A History of the South, Volume 3: The Crucible of Modernism (Unabridged‪)‬

In this concluding volume, the South finally comes to grip with the modern world. It does so as a result of three events: World War I, The Great Depression, and World War II. At the end of each of these, change accelerates. By the end of World War II, the region is experiencing the kind of prosperity it has never known. As a direct result of this prosperity, Southern blacks begin their slow but inexorable confrontation with the white political establishment. In the midst of amazing educational reform, blacks are accommodated to an extent that would have been unthinkable 50 years previously. But the South passed through the gauntlet of social upheaval successfully and was able to regain a measure of continuity which continues to be the amazement of visitors to this day. Despite all the change, the South continues to be a region apart.