William D. Barnard is professor and chairman, Department of History, The University of Alabama.

“Barnard’s account is elegantly concise, the labor of conspicuous scholarship. In an effort to analyze Alabama’s political bedrock, the author has tapped virtually every source. What results is a cogent and harmonious theme. The election of 1948 crystallized factional lines within the Democratic party in Alabama, made indigenous Southern liberalism vulnerable to the race issue, and cast the mold for Democratic party affairs in the state to the present day. The analysis of Big Jim Folsom is particularly skillful, and notes, photographs, and appendixes are solid additions.”
—Library Journal

“To explain Alabama politics in the crossroads era of 1942-1950 without being overly partisan is a most ambitious task…there are neither heroes nor villains in this thoughtful and well-written account.”
—The Alabama Review

“One of the most important books on Alabama to appear in many years, it will be regarded as pivotal in the study of history and politics, not only in Alabama but in the other states of the South. Excellently written, very well researched and with a fine bibliography, the book is recommended for all students of American history and politics.”
—CHOICE