The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 91
464 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Book Reviews
minor changes; that the main elements of this system were repression
and labor immobility; and that most southern blacks, trapped in the
system by economic and social pressures, suffered the poverty normally
endured by the laboring classes in underdeveloped plantation econo-
mies. Black fortunes began to improve during World War I when Euro-
pean immigration into the North declined and jobs began opening up
forlsouthern black migrants. This improvement continued in the 1920s,
partly due to new legal restrictions on foreign immigration, levelled
off during the depression of the 193os, and greatly increased during
World War II and its aftermath-when hundreds of thousands of
southern blacks were able to escape the plantation system for jobs in
northern cities.
Well organized and clearly written, this book is one of the most suc-
cessful of all the recent attempts to understand the post-Civil War
South. Mandle's thesis is not buried in sociological jargon, and his
Marxism is subdued and sophisticated. A non-Marxist may question
the author's insistence that labor relations in plantation agriculture
were different in kind from those in northern industry, but Mandle's
treatment of the southern economy and society is nevertheless broad-
based and revealing.
North Texas State University RICHARD LOWE
Grass-roots Socialism: Radical Movements in the Southwest 1895-1943.
By James R. Green. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, 1978. Pp. xxiv+450. Preface, illustrations, index. $24.95.)
This book is a montage of southwestern socialists living some of
United States socialism's happiest moments. These socialists also suf-
fered through industrial violence and spawned social banditry during
a long twilight of decline. "One of the most important objectives of
this study," says the author, "is to describe the forgotten men and women
who made the movement such a strong indigenous expression of so-
cialism" (p. xix). One sees socialist leaders in thought and in action, but
little is said about feelings and motives.
The book is also a fifty-year social history of a region-Kansas, Okla-
homa, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana-as perceived by those
socialists. They were looking mainly at themselves, at the liberal dema-
gogues who stole their thunder, and at their clientele-miners, tenant
farmers, lumber jacks, industrial workers. Their camp meetings, cam-
paigns, and other events were varied, colorful, exciting, and-in the
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980, periodical, 1979/1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101207/m1/111/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.