I normally don’t review self-published books, but I have to say that I found a lot in this volume that was interesting. Lavonne Jackson Leslie, who passed away a couple of years ago, was a Howard Ph.D who taught history at the university level. Her book on the Freedmen’s Bureau and African Americans in Texas is unique in its concentration on using the voices of Black women to tell the story of Reconstruction. I have read several books on Reconstruction Era Texas and after a few you see the same sources used over and over. Dr. Jackson Leslie introduces sources from Black woman that I have not seen elsewhere. It was refreshing to listen to them.
At $3.99, this is a real Kindle bargain. There are a few of the editing problems that I have seen in other self-published works, but the book reads pretty well and it really fills a hole in Texas Reconstruction studies. Give it a try.
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