What books should I read to attain a sound understanding of the

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What books should I read to attain a sound understanding of the civil war and the following reconstruction? I've looked into books by Woodrow Wilson, Cecil Chesterton, and Eric Foner, and I don't feel that I've learned anything at all. Chesterton and Wilson tell me that Reconstruction was a period of chaos caused largely by the enfranchisement of an illiterate slave population and the political opportunists who took advantage of the chaos, but many of their statistics seem to be wildly inaccurate. Foner tells me that it's mostly the fault of extreme racism, which surely was rampant. But he also believes that freedmen were competent to govern themselves, obviously an absurd fucking delusion. Also, he has written articles which clearly show that his instincts as an historian have been compromised by moral cowardice.

Anyone know of some good books on the period free from inaccuracies and moral hysterics?