The novel by Albion Tourgee is a good look into what it was like for people living in the South during reconstruction and many of the problems that faced them. The story focuses on the character of Comfort Servosse. Servosse fought on the Union side during the Civil War and once he returned home decided to move himself and his family to the South. He moves to Rockford County and is viewed a Yankee troublemaker in the eyes of the people in his new community. Servosse fights for the rights of the newly freed blacks and is an activist in the anti-slavery movement in the south. This leads to many problems for him throughout the book especially with the Ku Klux Klan. Servosse was a civil rights leader who fought a fight that was almost impossible to win. One quote from the book that tells the reader of how he felt was "bestowal of equal civil and political rights upon all men, without regard to previous rank and station." This quote shows that he was fighting for the newly freed slaves in the south and why he faced so much trouble from reconstruction leaders in these southern areas. .
Tourgee was a fighter for the rights of blacks in the south during reconstruction and it seems that he used this novel to tell the story of the problems and attitudes that faced the reconstruction of the south and the different attitudes of the north as well. The novel is used to tell the story of failed reconstruction plans as well. Much of it focused on the KKK and their rise to power in the south, then their failure to change the culture of the south. .
Overall this was a good book to use in this class because it was something different. While it still had the themes of reconstruction and many true attitudes that existed it was also nice to be able to read something that was a story rather then actual sources from the war. The book was able to get across the feelings that were among the people during this time period and what they faced while also staying true to the facts of the time period.