Synopses & Reviews
The Irony of the Solid South examines how the south became the andldquo;Solid Southandrdquo; for the Democratic Party and how that solidarity began to crack with the advent of American involvement in World War II.and#160;Relying on a sophisticated analysis of secondary researchandmdash;as well as a wealth of deep research in primary sources such as letters, diaries, interviews, court cases, newspapers, and other archival materialsandmdash;Glenn Feldman argues in
The Irony of the Solid South that the history of the solid Democratic south is actually marked by several ironies that involve a concern with the fundamental nature of southern society and culture and the central place that race and allied types of cultural conservatism have played in ensuring regional distinctiveness and continuity across time and various partisan labels. Along the way, this account has much to say about the quality and nature of the New Deal in Dixie, southern liberalism, and its fatal shortcomings.and#160;Feldman focuses primarily on Alabama and race but also considers at length circumstances in the other southern states as well as insights into the uses of emotional issues other than race that have been used time and again to distract whites from their economic and material interests. Feldman explains how conservative political forces (Bourbon Democrats, Dixiecrats, Wallace, independents, and eventually the modern GOP) ingeniously fused white supremacy with economic conservatism based on the common glue of animus to the federal government. A second great melding is exposed, one that joined economic fundamentalism to the religious kind along the shared axis of antidemocratic impulses.and#160;Feldmanandrsquo;s study has much to say about southern and American conservatism, the enduring power of cultural and emotional issues, and the modern southandrsquo;s path to becoming solidly Republican.
Review
and#147;This is a first-rate, original piece of scholarship based on a thorough command of the secondary literature, and on a very extensive exploration of primary sources that Feldman tracked down in numerous and widespread locations.and#8221;and#151;Sheldon Hackney, author ofand#160;Populism to Progressivism in Alabama
Review
andldquo;This is history with a strong point of view and one that runs counter to more recent trends in the historiography of race and politics. It reflects deep research and a well-wrought argument for the primacy of race that is a powerful challenge to that new historiography that runs the danger of becoming as andlsquo;orthodoxandrsquo; as earlier arguments for the primacy of race in twentieth-century politics.and#160;Itand#160;is an impressive marshaling of powerful evidence for an argument that will challenge much of the current historical literature.andrdquo;andmdash;Dan T. Carter, author of
Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American SouthReview
"Feldman provides a real service, especially to readers outside of the academy, with his unsparing approach to the ugliness and violence that steadily supported white southerners' politics and peer pressure. Too often this side of southern history is still seen as unfortunate or, worse, misunderstood, and too often it remains conveniently frozen in black-and-white pictures of law officials using water hoses and police dogs against civil rights activists. As Feldman demonstrates repeatedly, the social and economic pressure, as well as the violence, was relentless, largely unapologetic, and, for a long time, successful in its aims."and#160;and#151;The American Historical Review
Review
"Feldman's book is yet another explanation of why white voters turned the solidly Democratic South of the late-19th and early-20th centuries into a region that could be expected to vote for Republicans in the late-20th century. He notes that the sea change in southern politics had national implications and argues that white conservative voters in the post-Civil War years were drawn to the Democratic Party because it shared their values of white supremacy, religions, and cultural conservatism, and support for market economics. When the Democratic Party began to drift away from these ideals beginning with the New Deal, white southerners remained true to their ideology and sought new political outlets in the Dixiecrats, the American Independent Party, and the Republican Party. The inherent instability of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal coalition contributed to this transformation because it sought to bring together widely different groups, but it could do so successfully only as long as the Great Depression threatened economic survival. Economic recovery allowed these groups to go their separate ways. The bibliography and endnotes reveal the thoroughness of research completed by Feldman (Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham).and#160;Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above."
and#151;CHOICE
Synopsis
The Irony of the Solid South examines how the south became the andldquo;Solid Southandrdquo; for the Democratic Party andhow that solidarity began to crack with the advent of American involvement in World War II.
Synopsis
The Irony of the Solid South examines how the south became the Solid South for the Democratic Party and how that solidarity began to crack with the advent of American involvement in World War II.Relying on a sophisticated analysis of secondary research as well as a wealth of deep research in primary sources such as letters, diaries, interviews, court cases, newspapers, and other archival materials Glenn Feldman argues in The Irony of the Solid South that the history of the solid Democratic south is actually marked by several ironies that involve a concern with the fundamental nature of southern society and culture and the central place that race and allied types of cultural conservatism have played in ensuring regional distinctiveness and continuity across time and various partisan labels. Along the way, this account has much to say about the quality and nature of the New Deal in Dixie, southern liberalism, and its fatal shortcomings.Feldman focuses primarily on Alabama and race but also considers at length circumstances in the other southern states as well as insights into the uses of emotional issues other than race that have been used time and again to distract whites from their economic and material interests. Feldman explains how conservative political forces (Bourbon Democrats, Dixiecrats, Wallace, independents, and eventually the modern GOP) ingeniously fused white supremacy with economic conservatism based on the common glue of animus to the federal government. A second great melding is exposed, one that joined economic fundamentalism to the religious kind along the shared axis of antidemocratic impulses.Feldman s study has much to say about southern and American conservatism, the enduring power of cultural and emotional issues, and the modern south s path to becoming solidly Republican.
"
About the Author
Glenn Feldman is a professor in the college of arts and sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and author of
Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 1915-1949.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments1. The andquot;Reconstruction Syndromeandquot; and the Calcification of Conservative Culture2. Elements of Democratic Solidarity and Discontent: Industry, Economics, Calvinist Religion, and Jim Crow3. For Blacks Only: The Perversion of Alabama Progressivism4. Race over Rum, Romans, and Republicans5. Placing Culture on Hold: The New Deal Coalition, Its First Cracks, and the andquot;Great Meldingandquot; Takes Shape6. Splitting the New Deal Coalition Open7. The andquot;Liberal Southandquot; and the Central Tragedy of Southern Politics8. Cheap Labor, the FEPC, and Frank Dixon as Knight-Errant of the South9. Racial Challenge, White Reaction, and Chauncey Sparks as the New Champion10. Race, Religion, and the andquot;Status Quo Societyandquot;11. Liberals, Friends of the Negro, and Charging Hell with a ToothpickEpilogue: Since 1944NotesSelected Bibliography of Primary SourcesIndex