SOUTHERN POLITICS: In State and Nation

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 1949

This is a state by state survey of the realities of Southern politics, with transition chapters setting the scene, analyzing basic likes and differences, indicating the significance of the situation in the national scene. The scope of the coverage is limited largely to machine politics, voting restrictions, candidates of the contemporary and recent scene, factors involved in regional splits, the operation of the one party system, the ever-present race problem and so on. Southern politics, checkered as it is with demagogues, is no comic opera; behind the droll facade it is a deadly serious business, and the relation of the Negro to the white, numerically, is its dominant factor. There are factional differences rather than two party differences. Nationally, Southern politics is important as an obstruction strategy, with the most dramatic evidence the Dixieorat bolt. One can study Alabama's sectionalism, Virginia's Byrd machine, Georgia's Talmadge and anti-Talmadge groupings, Tennessee's Shelby-East Tennessee coalition government, and so on, but the answer lies in the emancipation of the white problem from the Negro problem- and progress seems non-existent. Only North Carolina can boast. A book of sharply limited reader appeal, its value largely for students of politics.

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 1949

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1949

Categories: NONFICTION