From the back cover, "One of the most significant historical novels in American literature, The Marrow of Tradition is based on the Wilmington, North Carolina, Massacre of 1898 Called a 'race riot' by inflammatory Southern press and engineered by white Democrats who had seen their political control slip into the hands of REpublicans, many of whom were black, it was in fact a coup that restored power to the Democrats by subverting the principles of free democratic election. Some of Charles Chestnut's relatives lived through the violence and their accounts inspired this powerful and passionate novel. Originally published in 1901, the novel presents an unflinching portrait of America's post-reconstruction descent into a brutal world of segregation...."

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