Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and the Making of a White Working Class

The migration of eight million white southerners to the industrial Midwest reshaped American politics and society, influencing the modern industrial labor movement, postwar urban crisis, and the rise of white working-class conservatives. Hillbilly Highway by Max Fraser recovers this long-overlooked story, using a diverse range of sources to narrate the distinctive class experience of the Transappalachian migration.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 26 September 2023
Publisher: Princeton University Press

Over the course of the first two-thirds of the 20th century, a staggering eight million white individuals left the economically struggling southern countryside in search of employment opportunities in the thriving industrial cities and towns of the industrial Midwest. This significant internal migration, known as the "Hillbilly Highway," stands as one of the largest movements of impoverished and working-class people in American history, yet it has largely been overlooked by historians. In his book, Hillbilly Highway, Max Fraser aims to rectify this oversight by reclaiming the long-neglected story of this massive demographic shift and exploring its profound impact on American history and culture.

Drawing from a diverse array of sources, including government reports, industry archives, union records, novels, memoirs, oral histories, and country music, Fraser weaves a rich narrative that captures the unique class experiences of those who undertook the Transappalachian migration during these critical decades. As the migration evolved into a landscape of both social advancement and marginalization, it forged a strong bond between white working-class communities across the Upper South and the Midwest, creating a new cultural region that continues to be a contentious battleground in American politics to this day.

Hillbilly Highway offers a compelling and groundbreaking perspective on an important and often overlooked chapter in American history. By challenging conventional wisdom about the enduring political and cultural consequences of the great migration of white southerners in the 20th century, Fraser provides a fresh and insightful analysis that sheds light on the complex and multifaceted ways in which this migration has shaped the nation. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the past and present of American society.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691191119