Gwinnett County, Georgia, and the Transformation of the American South, 1818-2018 - by Matthew Hild & Michael Gagnon

Book Synopsis

In Gwinnett County's two hundred years, the area has been western, southern, rural, suburban, and now increasingly urban. Its stories include the displacement of Native peoples, white settlement, legal battles over Indian Removal, slavery and cotton, the Civil War and the Lost Cause, New South railroad and town development, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, business development and finance in a national economy, a Populist uprising and Black outmigration, the entrance of women into the political arena, the evolution of cotton culture, the development of modern infrastructure, and the transformation from rural to suburban to a multicultural urbanizing place. Gwinnett, as its chamber of commerce likes to say, has it all.

However, Gwinnett has yet to be the focus of a major historical exploration--until now. Through a compilation of essays written by professional historians with expertise in a diverse array of eras and fields, Michael Gagnon and Matthew Hild's collection finally tells these stories in a systematic way--avoiding the pitfalls of nonprofessional local histories that tend to ignore issues of race, class, or gender. While not claiming to be comprehensive, this book provides general readers and scholars alike with a glimpse at Gwinnett through the ages.

Review Quotes

While this book is specifically targeted at academic scholars, the history buff may find this book an interesting and informative read, as it gives a deep scholarly account of some of the more interesting oddities of Gwinnett's history, such as the MARTA saga or the story of Gwinnett as reluctant to secede from the Union...This book would be an excellent addition to the university library with departments or majors in Appalachian studies, Georgia history, urban studies, or anthropology with a focus on Georgia or the American South.--William Brogdon "Georgia Library Quarterly"

Gagnon and Hild are to be commended for assembling such a broad spectrum of topics that offer deep insights into Gwinnett County, and frankly, Georgia, history.--George Justice "author of Courthouses of Georgia"

This volume breaks the mold for the traditional history of a county by placing the story within the transformation not only of a specific region within Georgia but the South as a whole. It does so in a convincing, coherent way.--Paul M. Pressly "author of On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World"

About the Author

Matthew Hild (Editor)
MATTHEW HILD teaches history at the Georgia Institute of Technology and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of Greenbackers, Knights of Labor, and Populists: Farmer-Labor Insurgency in the Late-Nineteenth-Century South (Georgia).

Michael Gagnon (Editor)
MICHAEL GAGNON is an associate professor at Georgia Gwinnett College and lives in Flowery Branch, Georgia. He is the author of Transition to an Industrial South: Athens, Georgia, 1830-1870.