Life and Labor in the New New South

“Zieger has done it again! In this volume, he has put his finger on the pulse of the most exciting current work in the field. Anyone who doubts that the South is still a distinctive region, or who thinks that ‘southern labor’ has become an oxymoron, will be chastened by the scholarship in this compelling collection.”—Alex Lichtenstein, Florida International University

“Essential reading for any scholar or student who seeks better to understand not just the working class history of the South but also the way that power and politics has shifted in the nation as a whole since the 1940s.”—Heather Ann Thompson, Temple University

“The American South remains the nation’s most distinctive region, but during the last several decades the world of work there has been subject to virtually all of the same tribulations that bedevil those who labor in the rest of the country. This exceptionally fine set of essays captures much of this historical complexity with compelling narratives of globalization and community resistance, racism and interracial unity, union power and impotence. It’s a new New South all right, but the Southern accent can’t be missed.”—Nelson Lichtenstein, MacArthur Foundation Chair in History, University of California, Santa Barbara

This collection of essays explores the dynamic new face of Southern labor. Weaving together the best work of established scholars with emerging research on ethnicity, gender, prison labor, deindustrialization, rapidly changing demographic and employment patterns, and popular response to globalization, the volume as a whole creates a distinguished profile of a southern workforce that has been dramatically transformed since 1950, with the pace of change accelerating over the past two decades.