The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives

The last generation of Americans with a living memory of Jim Crow will soon disappear, leaving behind a collective memory of segregation shaped by its horrors and heroic defeat. Adolph L. Reed Jr. - a New Orleanian political scientist and democratic theorist - takes up the urgent task of recounting the granular realities of life in the last decades of the Jim Crow South. Through his personal history and political acumen, Reed illuminates the multifaceted structures of the segregationist order, revealing the sources and objectives of this unstable regime, its contradictions and precarity, and the social order that would replace it. The South is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of America's second peculiar institution and its future.

Format: Hardback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 01 February 2022
Publisher: Verso Books

The last generation of Americans with a living memory of Jim Crow is rapidly disappearing, leaving behind a collective memory shaped by the horrors and heroic defeat of segregation. However, their understanding of everyday life in Jim Crow America remains limited. In his book, "The South," Adolph L. Reed Jr., a New Orleans-based political scientist and esteemed democratic theorist, takes on the urgent task of recounting the granular realities of life in the final decades of the Jim Crow South.

Reed delves into the multifaceted structures of the segregationist order, providing a comprehensive view of America's apartheid system. Through his personal history and political acumen, he offers a firsthand account of how these systems structured the day-to-day interactions, lives, and ambitions of ordinary working people. The South unravels the personal and political dimensions of the Jim Crow order, revealing the sources, objectives, contradictions, and precarity of this unstable regime. It also explores the social order that would replace it, shedding light on the lasting impacts of Jim Crow on American society.

This book is not merely a memoir or a history; it is a deep analysis filled with fascinating firsthand accounts of the operation of the system that codified and enshrined racial inequality. It is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of America's second peculiar institution, the future that it created in its wake. The South has been endorsed by Barbara Fields, co-author of the acclaimed "Racecraft."

Weight: 254g
Dimension: 148 x 217 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781839766268