Back to the Free State
The Free State of Jones isn't very good entertainment, but it deserves credit for getting much of the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction right.
The Free State of Jones is writer-director Gary Ross’s retelling of the guerilla war fought in the heart of the Deep South by a pro-Union, antislavery, Confederate Army deserter named Newton Knight.
It’s based largely on Sally Jenkins’s and John Stauffer’s research, which they eventually published in the excellent book The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded From the Confederacy.
Ross’s other inspiration is Eric Foner — the Columbia University historian whom Ross claims to revere “like a god.” Foner provided Ross with a reading list to help him prepare for the film.
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