Books by Albion W. Tourgee

Investigates white supremacy as it emerged from the milieu of slavery, war, politics, and Reconstruction. Tourgee argues that organizations such as the Klan appealed to the mass of white southerners as a means of ameliorating their defeat and ensuring a measure of political control. A striking, contemporary look into the mind of the carpetbagger and the genesis of both the Ku Klux Klan and the political structure of the postwar South.

Though the discussion of sectional and racial problems is an important element in the book, A Fool's Errand has merit as a dramatic narrative-with its love affair, and its moments of pathos, suffering, and tragedy. This combination of tract and melodrama made it a bestseller in its day.

In this classic of American political fiction, first published in 1880, a white authors portrayal of the experiences of emancipated slaves shows how Reconstruction was sabotaged by southern racists.