The American South and the Great War, 1914-1924

The American South and the Great War, 1914-1924 - Cover

edited by Matthew L. Downs

edited by M. Ryan Floyd

264 pages / 6.00 x 9.00 inches / 9 tables

ebook available

History / World War I | History / United States - Southern History

Hardcover / 9780807169377 / November 2018

Edited by Matthew L. Downs and M. Ryan Floyd, The American South and the Great War, 1914–1924 investigates how American participation in World War I further strained the region’s relationship with the federal government, how wartime hardships altered the South’s traditional social structure, and how the war effort stressed and reshaped the southern economy. The volume contends that participation in World War I contributed greatly to the modernization of the South, initiating changes ultimately realized during World War II and the postwar era. Although the war had a tremendous impact on the region, few scholars have analyzed the topic in a comprehensive fashion, making this collection a much-needed addition to the study of American and southern history.

These essays address a variety of subjects, including civil rights, economic growth and development, politics and foreign policy, women’s history, gender history, and military history. Collectively, this volume highlights a time and an experience often overshadowed by later events, illustrating the importance of World War I in the emergence of a modern South.

Matthew L. Downs, associate professor of history at the University of Mobile, is the author of Transforming the South: Federal Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1915–1960.

M. Ryan Floyd, associate professor of history at Lander University, is the author of Abandoning Neutrality: Woodrow Wilson and the Beginning of the Great War, August 1914–December 1915.

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