Georgia Odyssey - 2nd Edition by James C Cobb (Paperback)

About the Book

A lively survey of the state's history, from its beginnings as a European colony to its current standing as an international business mecca, and from its long reign as the linchpin state of the Democratic Solid South to its current dominance by the Republican Party.

Book Synopsis

Georgia Odyssey is a lively survey of the state's history, from its beginnings as a European colony to its current standing as an international business mecca, from the self-imposed isolation of its Jim Crow era to its role as host of the centennial Olympic Games and beyond, from its long reign as the linchpin state of the Democratic Solid South to its current dominance by the Republican Party. This new edition incorporates current trends that have placed Georgia among the country's most dynamic and attractive states, fueled the growth of its Hispanic and Asian American populations, and otherwise dramatically altered its demographic, economic, social, and cultural appearance and persona.

"The constantly shifting cultural landscape of contemporary Georgia," writes James C. Cobb, "presents a jumbled panorama of anachronism, contradiction, contrast, and peculiarity." A Georgia native, Cobb delights in debunking familiar myths about his state as he brings its past to life and makes it relevant to today. Not all of that past is pleasant to recall, Cobb notes. Moreover, not all of today's Georgians are as unequivocal as the tobacco farmer who informed a visiting journalist in 1938 that "we Georgians are Georgian as hell." That said, a great many Georgians, both natives and new arrivals, care deeply about the state's identity and consider it integral to their own. Georgia Odyssey is the ideal introduction to our past and a unique and often provocative look at the interaction of that past with our present and future.

Review Quotes

An excellent window through which to take honest measure of the state.

--Times Literary Supplement

Cobb is eminently qualified to lead the reader on an odyssey through the state's history. This book is a delight to read. Throughout, Cobb is able to sustain a downhome, familiar style that seems to fit the subject perfectly.

--Journal of Southwest Georgia History

Cobb's book proves that state histories do not have to be the stuff of graduate student nightmares. Clear, fast-paced, and thoroughly engaging, it is the sort of work that reminds readers of the narrative power of well-written history.

--Florida Historical Quarterly

If you want to know what makes the South tick, you might well look to James Cobb for insight.

--John Egerton

One of the most refreshing works on the state to appear in years. . . . Cobb writes in a style that is lively and personal. Georgia Odyssey is one of those rare works that effectively bridge the unnecessarily wide and often artificial gap between professional scholars and an informed public.

--Georgia Historical Quarterly

The reader will put the book down with a deeper understanding of Georgia in all its contradictions. . . . Georgia Odyssey is no dry academic history . . . instead it's an engagingly written volume that sometimes reads more like an irreverent conversation than words on paper.

--Athens Banner-Herald

About the Author

James C. Cobb is the B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Georgia. His numerous publications include "Georgia Odyssey"; "Redefining Southern Culture: Mind and Identity in the Modern South"; and "The Brown Decision, Jim Crow, and Southern Identity" (all Georgia), as well as "The South and America since World War II"; "Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity;" "The Selling of the South: The Southern Crusade for Industrial Development, 1936-1990;" and "The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity."