Originally published in 1969, The Rise of Massive Resistance was the first scholarly work to deal decisively with the politics of southern resistance to public school integration. Today, it remains one of the most important books on the subject. Bartley’s study gives a step-by-step account of opposition to desegregation in each southern state and clarifies the attitudes underlying massive resistance by examining the roles played by key southern leaders. Bartley also closely analyzes the attitudes of the Eisenhower administration and national leaders toward the South and explores the activities of the Citizens’ Councils, the Ku Klux Klan, and other local groups that emerged to defend “the southern way of life.” For this thirtieth anniversary edition, he has written a new preface that reflects on his reasons for writing the book and why it has stood the test of time.
Numan V. Bartley, E. Merton Coulter Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Georgia, is the author of many works on the South, most recently The New South, 1945-1980.
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