"Ante-Bellum Alabama: Town and Country" was written to give the reader insight into importaant facers of Alabama s ante-bellum history. Presented in the form of case studies from the pre Civil War period, the book deals with a city, a town, a planter s family, rural social life, attitudes concerning race, and Alabama s early agricultural and industrial development. Ante-bellum Alabama s primary interest was agriculture; the chief crop was King Cotton; and most of the people were agriculturalists. Towns and cities came into existence to supply the agricultural needs of the state and to process...