An intriguing look at the interplay of race and class, this work is both scholarly and jargon-free. A sophisticated study." -Library Journal

This is an exciting book... combining... dramatic episodes with an insightful analysis... The use of concepts of class is subtle and effective." -Peter N. Stearns

... ambitious and wide-ranging... " -Georgia Historical Quarterly

... excellent historical analysis... " -North Carolina Historical Review

Historians should welcome this book. A well-written, jargon-free, interpretive synthesis, it relates impersonal political-economic forces to the human actors who were shaped by them and, in turn, helped shape them.... This refreshing study reminds us how much the American dilemma of race has been complicated by problems of class." -American Historical Review

... a broad historical sweep... skillfully surveys key areas of historiographical debate and succinctly summarizes a good deal of recent secondary literature." -Journal of Southern History

... Bloom does a masterful job of presenting the major structural and psychological interpretations associated with the Civil Rights Movement... It will make an excellent general text to welcome undergraduates and reintroduce old-timers to the social ferment that surrounded the Civil Rights Movement." -Contemporary Sociology

A unique sociohistorical analysis of the civil rights movement, analyzing the interaction between the economy and political systems in the South, which led to racial stratification.

Foreword by: Richard Hatcher