Politics and Society in the South (review)

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 28, No. 2, November 1988, pp. 111-113 REVIEWS Politics and Society in the South. Earl Black and Merle Black. Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1987. xii and 363 pp., chapter notes, and index. $25.00 cloth (ISBN 0-674-68958-5) At midcentury the South stood on the verge of far-reaching social, economic, and political change. Standing at this juncture, V. O. Key looked back on the previous three decades to describe and analyze the politics ofthe "old" South. Key's monumental book, Southern Politics in State and Nation, depicted a political system characterized by exclusion , systematic subordination of blacks, failures of leadership, and the dominance of one political party. From its development around the turn of the century to the 1948 election of Harry S. Truman, this political system dominated the South. It was devoted to preserving the status quo and maintaining the political and social order so thoroughly dominated by a relatively small privileged class through the mechanism of the Democratic Party. However, in the three decades or one generation since the book's publication in 1949, the South has moved from the rural, agrarian, one-party region that Key depicted to a much more urban and industrialized region in which the Democratic Party has lost its political and electoral hegemony and in which the political power base has been broadened to include a much wider spectrum of participants. Two political scientists have crafted a masterful analysis of these three decades of change. Earl and Merle Black build on the tradition of V. O. Key to provide what gives every appearance of becoming the "classic" for the next generation of students of southern politics. The central theme of their book is the changing politics of the South. They describe changes in the nature, character, and origin of the major political players—the politicians; in the political order; in the scope of political participation and in the nature and character of the participants; in racial attitudes; in the roles of political parties; and ultimately in the political system itself. However, recognizing that such political transformation simply mirrors societal change, the authors lay the foundation for their analysis by addressing the complex economic and social shifts underway in the region. Herein lies one of the strongest features of the book. Its entire first half is devoted to developing the themes ofindustri- 112Southeastern Geographer alization, urbanization, the demise of southern agrarian traditionalism, and the corresponding rise of a middle class devoted to entrepreneurial individualism. On this strong foundation the authors proceed to tackle a most critical variable in southern electoral politics—the issue of race. The devotion of five chapters plus numerous additional references and discussions to the political impact of the transformation of southern race relations is, perhaps, indicative of the importance the authors attach to this variable. It is certainly a strong contribution to the literature and makes the final chapters on the southern electorate and partisan politics much more effective and meaningful for the reader. One strength of this book lies in the wealth of documentation and research that supports the hypotheses advanced by the authors. The authors weave an abundance of existing literature—over 30 pages of notes and citations—into a well-written and quite readable fourteen chapters. One shortcoming is the paucity of supporting graphics, particularly maps. Appreciation of the types of political and social changes described by the authors—particularly those which manifest strong regional differences such as Peripheral and Deep South, black belt, and the industrial Piedmont—would be facilitated by more liberal use of maps depicting the patterns which the authors weave with narrative. Despite this minor deficiency, the book has much to offer geographers who are focusing on the South. Many of its central themes have inherently geographic overtones: the rise and demise of black belt leadership , the rise of urban leadership, and the corresponding development of middle class southern entrepreneurial individualism based in part on a changing population base coming with industrialization and strong north-to-south migration patterns. The book would fit well as supplementary reading in a course on the South or in a political geography course with a strong U.S. or electoral...