With insight and sensitivity, Trowbridge wrote of the state of former slaves and former slave-owners, the changing social structures, and the physical reality in which they lived only months after the surrender at Appomattox.

A journalist, novelist, and poet, Trowbridge brought years of experience to the task. Though an abolitionist long before the war, he did an admirable job of letting Southerners speak for themselves in this book. He was honest with them about his views but listened honestly to theirs.