Home Social Sciences Northern Strategy and Anti-South Polemics: A Review Essay of Thomas Schaller's Whistling Past Dixie
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Northern Strategy and Anti-South Polemics: A Review Essay of Thomas Schaller's Whistling Past Dixie

Published/Copyright: August 3, 2007
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As the first unambiguous Southerner to be elected president since the antebellum era, Jimmy Carter was viewed at the time as a symbol that North-South reconciliation had finally come to pass. A quarter-century later, there are growing signs that the intersectional peace may be ending. This article shows that as Southerners, regardless of party, have steadily gained political power since the 1960s, various commentators have argued that the regional power shift presents serious negative consequences for the parties and the country and must be stopped. Thomas Schaller's widely cited, much heralded book Whistling Past Dixie is but the latest example. More than arguing that Democrats need to find an alternative, non-southern route to victory, Schaller suggests that Democrats must have the guts to run against the South, portraying it as the enemy once more of all that is good and right with America. It is a book that combines sectional strategy and sectional substance.

Published Online: 2007-8-3

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