Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie

In Alabama Getaway Allen Tullos explores the recent history of one of the nation's most conservative states to reveal its political imaginary--the public shape of power, popular imagery, and individual opportunity.

From Alabama's largely ineffectual politicians to its miserly support of education, health care, cultural institutions, and social services, Tullos examines why the state appears to be stuck in repetitive loops of uneven development and debilitating habits of judgment. The state remains tied to fundamentalisms of religion, race, gender, winner-take-all economics, and militarism enforced by punitive and defensive responses to criticism. Tullos traces the spectral legacy of George Wallace, ponders the roots of anti-egalitarian political institutions and tax structures, and challenges Birmingham native Condoleezza Rice's use of the civil rights struggle to justify the war in Iraq. He also gives due coverage to the state's black citizens who with a minority of whites have sustained a movement for social justice and democratic inclusion. As Alabama competes for cultural tourism and global industries like auto manufacturing and biomedical research, Alabama Getaway asks if the coming years will see a transformation of the "Heart of Dixie."

Author: Allen Tullos
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 03/15/2011
Pages: 380
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780820330495

Review Citation(s):
Foreword 02/28/2011
Reference and Research Bk News 10/01/2011 pg. 47

About the Author

A native of Alabama, Allen Tullos teaches American studies at Emory University. He is the author of "Habits of Industry: White Culture and the Transformation of the Carolina Piedmont" and editor of "Long Journey Home: Folklife in the South." Tullos is a cofounder and senior editor of the Internet journal "Southern Spaces" and has worked on numerous documentary films.