List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 3 CHAPTER ONE: "The City oo Busy to Hate": Atlanta and the Politics of Progress 19 CHAPTER TWO: From Radicalism to "Respectability": Race, Residence, and Segregationist Strategy 42 C HAPTER THREE: From Community to Individuality: Race, Residence, and Segregationist Ideology 78 CHAPTER FOUR: The Abandonment of Public Space: Desegregation, Privatization, and the ax Revolt 105 CHAPTER FIVE: The "Second Battle of Atlanta": Massive Resistance and the Divided Middle Class 131 CHAPTER SIX: The Fight for "Freedom of Association": School Desegregation and White Withdrawal 161 CHAPTER SEVEN: Collapse of the Coalition: Sit-Ins and the Business Rebellion 180 CHAPTER EIGHT: "The Law of the Land": Federal Intervention and the Civil Rights Act 205 CHAPTER NINE: City Limits: Urban Separatism and Suburban Secession 234 EPILOGUE: The Legacies of White Flight 259 List of Abbreviations 267 Notes 269 Index 313
In his study of Atlanta over the last 60 years, Kevin Kruse convincingly describes the critical connections between race, Sun Belt suburbanization, the rise of the new Republican majority. White Flight is a powerful and compelling book that should be read by anyone interested in modern American politics and post-World War II urban history. -- Dan Carter, University of South Carolina White Flight is a myth-shattering book. Focusing on the city that prided itself as 'too busy to hate,' Kevin Kruse reveals the everyday ways that middle-class whites in Atlanta resisted civil rights, withdrew from the public sphere, and in the process fashioned a new, grassroots, suburban-based conservatism. This important book has national implications for our thinking about the links between race, suburbanization, and the rise of the New Right. -- Thomas J. Sugrue, Kahn Professor of History and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, author of "The Origins of the Urban Crisis" This is an imaginative work that ably treats an important subject. Kruse gets beyond and beneath Atlanta's image as a place of racial moderation, the national center of the civil rights movement, and a seedbed of black political power to reveal other simultaneous, important currents at work. -- Clifford Kuhn, Georgia State University Kevin Kruse recasts our understanding of the conservative resistance to the civil rights movement. Shifting the spotlight from racial extremists to ordinary white urban dwellers, he shows that "white flight" to the suburbs was among the most powerful social movements of our time. That movement not only reconfigured the urban landscape, it also transformed political ideology, laying the groundwork for the rise of the New Right and undermining the commitment of white Americans to the common good. No one can read this book and come away believing that the politics of suburbia are colorblind. -- Jacquelyn Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Kevin M. Kruse is associate professor of history at Princeton University.
In White Flight, a study of white resistance to desegregation in Atlanta, Kruse produces a panoramic and engaging portrayal of the struggle over desegregation. -- Ronald Brownstein American Prospect An ambitious, well-researched, and interesting study, White Flight offers a provocative examination of the connections between race and conservative politics. -- Jeff Roche Journal of American History Kruse presents a nuanced portrayal of the trends that fostered the growth of the suburbs and the casting aside of racist demagoguery. -- Jonathan Tilove Times-Picayune White Flight provides a detailed yet fascinating history of right-wing backlash against the civil rights movement that has relevance not only for historians but also for political scientists. Kevin Kruse's study deserves a wide reading. -- R. Claire Snyder New Political Science In his book, Kevin Kruse analyzes the ideology accompanying white flight and its ongoing impact on American politics... In a beautifully written, clearly structured, and deeply researched narrative, Kruse lays out the historical processes that led to the development of modern conservatism. -- Kristen O'Hare Urban History Review Kruse's ultimate success lies in using history to answer contemporary political questions, and without compromising his professional standards. -- Clay Risen Nashville Scene In Kruse's skillful hands, Atlanta's struggle over integration takes on many of the characteristics of low-level urban warfare... Kruse illuminates a key phase in American political development. -- Kimberley S. Johnson Perspectives on Politics Kruse provides a useful resource in the debate over the significance of race in politics. His book is thoroughly researched and well written. Students interested in modern politics and Civil Rights histories alike would greatly benefit from this work. -- Jensen E. Branscombe Southern Historian
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