Hattiesburg

William Sturkey's Hattiesburg is a marvelous, deeply researched, and exceptionally well-written book that explores the biracial history of one of Mississippi's few urban centers. A professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Sturkey focuses on the eight decades between Hattiesburg's founding in the 1880s and segregation's collapse in the 1960s. He weaves the stories of white and black Hattiesburgers into a compelling and complex narrative that challenges readers to think anew about the long era of Jim Crow. Hattiesburg was a creature of the New South. Nicknamed the Hub City, it sat at the junction of three railroad lines and thrived in the early 1900s as local white elites teamed with northern businessmen to turn Mississippi's piney woods into profitable lumber. By the 1920s, unchecked cutting had caused deforestation, threatening the local economy. To the rescue came the U.S. military, which pumped tens of millions of dollars into nearby Camp Shelby on the eve of World War II

American history · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Economic history · First world war · Narrative · Narrative history · White (mutation · American Environmental and Regional History · History · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies