Michael Perman is professor of history emeritus at the University of Illinois-Chicago. His scholarship is characterized by a profound insight into historical processes and a precise analytical style that brings complex events to readers in an understandable form. In his publications, he focuses on key historical moments and their impact on the present, always striving for a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the past.
The book offers an in-depth exploration of the South's tumultuous political landscape, highlighting key events like nullification, secession, and Reconstruction. It examines the dominance of the "Solid South" and the implications of a noncompetitive political environment. Perman argues that the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 marked a significant turning point, leading to the decline of the South's unique political identity and its longstanding quest for unity.
Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, the Major Problems series introduces students to both primary sources and analytical essays on important topics in US history. This text, designed to be the primary anthology for the introductory survey course, covers the span of the Civil War. The Third Edition, with new co-author Amy Taylor, includes a new chapter on Lincoln and Davis as military leaders, reorganized home front chapters, and many new documents and essays reflecting the latest scholarship.
The book explores the political maneuvers in southern states around 1900 that systematically stripped voting rights from African Americans and many lower-class whites. By 1908, states like Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana had effectively disenfranchised these groups, reversing the gains made during Reconstruction. This historical analysis highlights the strategies employed to undermine democracy and the long-lasting impact of these actions, which left affected communities without voting rights for more than fifty years.