Reviews
"A highly useful study and a significant contribution to political and African American history as well as the history of the New South."
--Choice
"Provides a lot of information about the Republican presidential tours of the South that will be new even to specialists in the history of American race relations."
--H-net Reviews
"Helps unpack the oft-simplified concept of the modern presidency."
--Journal of American History, Vol. 99 No. 2
"Readers interested in the devolution of Republicans' commitment to racial justice--the descent from the party of Lincoln to the party of Reagan--will reap substantial rewards from this fascinating and disturbing book."
--American Historical Review
"By using information carefully gleaned from presidential papers, African American newspapers, and other sources, Frantz reminds readers that the effort began earlier and involved difficult issues. A significant contribution."
--Choice
"A solidly researched, well-written volume….Frantz's book illuminates well a subject that has been long neglected, filling the historical gap in the history of the Republican Party in the South"
--The Historian
"Well researched and informed on the recent historical literature, Frantz’s narrative covers the peripatetic southern ventures of his subjects with energy and verve."
"Frantz’s interesting book will be a good source to consult for a sad phase of Republican history that has not yet ended."
--The Journal of Southern History
“Informative, interesting, and highly readable.”
--Florida Historical Quarterly
Thoroughly covers the words and actions of these presidents as they made important, symbolic, and highly publicized trips through the former Confederacy.
--Louisiana History
[Frantz] has uncovered and animated three generations' worth of political machinery without which twentieth-century conservatism could not reach full flower, thus providing a unique and intriguing origins story for the modern Republican Party.
--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society