Industrialization of the South Reading List

Part 1: General Works

My promised bibliography expanded to leviathan proportions, over one hundred pages, and thus required the Standard Oil treatment: methodical dismemberment. Today we'll board one of those Huntsville rockets for the aerial view of the topics and themes from the conference. And over time, I’ll bring out the pieces: Critiques of Industrial Change: Beyond the Agrarians, the varied industries across Southern states, the Economic Problem 1 era, and more. This list is not complete—no list ever is. And if you let these books lead you to others, you’ll find your way to just about everything that matters.

The Industrialization of the South

Bartley, Numan V. The New South, 1945-1980. Louisiana State University Press, 1995.: Provides comprehensive historical context for the period immediately following the conference, showing how the trends discussed played out.

Berglund, Abraham. Labor in the industrial South; A Survey of Wages and Living Conditions in Three Major Industries of the New Industrial South. University of Virginia Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, 1930.

Berry, Chad. Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles. University of Illinois Press, 2000.

Black, Earl., Black, Merle. The Rise of Southern Republicans. Harvard University Press, 2002.: Examines how the South’s economic modernization and industrialization transformed its political landscape, weakening Democratic dominance. Connects to the Princeton Conference discussions (LeRoy Collins & James A. Morris) on economic shifts driving political change. Shows how Southern business leaders helped align the region with national conservatism while promoting economic liberalization and industrial competition.

Bluestone, Herman., Coltrane, Robert Irvin. Changes in the Regional Balance of Income and Population in the United States, 1940-70. Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1977.

Carlton, David L., and Peter A. Coclanis. The South, the Nation, and the World: Perspectives on Southern Economic Development. University of Virginia Press, 2003.

Cash, W. J. The Mind of the South. Knopf, 1941.: Mentioned by Walter Prescott Webb as a classic analysis of Southern culture and psychology. While it does not focus on the future, it offers insights into the virtues and faults of Southerners. (Donald Davidson wrote a devastating review.)

Cassanello, Robert and Colin J. Davis, eds. Migration and the Transformation of the Southern Workplace Since 1945. University Press of Florida, 2009.

City Planning in the South: The Findings and Recommendations of the Southern Regional Congress on City Planning, August 17-19, 1953, Roanoke, Virginia. Southern Regional Education Board, 1954.

Cobb, James C and William Whitney Stueck, eds. Globalization and the American South. University of Georgia Press, 2005.

Cobb, James C. Industrialization and Southern Society, 1877-1984. University Press of Kentucky, 1984.: Looks at how the South’s industrial growth from Reconstruction to the 1980s didn’t fix poverty but actually strengthened conservative politics. Shows how outside money, poor worker protections, and environmental damage came with the rising “Sunbelt,” which still couldn’t shake off its disadvantaged past despite all the new industry.

Cobb, James C. The Selling of the South: The Southern Crusade for Industrial Development, 1936-1980. Louisiana State University Press, 1982.: Tracks how Southern states tried to fix their poverty by wooing Northern companies from the New Deal era to the late 20th century. Shows how they offered tax breaks, cheap labor, and aggressive marketing to attract businesses. Looks at both the gains and problems that came with this industrial push, helping explain policies like right-to-work laws and the people who transformed the Southern economy. Later edition covers through 1990. (Here’s a historiographic review worth reading).

Communities In Economic Crisis: Appalachia and the South. Temple University Press, 1990.

Daniel, Pete. Breaking the Land: The Transformation of Cotton, Tobacco, and Rice Cultures since 1880. University of Illinois Press, 1985.: Details the agricultural changes that both pushed rural workers toward industrial employment and altered the Southern landscape.

Delfino, Susanna, and Michele Gillespie, eds. Technology, Innovation, and Southern Industrialization, From the Antebellum Era to the Computer Age. University of Missouri Press, 2008.

Dennis, Michael. The New Economy and the Modern South. University Press of Florida, 2009.

Developing Dixie: Modernization in a Traditional Society. Bloomsbury Academic, 1988.: Selected papers presented at the Fourth Citadel Conference on the South held in April 1985

Downs, Matthew L. Transforming the South: Federal Development in the Tennessee Valley, 1915-1960. LSU Press, 2014.

Eller, Ronald D. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930. University of Tennessee Press, 1982.: A comprehensive study of Appalachia’s industrial transformation.

Eller, Ronald D. Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945. University Press of Kentucky, 2008.: Discusses how politics shaped Appalachia’s development since World War II, focusing on how ideas about “progress” have changed in modern America.

Essays in Southern Economic Development. University of North Carolina Press, 1964.

Essays on Southern Life and Culture: A Henderson Symposium, Issued in Commemoration of the Semicentennial of Henderson State Teachers College, 1890-1940. Henderson State Teachers College, 1941.

Fulmer, John Leonard. Agricultural Progress in the Cotton Belt Since 1920. University of North Carolina Press, 1950.

Grantham, Dewey W. The South in Modern America: A Region at Odds. HarperCollins, 1994.: Includes substantial analysis of economic transformation in the post-WWII South and its relationship to broader social changes.

Graves, John Temple. The Fighting South. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1943.: Written by the Princeton alumnus mentioned in the conference, this work provides context for conservative Southern views on modernization.

Gregory, James N. The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America. University of North Carolina Press, 2005.: Analyzes the population movements accompanying Southern industrialization, particularly useful for understanding Hodding Carter’s points about changing demographics.

Heberle, Rudolf. “Social Consequences of the Industrialization of Southern Cities.” Social Forces 27, no. 1 (1948): 29–37.

Herring, Harriet Laura. Southern Industry and Regional Development. University of North Carolina Press, 1940.

Jaworski, Taylor. “World War II and the Industrialization of the American South.” Journal of Economic History 77, no. 4 (2017): 1048–1082.: Tests whether WWII gave the South’s economy a “big push” using economic data. Shows how wartime federal spending on factories and shipyards jumpstarted manufacturing in a region that had been trailing industrially. Provides numbers backing up the idea that WWII was a turning point that sped up Southern industrialization, supporting Gavin Wright’s claim about a “revolution” caused by the New Deal and the war. Valuable for its focus on economic data rather than just stories.

Jewell, Katherine Rye. Dollars for Dixie: Business and the Transformation of Conservatism in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, 2017.: Shows how the Southern States Industrial Council (1933) helped merge Southern pro-business views into national conservatism after initially struggling against the New Deal. Reveals how industrialists promoted economic growth while opposing unions and civil rights, paving the way for the South’s Republican shift.

Journal of Politics 26.1, 1964: “The American South, 1950-1970” Special Issue.

Keller, John F. Power in America: The Southern Question and the Control of Labor. Vanguard Books, 1983.

Land, Myrick., Land, Barbara. The Changing South: New Riches for the Land of Cotton. United States: Coward-McCann, 1958.

Lassiter, Matthew D. The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South. Princeton University Press, 2006.: Explores how post-WWII industrial growth and urban migration created a suburban boom that produced a moderate, business-friendly, and racially conservative middle class. Connects to W. Cooper Green’s conference paper about the South’s rapid population and economic growth, especially in cities with new industries. Helps explain the lasting social effects of the industrial expansion discussed at the conference.

Maddox, James G. The Advancing South; Manpower Prospects and Problems. Twentieth Century Fund, 1967.

McLaughlin, Glenn Everett., Robock, Stefan Hyman. Why Industry Moves South: A Study of Factors Influencing the Recent Location of Manufacturing Plants in the South. Committee of the South, National Planning Association., 1949.

Minchin, Timothy J. Hiring the Black Worker: The Racial Integration of the Southern Textile Industry, 1960-1980. University of North Carolina Press, 1999.: Connects with Hodding Carter III’s conference speech linking industrialization and racial integration. Examines how industrial jobs opened up for Black workers during the period discussed at the conference, but often faced business resistance.

Nations, L.J. “The Old South Facing the Machine.” Current History (1930).

Naylor, Thomas H., Clotfelter, James. Strategies for Change in the South. University of North Carolina Press, 1975.

Nicholls, William H. “Southern Tradition and Regional Economic Progress.” Southern Economic Journal (January 1960).: Referenced by Morris as an important recent assessment of cultural barriers to Southern economic development. Nicholls expanded on the subject in Southern Tradition And Regional Progress. University of North Carolina Press, 1960. Nicholls approaches the topic as a liberal (as do most in this list. Conservative perspective will come in Part 2).

Phillips, Kevin P. The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press, 2015.: Links the South’s economic and population changes following industrialization to its shift toward becoming Republican territory. Connects directly to A.P. Beutel’s and LeRoy Collins’ conference talks.

Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation. Farrar & Rinehart, 1944.: A classic analysis of how market economies develop and their social implications, providing theoretical context for understanding Southern transitions.

Ratchford, B. U. “Patterns of Economic Development.” Southern Economic Journal (January 1954).

Reed, John Shelton. The Enduring South: Subcultural Persistence in Mass Society. University of North Carolina Press, 1986.: Examines how Southern cultural distinctiveness persisted despite industrialization and urbanization, complementing Louis Rubin’s literature-focused analysis.

Roland, Charles P. The Improbable Era: The South Since World War II. University Press of Kentucky, 1975.: Provides a compact overview of the South’s dramatic changes from the mid-1940s to the 1970s, covering industrial growth alongside shifts in politics, race relations, education, and culture. Shows how the region’s industrial boom in these decades finally delivered on old “New South” promises while also experiencing the civil rights movement and social upheaval.

Roper, Daniel C. “Industrial Dixie.” Scientific American 152, no. 6 (1935): 287–332.

Schulman, Bruce J. From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938–1980. Oxford University Press, 1991.: Connects to the Princeton Conference’s focus on federal economic policies that drove Southern industrialization. Examines how government programs—TVA, military bases, and tax breaks—created the foundation for the South’s postwar industrial boom. Links to conference discussions about how the “New South” industrial growth depended on federal support and produced mixed economic results.

Scranton, Philip, ed. The Second Wave: Southern Industrialization from the 1940s to the 1970s. University of Georgia Press, 2001.: Based on a 1998 conference and presents nine case studies on how WWII and its aftermath changed the South’s economy, culture, and politics. Covers several industries from textiles and timber to aircraft, chemicals, and auto manufacturing.

Searching for the Sunbelt: Historical Perspectives on a Region. University of Tennessee Press, 1990.

Slaughter, John. “How Does it Profit the South.”

Smith, Frank E. “The Changing South.” The Virginia Quarterly Review 31, no. 2 (1955): 276–91.

Snavely, Tipton R. “Economic Thought and Economic Policy in the South.” Southern Economic Journal 1, no. 1 (1933): 3–14.

Southeastern Geographer 14.2, 1974: “An Issue Devoted to Manufacturing in the South.”

Southern Business: The Decades Ahead. Bobbs-Merrill Educational, 1981.

Southern Labor in Transition, 1940-1995. University of Tennessee Press, 1997.

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 153, “The Coming of Industry to the South” (Jan., 1931).

“The Change in Industrial America, Story of What’s Happening in the South.” U.S. News & World Record, 1956-01-27.

The Industrial South. Banner Press, 1929.: “A compilation of the papers submitted to the Southeastern Economics Conference, at Atlanta, Georgia, November 8 and 9, 1928. The conference was a meeting of the economics professors of the Southeastern States, called for the purpose of stimulating the economists of this territory to further research.”

The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 11: Agriculture and Industry. University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

“The New Frontier Throttles Dixie Industry.” Human Events (1962-01-13)

The Population of the South: Structure and Change in Social Demographic Context. University of Texas Press, 1981.

“The South Faces Economic Change.” University of Chicago Round Table Iss. 148 (1947-05-18).

The South Moves Into Its Future: Studies in the Analysis and Prediction of Social Change. University of Alabama Press, 1991.

Van Sickle, John Valentine. Planning for the South: An Inquiry Into the Economics of Regionalism. Vanderbilt University Press, 1943.

Vance, Rupert B. All These People: The Nation’s Human Resources in the South. University of North Carolina Press, 1945.: A pioneering study of Southern population and labor force issues, providing essential context for understanding the human dimension of Southern industrialization.

Vance, Rupert B. The South’s Place in the Nation. Public Affairs Committee, 1947.: “This pamphlet was prepared on the basis of “The Southern Regional Study,” sponsored by the Southern Regional Committee of the Social Science Research Council.”

Williams, Edith Webb. Research in Southern Regional Development. Dietz Press, 1948.

Wright, Gavin. Old South, New South: Revolutions in the Southern Economy Since the Civil War. Basic Books, 1986.: Explores why the South stayed economically behind for so long and how it changed after World War II. Argues the key was the South’s unusual labor market—a low-wage region in a high-wage country—which limited growth for decades. Explains how New Deal programs and WWII spending finally broke this pattern and created a genuinely new economic system. Shows that the modern Sunbelt wasn’t just a continuation of old trends but a real break from the past..

Wright, Gavin. “The Economic Revolution in the American South.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, no. 1 (1993): 161-178.

And a few shorter articles.