Point of View

The book is generally presented in the third person point of view prevalent in historic writing. For example, "The Army board convened at St. Louis on September 2, 1873" (Chapter 4, p. 63). However, individual passages which report eyewitness accounts are often quoted as first-person anecdotes. For example, "[N]one of us was influenced by what the Negroes themselves wanted: they had no capacity to plan for their own welfare; planning for them was another of our burdens" (Chapter 25, p. 308). This gives a personal feeling to these passages, giving character to the individuals during the time.

Setting

The setting of the book is predominantly divided between two focused locales - the city of Greenville, Mississippi, and the city of New Orleans. The Greenville sections of the book include to a lesser extent Washington County and the entire Mississippi-Yazoo Delta region, while the New Orleans sections of the book often include...