author
Albion Winegar Tourgée
1838–1905
A Civil War veteran turned novelist, lawyer, and outspoken reformer, he wrote some of the most vivid fiction about Reconstruction and the struggle for equal rights in the postwar South. His life moved between battlefield experience, courtroom battles, and a determined effort to tell uncomfortable truths.
2 Audiobooks
Bricks Without Straw: A Novel
by Albion Winegar Tourgée
Hullun yritys: Amerikalainen historiallinen romani
by Albion Winegar Tourgée
About the author
Born in 1838, Albion Winegar Tourgée served in the Union Army during the Civil War and was seriously wounded. After the war he moved to North Carolina, where he became deeply involved in Reconstruction as a lawyer, judge, political activist, and writer.
He is best remembered today for novels such as A Fool’s Errand, which drew on his Southern experiences and helped a wide readership see the violence, intimidation, and broken promises that followed emancipation. His writing mixed storytelling with sharp social criticism, making him an unusually direct literary voice on race and democracy in 19th-century America.
Tourgée also played an important role in civil rights history beyond fiction. As a lawyer, he argued against segregation and is closely connected with the legal challenge that led to Plessy v. Ferguson. He died in 1905, but his career still stands out for its mix of literary force, political courage, and lasting commitment to equal justice.