Herein, in Volume 4, You Live through the Political Times that Followed the American Civil War. Herein you live, yes live, through those turbulent and amazing times. Why? Because, in Volume 4, much of the pertinent history continues to be told through parallel biographies of the major politicians of the times. Howard Ray White takes you back. He takes you back to those years so that you may live them yourself, because he wants you to personally experience those times and draw your own conclusions about the politics that caused the Civil War, about the politics that produced and sustained such horrific fighting, suffering and death, and - in Volume 4 - about the politics of the 20-year Reconstruction Era and the corresponding struggles for healing that followed Confederate surrender. Have you long wondered what caused the American Civil War? Why were the seceded States not allowed to go in peace? Why did 36,000 Federal have to die? Do you doubt the reasons commonly accepted in today's society? Have you found the history of the Republican Party's Political Reconstruction Era baffling? Then you must read White's Volume 4, for he unravels the confusion while spiriting you along on a journey through which you live those 20 years of Political Reconstruction, of struggle. If you have the time, Howard Ray White has the means. The four volumes of Bloodstains are White's first books. Unlike the vast majority of historians, he is not a product of American Academia. To the contrary, he is a scientifically trained retired chemical engineer (Vanderbilt University, 1960). Consequently, White is free to present history from a factual, "scientifically correct" perspective, even when doing so is not today considered "politically correct." And White tells the history and relates the biographies with measured feelings of passionate involvement, for his grandfather's farmhouse was a Federal field hospital at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River). He explains: "As a child, the bloodstains on the floors cried out to me to someday tell them 'Why'." The result, the Bloodstains series, presents the history as White organized it for his personal study and for your maximum understanding. After reading Bloodstains, you will know "Why" with unshakable conviction, for you will have lived it. And White's powerful index will facilitate inquiry and reader analysis. The four volumes in this series are - -Volume 1: The Nation Builders (2002); -Volume 2: The Demagogues (2003); -Volume 3: The Bleeding (2007) and -Volume 4: Political Reconstruction and The Struggle for Healing (2012). Bloodstains and other works by Howard Ray White are available as print books and as e-books. See www.howardraywhite.com, www.southernhistorians.org or amazon.com for details. Reaction from past readers is extraordinary. They have been truly moved. Examples: -"I have learned more from your books about the politics of America than from all other sources. Thank you for taking time to put the mess into a logical format." (Florida reader). -"The best true histories of America I have studied." (Virginia reader). -"Your work cries out to be studied! Utilizing parallel biographies of the main political participants is unlike anything I have ever read." (Iowa reader).