Vol. 4, No. 1: Politics (1998)

Vol. 4, No. 1: Politics (1998)

Spring 1998 brings our first Politics special issue, featuring: Tony Horowitz on “Black Confederates.” Confronting the new Republican South. South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary. The 25-year paradox of Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms in North Carolina. Following the money in Alabama. Tracking the high cost of gubernatorial campaigns over the previous twenty years. The challenge of translating southern womanhood into elected office. Reflections on redistricting. The SCLC’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1968 in photos. Presidential campaign songs of 1844. And a reflection on the Store Lunch.

Front Porch: Spring 1998

by Harry L. Watson

For many of us, the process of self-government has become so dispiriting that politics itself has become a term of reproach, and aspirants to public office outdo one another in denunciations of the government they wish to join.

The Black and the Gray: An Interview with Tony Horwitz

by Tony Horwitz

Proponents of black Confederates can claim p.c. motives—recognizing the wartime South's diversity—while advancing what, for many, is an un-p.c. message: namely, that if blacks supported the Cause, it couldn't have been so bad.

Introduction: The Culture of Southern Politics

by Ferrel Guillory

"But, whoever suggests that the political southernization of America has come to pass must also reckon with what has come to pass in southern politics."

Whither Southern Republicans?

by Whit Ayres, Jon McHenry

"If truth be known, many southern Republicans are pinching themselves as the 1998 election approaches, amazed at and wondering about the extent of their success."

“The Dread Handwriting Is on the Wall”: Confronting the New Republican South

by Mac McCorkle

"Caution in predicting the southern political weather might seem to be in order."

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary

by Cole Blease Graham Jr.

"They were Republicans under the skin, but they could not join a party indentified with the destruction of the South."

A Political Paradox: North Carolina’s Twenty-Five Years Under Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms

by Ferrel Guillory

"How is it that a state with a reputation for moderation, even progressivism, elects Jesse Helms?"

Follow the Money

by Natalie Davis

"Alabama politics is not about Democrats and Republicans; it's about plaintiff lawyers and big business."

High Costs of Winning—And Losing

by Thad Beyle

"The shift from party-centered campaigns to candidate-centered campaigns has contributed to the escalation of the costs of running for elective office in the United States."

Can the Flower of Southern Womanhood Bloom in the Garden of Southern Politics?

by Sue Tolleson-Rinehart

"Southern women still achieve firsts that have long been secured by women in other regions."

Reflections on Redistricting

by Dan Blue

"The first thing we've got to do is use political campaigns again as the way to establish dialogue and a way to paint a view or a vision of where we ought to be."

Mule Train: A Thirty-Year Perspective on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1968

by Roland L. Freeman

"Reminiscences and a gallery of photos documenting an unfinished journey that began thirty years ago."

Reading, Writing, and Race: The Desegregation of the Charlotte Schools by Davison M. Douglas (Review)

by Robert A. Pratt

University of North Carolina Press, 1995

Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War by Michael A. Morrison (Review)

by William L. Barney

University of North Carolina Press, 1997

Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (Review)

by Elizabeth D. Leonard

University of North Carolina Press, 1996

Tales of the South by William Gilmore Simms, edited by Mary Ann Wimsatt (Review)

by Johanna Nicol Shields

University of South Carolina Press, 1996

Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit: The Culture of Festivals in the American South by Rodger Lyle Brown (Review)

by William Harmon

University Press of Mississippi, 1997

A New Life: Stories and Photographs from the Suburban South edited by Alex Harris, afterword by Allan Gurganus (Review)

by Alex Albright

W.W. Norton & Co., 1997

Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, An Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington

by Dale Volberg Reed

Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1998

“He Put His Thumb Up to His Nose, And Twirl’d His Fingers at His Foes”: Presidential Campaign Songs in 1844

by Gavin James Campbell

"Local party organizers were undoubtedly embarassed when the pole fractured and had to be sent to the local blacksmith's shop for swift repairs."

Store Lunch

by Jerry Leath Mills

"Throughout the rural South, men with regular business in the country -- hunters, fishermen, farmers, surveyors, and traveling agents of various trades -- traditionally enjoy a repast known as the Store Lunch."