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In 1934 Carl Carmer wrote that "Alabama felt a magic descending, spreading, long ago". That magic, whether long ago or in the recent past, continues to captivate and fascinate both citizens and observers from afar, and many historians have tried to capture its essence. Albert J. Pickett produced the ...

In 1934 Carl Carmer wrote that "Alabama felt a magic descending, spreading, long ago". That magic, whether long ago or in the recent past, continues to captivate and fascinate both citizens and observers from afar, and many historians have tried to capture its essence. Albert J. Pickett produced the first comprehensive history of the state in 1852, but no historian has matched his effort since A. B. Moore's 1934 work - at least not until now. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State is divided into three sections, the first concluding with the South's defeat in 1865, the second ending with the beginning of the Jazz Age in 1920, and the third bringing the story into 1993. In both chronological and topical organization, the book examines traditional subjects such as politics, military events, economics, and social movements. It discusses the roles of individual leaders, from politicians to creative artists. Both general readers and careful students of Alabama history will discover less well knownpeople and,issues treated in sections devoted to race, Indians, women, and the environment. Attention is given to health, education, organized labor, civil rights, and cultural elements - from literature to sports - that have affected the lives of Alabamians. There is strong emphasis upon the common people, those who have been rightly described as the "bone and sinew" of Alabama. Each section of the book was written by a scholar with strong ties to Alabama who has devoted much of his or her professional life to the study of that period of the state's history. Although the three sections reflect individual style and interpretation, the authors have collaborated closely on overall themes andorganization. The work relies on both primary sources and such important secondary works as monographs, articles, and unpublished theses and dissertations to provide fresh insights, new approaches, and new interpretations. The re

The Ku Klux Klan has wielded considerable power both as a terrorist group and as a political force. Usually viewed as appearing in distinct incarnations, the Klans of the 20th century are now shown by Glenn Feldman to have a greater degree of continuity than has been previously suspected. Victims of ...

The Ku Klux Klan has wielded considerable power both as a terrorist group and as a political force. Usually viewed as appearing in distinct incarnations, the Klans of the 20th century are now shown by Glenn Feldman to have a greater degree of continuity than has been previously suspected. Victims of Klan terrorism continued to be aliens, foreigners, or outsiders in Alabama: the freed slave during Reconstruction, the 1920s Catholic or Jew, the 1930s labor organizer or Communist, and the returning black veteran of World War II were all considered a threat to the dominant white culture.

Feldman offers new insights into this "qualified continuity" among Klans of different eras, showing that the group remained active during the 1930s and 1940s when it was presumed dormant, with elements of the "Reconstruction syndrome" carrying over to the smaller Klan of the civil rights era.

In addition, Feldman takes a critical look at opposition to Klan activities by southern elites. He particularly shows how opponents during the Great Depression and war years saw the Klan as an impediment to attracting outside capital and federal relief or as a magnet for federal action that would jeopardize traditional forms of racial and social control. Other critics voiced concerns about negative national publicity, and others deplored the violence and terrorism.

This in-depth examination of the Klan in a single state, which features rare photographs, provides a means of understanding the order's development throughout the South. Feldman's book represents definitive research into the history of the Klan and makes a major contribution to our understanding of both that organization and the history of Alabama.

Between 1890 and 1920 middle-class white and black Alabama women created a large number of clubs and organizations that took them out of the home and provided them with roles in the public sphere. Beginning with the Alabama Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the 1880s and followed by the Alabama ...

Between 1890 and 1920 middle-class white and black Alabama women created a large number of clubs and organizations that took them out of the home and provided them with roles in the public sphere. Beginning with the Alabama Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the 1880s and followed by the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs and the Alabama Federation of Colored Women's Clubs in the 1890s, women spearheaded the drive to eliminate child labor, worked to improve the educational system, up-graded the jails and prisons, and created reform schools for both boys and girls. Suffrage was also an item on the Progressive agenda. After a brief surge of activity during the 1890s, the suffrage drive lay dormant until 1912, when women created the Alabama Equal Suffrage Association. During their campaigns in 1915 and 1919 to persuade the legislature to enfranchise women, the leaders learned the art of politics--how to educate, organize, lobby, and count votes. Women seeking validation for their roles as homemakers and mothers demanded a hearing in the political arena for issues that affected them and their families. In the process they began to erase the line between the public world of men and the private world of women. These were the New Women who tackled the problems created by the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the New South. By 1920 Alabama women had created new public spaces for themselves in these voluntary associations. As a consequence of their involvement in reform crusades, the women's club movement, and the campaign for woman suffrage, women were no longer passive and dependent. They were willing and able to be rightful participants. Thomas's book is the first of its kind tofocus on the reform activities of women during the Progressive Era and the first to consider the southern woman and all the organizations of middle-class black and white women in the South and particularly in Alabama. It is