" Published by the Kentucky Historical Society and Distributed by the University Press of Kentucky This period of Kentucky's history began with the unsettled society following the close of the Civil War, included bloody feuds, and closed with the tragic Goebel assassination. This book is the most thorough and most ambitious study yet made of that significant time, and the authors recapture the drama and color of these exciting, violent, partisan, and important years.Dr. Tapp and Dr. Klotter trace the progress—or lack of it—in such fields as agriculture, architecture, commerce, literature and general culture. They present the sporting and social life of both the masses and the elite. The story of the halting progress in education, the efforts of the men and women fighting for reform, the emerging fights for blacks' and womens' rights—all are examined. Politics captured and held the people's attention, and the changing and transitional political history of the era is presented in depth. Over 70 pictures and maps create the atmosphere and temper of the times. Footnotes, appendixes, an index and a bibliographical essay combine to make this a path-breaking study of a long neglected period in Kentucky history.