In teaching American government and politics, I constantly meet large numbers of students who have no knowledge of the most elementary facts of American history since the Civil War. When they are taken to task for their neglect, they reply that there is no textbook dealing with the period, and that the smaller histories are sadly deficient in their treatment of our age. It is to supply the student and general reader with a handy guide to contemporary history that I have undertaken this volume. I

When President Hayes was inaugurated on March 4, 1877, the southern whites had almost shaken off the Republican rule which had been set up under the protection of Federal soldiers at the close of the Civil War. In only two states, Louisiana and South Carolina, were Republican governors nominally in power, and these last "rulers of conquered provinces" had only a weak grip upon their offices, which they could not have maintained for a moment without the aid of Union troops stationed at their capi

Guide to Literature of Current History The best general bibliography for handy use is Channing, Hart, and Turner, Guide to the Study and Reading of American History (new ed. 1912). G. E. Howard, Present Political Questions (1913)—a valuable syllabus of current questions with discriminating and full bibliographies (published by the University of Nebraska). The Library of Congress publishes useful bibliographies on special topics of current political and historical interest. A list may be obtained