Struggle for Mastery

“This book is the definitive account of how the disfranchisers disenfranchised.” — American Historical Review

“[Perman] has cleared the way for fresh investigations into this very vexed period.” — Historian

“Perman’s volume is surely the fullest narrative we will ever have of the legal, constitutional, and political mechanics of disfranchisement. . . . Thoroughly researched, clearly considered, and illustrated with state maps and pictures of frowning white politicians, this work is monumentally solid.” — Civil War History

“Enlightening. . . . An important contribution on this crucial subject in southern history.” — Gulf South Historical Review

“By far the most thorough examination of disfranchisement yet produced, and the amount of new detail is impressive.” — Southern Historian

“An extremely useful study. . . . Struggle for Mastery may be read partially or completely but always profitably. It will take its place instantly as the standard treatment of the subject.” — Journal of American History

“Marked throughout by its lucidity, intelligence and learning. . . . The tale [Perman tells] is not unknown; but it has never been told better. . . . [The book is] full of unexpected observations which stick in the mind. . . . This is a book which every historian of the South will have to read and ponder.” — Times Literary Supplement

“[An] important book. . . . Perman is the leading authority on the political history of the post-Civil War South, and his mastery of the subject is fully in evidence.” — Chicago Tribune

“An effective combination of political anecdote, biographical sketch, well-informed state analyses, and cautious yet significant generalizations about regional race-based politics. . . . Using a wide range of both primary and secondary sources and bolstered by quantitative analyses, the book makes an important contribution to our understanding of late 19th- and early 20th-century Southern and national politics.” — CHOICE

“Michael Perman has given us the fullest account of a central event in southern and African American history: the stripping of the vote from black men. Perman deals with disfranchisement in its many variations, portraying the drama of each state’s struggles in powerful narrative and penetrating analysis.” — Edward L. Ayers, University of Virginia