But asking for the information in an introduction thread?
The Reconstruction was a massive, years-long series of projects, both public and private, covering a number of states. It would take far more than a few posts to properly address the topic.
Better for a student from E. Europe to do that -- than fly over here and try to find answers in a Starbucks.. If you wanted to bypass all the hype and incompetent press and you spoke the language -- you could learn volumes logging into a message board in the Ukraine.