Customer Reviews

The Rise of Southern Republicans

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The Black Bros. did it again: they wrote an excellent book on the history of ALL southern politics, not just republicanism, in a very neutral fashion. This work is a must-have for anybody seriously interested in 20th century American politics.

Black and Black show, in plain-written text and easy-to-read graphs and tables, that the influence of the South on national politics has improved by a vast amount over the last decades. The descriptions of the republican struggle to gain popular attention in the South are exemplified by anecdotes about outstanding republican AND democratic senators and representatives on both the state and the national level.

The authors are right in stating that the past rise of southern republicans can not just be drawn into the near future. Nothing is more unpredictable than politics and voter behavior. However, the Blacks show that the South indeed has won a position in the center of American politics and that southern political trends and events are more important now than ever before.

This book provides readers a wonderful example of just what political scientists are SUPPOSED to be doing. Certainly, we write for one another, but in terms of books; one must be mindful of the amateur who might read your work. The Black brothers make a wonderful team and deserve much credit for reexamining Kevin Phillips' work in 1968 "The Emerging Republican Majority" however; this reader notes there was a conspicuous absence of Phillips' name in the text. To not mention him A SINGLE time in those 400 plus pages represents a obvious omission which should be brought to their attention.
In any event; the charts and graphs were well presented and the trends appearing were nicely explained. I would comment however that the Blacks might have missed the boat on some important observations that could have been made about Florida and Texas by keeping the race question largely contained to the "black/white" paradigm. Certainly the "shell game" played by the Southern Democrats and their eventual flip to the Republican Party can be largely explained by the 1960s Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts but the demographics have definitely changed in the South and contemporary discussions of race and its impact on partisan politics must do more than allude to hispanics or asians. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a book to explore the trending of the "Solid South" toward the Republican Party this one will definitely 'draw the picture.' I thoroughly enjoyed it and even with the few shortcomings noticed by this political scientist (who wishes SHE could have written this book) their presentation of the data is "on the money!"
I would and DO highly recommend this book to my students and to those curious about the "whos, whens, whys, and hows" of the southern dealignment.
Great Job Blacks.... you have done us proud again!

Given the Republican Party's recent reaction to the Trent Lott affair, this book is an excellent retelling of the rise of the GOP in the South and its sordid dabbling in racial politics. Earl and Merle Black are two of the most thoughtful and fair observers of Southern politics, and this is some of their best work yet. Occasionally dry and overly laden with charts, the book can drag in places.

This book covers extensively the history of the South over the past century. Presidential and congressional elections are explored in detail. I saw an earlier review alluding to the lack of information regarding Hispanics and Asians; however, i found that the Black brothers DO cover this information, while at the same time admitting that the black/white race issue has been one of the most dominant issues in Southern Politics in the 20th century. If, by the end of this book, you have any remaining questions about the South's role in national politics, I suggest reading the other excellent book by the Blacks, "The Vital South." between these two works, just about everything is covered. The Blacks are amazing--especially Merle!

This books is astonishing in it's breadth and volume, tracing the transformation of the South from 100 years of Democatic dominance to the gradual rise of the Republican Party. Black and Black are detailed and thorough in the support of each thesis they put forth. In particular, the political scientists exhaustingly build upon the idea that racial composition of the Peripheral South and the Deep South played a large role in shaping the slow march to the mid-1990s, when the South fully became dominated by the Republican party. However, the authors contend that while Republican party was able to capture a faithful white electorate - often appealing to symbolic and explicit racism, the South has remained a competitive battleground, by virtue of biracial Democratic coalitions that mobilized in the 1980s. Moreover, the brothers argue extensively that presidential politics played a crucial role in transforming the political identity of white Southerners.

Each chapter tells a different story, and are pleasantly self contained and clearly written. The brothers skillfully weave together the words of the South's own politician and journalists, juxtaposed with extensive use of quantitive visualizations. The end result is a detailed and complete portrait of Southern political history. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to understand the political dynamics of the South, and those wanting to understand the complexities of the "Southern Strategy."

All right, if you REALLY REALLY want to know about every southern US Senator or House member from the 1950s or so until today, this is THE book for you. To be honest, I think the Black brothers could have covered the important stuff in about 50-100 pages; instead, they walk you through just about every southern election. They should have developed a few instructive case studies rather than covered everything. But then, if I were so smart, I could have written my own southern politics book.
Anyhoo, the changing political dynamics of the South are incredibly important for understanding the future of our nation. People are going to continue to move down here (I live in Columbia, SC), so the region is only going to become more important over the coming years in presidential elections and national politics. The Blacks' theory on why the South went from strong Democrat to Republican is interesting, but you can easily get the basics from the first and last chapter or so.