Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina During Reconstruction

In this prize-winning book Thomas
Holt is concerned not only with the identities of the black politicians who
gained power in South Carolina during Reconstruction, but also with the question
of how they functioned within the political system. Thus, as one reviewer has
commented, "he penetrates the superficial preoccupations over whether black
politicians were venal or gullible to see whether they wielded power and influence
and, if they did, how and to what ends and against what obstacles."
"Well crafted and well written,
it not only broadens our knowledge of the period, but also deepens it, something
that recent books on Reconstruction have too often failed to do." -- Michael
Perman, American Historical Review.
. . . a valuable study of post-Civil
War black leaders in a state where Negro control came closest to realization
during Reconstruction. . . . Effectively merging the techniques of quantitative
analysis with those of narrative history, Holt shatters a number of myths and
misconceptions. . . . It should be on the reading list of all students of Reconstruction
and nineteenth-century black history." -- William C. Harris, Journal
of Southern History
"Holt presents his work modestly
as a state study of reconstruction politics. But this should not obscure a significant
intellectual achievement and a contribution of fundamental importance, demonstrating
the value of social-class analysis in understanding the politics of the black
community." -- Jonathan M. Wiener, Journal of American History.