Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South

Perman surveys the entire span of southern political history from 1800 to the present. He reveals continuous political crisis in the 19th century, followed by the era of the "Solid South," the one-party monopoly in the 20th century that began to crumble after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Along the way he highlights an array of unusual and colorful southern politicians, such as John C. Calhoun, William Mahone, James K. Vardaman, Huey Long, George Wallace, and Lyndon Johnson.