Country People in the New South: Tennessee's Upper Cumberland (Studies in Rural Culture) [Paperback]

Jeanette Keith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807845264 | ISBN-13: 978-0807845264 | Publication Date: August 14, 1995

Using the Tennessee antievolution 'Monkey Law,' authored by a local legislator, as a measure of how conservatives successfully resisted, co-opted, or ignored reform efforts, Jeanette Keith explores conflicts over the meaning and cost of progress in Tennessee's hill country from 1890 to 1925.

Until the 1890s, the Upper Cumberland was dominated by small farmers who favored limited government and firm local control of churches and schools. Farm men controlled their families' labor and opposed economic risk taking; farm women married young, had large families, and produced much of the family's sustenance. But the arrival of the railroad in 1890 transformed the local economy. Farmers battled town dwellers for control of community institutions, while Progressives called for cultural, political, and economic modernization. Keith demonstrates how these conflicts affected the region's mobilization for World War I, and she argues that by the 1920s shifting gender roles and employment patterns threatened traditionalists' cultural hegemony. According to Keith, religion played a major role in the adjustment to modernity, and local people united to support the 'Monkey Law' as a way of confirming their traditional religious values.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This [is a] subtle and well-crafted study. . . . Her footnotes are a delight in themselves.

Journal of American History

Thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Southern Cultures

Well written and provocative. . . . This book presents a fresh perspective on the New South.

Alabama Review

Deserves the respectful attention of all scholars interested in rural America, Southern history, or the cultural conflicts of the 1920s.

Historian

A fine example of southern rural history and a reminder of its considerable diversity.

Choice

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (August 14, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807845264
• ISBN-13: 978-0807845264
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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