Chapter 19: The Future of Civil War and Reconstruction Literature.

This chapter examines contemporary and emerging developments in the literatures of the Civil War and Reconstruction. It argues that two particular genres have recently taken root: stories about people previously overlooked by mainstream accounts of the era; and stories that approach the Civil War and Reconstruction as a source of philosophical meaning. The chapter explores the major iterations of these burgeoning genres and documents their ongoing evolution in texts such as George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, Kasi Lemmons's Harriet, Gary Ross's Free State of Jones, and James McBride's The Good Lord Bird. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]