monotone.