Immediately following the Civil War, and for many years thereafter, southerners proclaimed a "New" South, implying not only the end of slavery but also the beginning of a new era of growth, industrialization, and prosperity. Time has shown that those declarations--at least in terms of progress and prosperity--were premature by several decades. In fact, the South remained primarily a land of poor farming folks until the 1940s. Only then, and after World War II, did the real New South of industrial growth and urban development begin to emerge. Jack Temple Kirby's massive and engaging study...
Immediately following the Civil War, and for many years thereafter, southerners proclaimed a "New" South, implying not only the end of slavery but als...