Pursuit of Unity A Political History of the American South

   

Surveying the entire span of southern political history Michael Perman takes a revealing and wide ranging approach to the region s politics During the nineteenth century the South experienced nearly continuous political crisis from nullification through secession war and Reconstruction concluding with the disfranchisement campaigns at century s end The struggle for power took a different form in the twentieth century as the South s political class forged the Solid South and then maneuvered to perpetuate its control within the region and its influence within the nation But there was also continuity within this pattern of discord and crisis First southern politics generated to a degree not found elsewhere in the United States a remarkable array of unusual and colorful politicians such as John C Calhoun William Mahone James K Vardaman Huey Long George Wallace and Lyndon Johnson Even more significant was the lack of a competitive two party politics for the better part of the more than two centuries since the nation s founding For most of the nineteenth century the South s political system was characterized by the dominance of one party the Democrats and in the twentieth by the one party monopoly known as the Solid South This propensity toward one party politics differentiated the South and its political history from the rest of the country But since the passage of the momentous Voting Rights Act in 1965 one party politics has all but disappeared and along with it the South s pursuit of unity

- ISBN13 9780807833247
- Condition NEW
- Notes Brand New from Publisher No Remainder Mark