Thoroughly researched, Gold and Freedom brings the perspective of a gifted French historian to a perennial topic in U.S. history. By reinterpreting Reconstruction through a sectional lens, Barreyre shifts our attention from party conflict to what he calls its 'spatial dynamics.' It may well be that an outsider is best positioned to appreciate the enormous significance of sectionalism in U.S. national politics. Barreyre proves here that he definitely 'gets it.'"" --Richard R. John, Columbia University, author of Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications. ""Nicolas Barreyre's Gold and Freedom is the first serious attempt to analyze congressional policy making during the era of Reconstruction to appear in forty to fifty years. It is a brilliant piece of work. None of the previous studies of economic policy making have tied those disputes so integrally to the evolution of federal Reconstruction policy as Barreyre does here. The book will make a splash with students of the Civil War/Reconstruction period as well as with specialists."" --Michael Holt, Williams Professor of American History Emeritus, University of Virginia.