Nation within a Nation: The American South and the Federal Government
Edited by Glenn Feldman
“These essays show the complexity, hypocrisy, and, yes, perversion in this tortured relationship.”—Orville Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln
From the Constitutional Convention to the Civil War to the civil rights movement, the South has exerted a hefty influence on American government and history while being distinctly anti-government. It continues to do so today with Tea Party politics. Southern states have profited immensely from federal projects, tax expenditures, and public spending, yet the region’s relationship with the central government and the courts can, at the best of times, be described as contentious. Nation within a Nation investigates the causes for the South’s perpetual state of rebellion, which remains one of its most defining characteristics.