The Promise of the New South: Life after Reconstruction, written by Edward Ayers does not deal predominantly with one overall thesis. Instead Ayers writes in a narrative tone and depicts the story of how the south began to grow after the Civil War through Reconstruction. He uses a very optimistic tone when discussing the growth and movement of the south, never really taking a side when it comes to topics such as segregation or the movement towards a more industrialized nation. He uses personal stories and quotes from people of the time period to show the hard times and events that people had to endure during the end of the 19th century going into the 20th. Ayers touches on subjects such as the rise in industrialization, segregation and the political turmoil that in turn shape the new south. Ayers focuses on the time period from about 1877 to 1910. He begins by talking about the railroads and how they are the driving force behind the growing south. Along with rough working conditions they brought glamour and new technology to fuel the south. Stores and towns began to sprout up and the south began to become more mechanized and farms were beginning to be abandoned. After the war, railroads gave blacks an opportunity to leave plantations and find work all over the southwest. Political turmoil and corruption also affected the south early on. Segregation set in and the Democratic Party had a hold on the south. Black men were persuaded with money or violence in many cases to make them vote a certain way. They believed they would finally be able to make a difference but under the corrupt government and political system this was not the case. With republicans running the national government and democrat’s halfhearted efforts, the economy in the south was hurting. By the early 1880s, mills and mines had sprouted up all over the south and the regions first big industry, tobacco, came into play. However, the economy was still very slow in growth. There was a lot of boom and bust in industries and crooked people who made it hard to succeed. In mill towns and mines, wages were low and conditions bad but people moved here to find work leave to countryside. Social life was not much better in the new south. Whites suffered from low wages and loss of workers and blacks were beaten and intimidated so they would stay in their place. Around this time farmers alliances and activists groups are being formed to fight for better treatment. Towards the turn of the century we begin to see segregation becoming more apparent and violence growing even with the new interracial sports and the Spanish- American war with both blacks and whites fighting. Ayers does a good job of narrating over thirty years of history in a way that is interesting. The use of personal stories and quotes help depict what the south was really like when it was growing and changing at such a rapid pace. However, the structure of the chapters can be a little confusing; he jumps around on topics and it can be hard to follow at times. Overall, the novel is chronologically structured well and shows the growth in every aspect that the south changed. In the novel Ayers covers many of the topics we discussed in lecture. He discusses the Farmer’s Alliance, Knights of Labor and the Populist Party. The novel discusses in depth the people involved and the rise to popularity and then the group’s quick fall after elections. Ayers also discusses the topic of disenfranchisement and how this not only affects blacks but also poor whites. Disenfranchisement also hurt the efforts of the alliances and suffrage for women was put on hold. This novel really helped in understanding the origins of some of these topics and how they truly affected the people of the new south.