A Fool's Errand

John Hope Franklin: "The value of A Fool's Errand lies in its fearless criticism not merely of the South for its post-[Civil] war attitudes and policies but of the national governmental problems raised by the war and its aftermath. At a time when public sentiment tended to frown on anything that might exacerbate the intersectional difficulties, Tourgee insisted on discussing the problem, because he was convinced that it had not been solved satisfactorily, or indeed, at all... "In his understanding and interpretation of Reconstruction Tourgee would even today be regarded as a radical. Over and over again he emphasized the fact that in the years immediately following the Civil War the former Confederates had control of their own state governments. It was during this period, he argued, that they clearly demonstrated their unwillingness or inability to face up to the implications of the surrender at Appomattox. "... As an intelligent observer and participant in Southern Reconstruction, Tourgee was in an excellent position to provide his contemporaries and posterity with an important commentary and criticism of what he witnessed and experienced. He was a pioneer post-war social critic."