Stephen Budiansky

The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox Stephen Budiansky

Publisher Marketing: From 1866 to 1876, more than three thousand free African Americans and their white allies were killed in cold blood by terrorist organizations in the South. Over the years this fact would not only be forgotten, but a series of exculpatory myths would arise to cover the tracks of this orchestrated campaign of atrocity and violence. Little memory would persist of the simple truth: that a well-organized and directed terrorist movement, led by ex-Confederates who refused to accept the verdict of Appomattox and the enfranchisement of the freedmen, succeeded in overthrowing the freely elected representative governments of every Southern state. Stephen Budiansky brings to life this largely forgotten but epochal chapter of American history through the intertwining lives of five courageous men who tried to stop the violence and keep the dream of freedom and liberty alive. They include James Longstreet, the ablest general of the Confederate army, who would be vilified and ostracized for insisting that the South must accept the terms of the victor and the enfranchisement of black men; Lewis Merrill of the 7th Cavalry, who fought the Klan in South Carolina; and Prince Rivers, who escaped from slavery, fought for the Union, became a state representative and magistrate, and died performing the same menial labor he had as a slave. Using letters and diaries left by these men as well as startlingly hateful diatribes published in Southern newspapers after the war, Budiansky proves beyond a doubt that terrorism is hardly new to America. Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 02/01/2009 pg. 20 (EAN 9780452290167, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 02/25/2008 pg. 75 (EAN 9781423351634, Compact Disc) Publishers Weekly 09/10/2007 pg. 47 (EAN 9780670018406, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2007 pg. 1027 (EAN 9780670018406, Hardcover) Booklist 11/15/2007 pg. 15 (EAN 9780670018406, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Budiansky, Stephen Stephen Budiansky is a journalist and military historian whose writings frequently appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic Monthly. His previous books include Her Majesty s Spymaster, Air Power, and Battle of Wits. He lives in Virginia. Contributor Bio:  Gigante, Phil Phil Gigante is an APA Audie Award winner (The Dark Highlander, The Stainless Steel Rat, and The Watch That Ends the Night), and winner of over a dozen Audiofile Magazine Earphones Awards. He has narrated and directed more than 250 books, and was twice named a "Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense" by Audiofile Magazine. He has been named a Best Male Narrator in the categories of Romance, Science Fiction, Militaria, and Mystery/Suspense, as well as "Favorite Dual Narrator" (with Natalie Ross). Phil also works in film, TV and radio, and is the Producer/Director of Gigantic Productions theatre company. He makes his home in the Midwest.