The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism and the Transformation of American Politics [Paperback]

Dan T. Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

In the first unauthorized study of Wallace in two decades, a professor of history shows how Wallace's segregationist politics launched the anti-Washington populist movement that ultimately swept Republicans to power in 1994. 25,000 first printing.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the title, this book is mainly an interpretive biography of former Alabama governor Wallace, with few revelations but more of a skeptical edge than Stephan Lesher's recent authorized bio, George Wallace: American Populist. (This book argues, contra Lesher, that Wallace did in fact vow not to be "out-niggered.") A history professor at Emory University, Carter (Scottsboro) has produced a detailed and readable account of Wallace?"the most influential loser in twentieth-century American politics"?as political animal, driven by ambition far more than by ideology, with a disarmingly folksy personal style. On the wrong side in so many civil rights-era clashes, from Bull Connor's brutality in Birmingham to the admitting of black students to the state university, Wallace nonetheless tapped the "Southernization" of suburban and ethnic white America, thereby fueling his two presidential bids. Though his crippling in a 1972 assassination attempt ended his political career, Wallace, as the author states in a coda, anticipated "the conservative groundswell that transformed American politics in the 1980s."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Historian Carter's biography of the former Alabama governor and presidential candidate emphasizes Wallace's ability to exploit white racism and social conservatism to further his political career. It contends that he gave voice to themes that were to be used effectively by Republican politicians in their electoral victories of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Carter concludes that Wallace was the "most influential loser in twentieth century American politics." Another recent biographer, Stephen Lesher (George Wallace: American Populist, LJ 3/1/94), attributes to him an even wider influence?one affecting liberal and conservative politicians of both major parties. Carter's work has the more complete account of Wallace's administrations as governor and of his political campaigns, while Lesher's biography offers more insight into Wallace as a person. Academic libraries should have both volumes. For other collections, either would be an acceptable choice.?Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807121134
• ISBN-13: 978-0807121139
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,121,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars first rate scholarship BEAUTIFULLY written, February 18, 2003

By 

Timothy B. Tyson (Duke University) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics (Paperback)

Every year I teach this book for about 125 undergraduates in a course called "Race and American Politics from the New Deal to the New Right." Though it is a course that welcomes controversy, one thing that virtually all of my students agree upon is that this is a GREAT book. Carter, the dean of Southern historians, is a masterful storyteller with a matchless eye for detail and a balanced political judgment. He shows how Wallace, far from being just another Southern demogogue, opens the way to the transformation of American politics and the rise of a new conservatism whose wellsprings are the rage and fear of white Americans in the face of the civil rights revolutions of the 1950s and 1960s. It's a brilliant, absorbing book and every year when I read it again I am struck by the rich craft of Carter's prose and the deep thoughtfulness of his assessments.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful examination of Wallace's political career, November 20, 2004

By 

Steven R. Harbin (Southeastern USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics (Paperback)

This is an excellent study on the political career of George Wallace, the former Alabama Governor famed for his stand against integration in the early 1960's and his subsequent runs for the Presidency. Carter portrays Wallace as a complex individual, who seems to have been motivated from the start more by ambition than principle. The book gives an extremely well researched and readable account of Wallace's early life, his family, friendships and formative experiences. Carter attempts to show that Wallace early on became politically ambitious for the Alabama Governor's office and that he originally adopted the stance of a moderate (for the time) southern populist, going so far as to refuse to break away from the Democratic party in 1948 and supporting Truman over Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrat party.

In the 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election Wallace was defeated by a more blatantly racist, segregationist opponent and vowed in a famed statement of racial epithet never to be the racial moderate in any future elections. True to his word he ran a 1962 campaign on the stance of continued defiance to federal government attempts to integrate Alabama schools and extend voting rights to the state's black population. Successfully elected, he made a national name for himself by his confrontations with the federal courts (including initially trying to defy or evade the court orders of man who had once been a good friend - Federal Judge Frank Johnson) and the Kennedy Justice Department. The book doesn't shy away from the resulting violence of some of Wallace's followers and the more extreme racist comments and actions of many of those who supported him in the 1960's. I think Carter makes a good case that by his disregard for federal law enforcement agencies and civil rights protesters that Wallace in some degree bore some of the responsibility for the actions of the more extreme and violent of those opposed to integration and expanded civil rights for black citizens.

Carter also provides great detail into minds of the inner circle of those men who managed Wallace's candidacy in his state and later national campaigns for President, including talented speechwriter but also violent racist Klansman Asa Carter (no relation to the author), who would later become famous as the author of the historical novel that inspired the Clint Eastwood movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales". Biographer Carter's premise is that by Wallace's strong showings in the presidential elections of 1968 and 1972 (before he was derailed by an assassination attempt) that Wallace succeeded in moving the national political debate to the right, especially in the area of social policies and politics. Carter has gone on record in other books and speeches as trying to link the Republican policies of welfare reform, re-examination of affirmative action policies and anti-crime legislation as being directly descended from Wallace's bigoted early campaigns. While I think he stretches the point I do think that some of Wallace's populist appeal did pave the way for successful Presidential campaigns of other southerners, such as Georgia's Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Arkansas' Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Carter sees Republican Ronald Reagan as more of a direct descendant of Wallace, but this reviewer sees it as a fact that most successful Presidential races since 1968 whether Republican or Democrat have taken Wallace's anti-Washington bureaucrat populist rhetoric and support for a stronger defense and lower taxes as being more important than his racial stances.

Of course Wallace himself moderated his racial stances through the succeeding years, until he was running as a populist with appeal to both blacks and whites in the 1980's and appealing for forgiveness to many of those he had wronged. Carter dutifully reports this later conversion, although he seems to question some of the sincerity behind the public conversion.

The book doesn't represent itself as a conventional biography as much as an examination of Wallace's life and the effects of his political campaigns on national and regional politics, and for that reason I can forgive what I see as a failure of the book to give as much detail and scrutiny to Wallace's life after 1972 as Carter gave the previous years. The book does a powerful job of conveying the reality of Lurleen Wallace's life and trials as George's wife as well as her fights with the cancer that finally killed her. Her stint as a successful stand in candidate for Governor in 1966 and her short term in office before her death is given a good overview. However I would have liked to have seen as much detail and information on Wallace's later family and personal life, including his other marriages and relationships with his children. I also would have been interested in finding out more about the Alabama political scene of the 1980's and 1990's and Wallace's lasting effect on those politics, but I can't argue with the fact that Carter has written a masterful portrait on both the man and his era and the waves he caused by his political campaigns. A definite 5 stars for this award winning (justly so, I might add) political biography.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars insightful investigation of American politics since 1965, July 29, 1999

By 

Christopher M. Shearer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism and the Transformation of American Politics (Paperback)

this book served as the springboard for investigating southern politics since 1965 for a graduate southern history seminar. one can only sit and marvel at the job carter does in discussing this very topic. it is not just the story of southern politics, but the tale of the "southernization of america." carter enters this academic debate, southernization vs. americanization, feet first and holds wallace up as the forbearer of reaganism and gingrichism. this will remain the authoritative account on this matter for some years. it is extremely hard, due to the solid scholarship, to argue with carter. some may want to say what about goldwater, but that is a difficult case to make. goldwater claimed the republican party no longer spoke his language once wallaceism entered the rhetoric. carter has refered to wallace as a "redneck poltergeist" and virginia durr believed wallace held so much promise, but was dismayed by wallace continuing his "politics of rage." a tellling read of this character that was geo. wallace. wallace is placed beside huey long as the most compelling political figure of the 20th century. and rightly so. a thorough study of southern, or american, history is incomplete without having read this book. this book stands with carter's scottsboro in terms of importance.