Massive Resistance - by George Lewis (Paperback)

About the Book

The first textbook to survey the white response to the US civil rights movement for more than thirty years.

Book Synopsis

Massive Resistance is a compelling account of the white segregationist opposition to the US civil rights movement from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. It provides vivid insights into what sparked the confrontations in US society during the run-up to the major civil rights laws that transformed America's social and political landscape.

Review Quotes

"George Lewis unravels the complex and intricate webs that were part and parcel of what is referred to as massive resistance. His scholarly approach, impressive organization of the material, and the overally quality and clarity of his narrative collectively contribute to Massive Resistance being an important contribution to the field of American studies... (An) important and much needed contribution to historical scholarship on an important and perhaps neglected side of the civil rights era. If one were to choose one book on this particular subject, I believe this volume should be the one." --Joseph Michael Gratale, European Association of American Studies

""In only 187 pages of text, George Lewis's excellent study of massive resistance synthesizes recent historiography in a respectful, nuanced, and tightly argued corrective to Numan V. Bartley's monumental The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South during the 1950's (1969) that also draws on primary research."" --Mark Newman, The Journal of American History

""George Lewis has delivered an excellent new history of white opposition to the civil rights movement ... Massive Resistance is a versatile book: specialists will find the arguments persuasive, and the text is lively enough for introductory history students."" --Ann Ziker, Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Dr George Lewis is Reader in American History at the University of Leicester, UK