Georgia in 1865 was a very dangerous place. Deserters and former soldiers from both the Union and Confederate Armies had formed into gangs of highwaymen, robbing and attacking wayfarers. Atlanta itself was a violent city. People there are warned not to be on the streets after dark. In her afterword to the novel, Beatty notes the many killings and other crimes that occurred in Atlanta in 1865. The city is peopled by Northerners come to set up businesses, Southerners trying to run their own businesses, and numerous Southerners, white and black, hoping to find employment in the rapidly rebuilding city.

Atlanta had been set afire three times during the Civil War. The first time was because of incendiary bombs fired into the city by the besieging Union Army; the second time was because of Confederate General Hood's men blowing up railroad cars before abandoning the city; the third time was...