The scholars included in A Paler Shade of Red cover the 2008 presidential election with detailed, state-by-state analyses of how the presidential election, from the nomination struggle through the casting of votes in November, played out in the South. The book also includes examinations of important elections other than for president, and in addition to the single-state perspectives, there are three chapters that look at the region as a whole. Contributors are Scott E. Buchanan, John A. Clark, Patrick R. Cotter, Charles Bullock III, Rogert E. Hogan and Eunice H. McCarney, David A. Breaux and Stephen D. Shaffer, Cole Blease Graham, Jay Barth, Janine A. Parry and Todd G. Shields, Jonathan Knuckey, Charles Prysby, Ronald Keith Gaddie, Brian Arbour and Mark McKenzie, and John J. McGlennon, all collected here to provide powerful insight into southern politics today.

An epic work of remarkable scope, vigor and passion, W. E. Gutman's latest book is acerbic, iconoclastic and disquieting. In this memoir, he chronicles his life with eloquent, engaging prose that will resonate with readers long after they turn the last page. The palpable sense of wonder and discovery peppered with dark humor and great humanity, is reminiscent of Nabokov's Speak Memory and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. This honest, often self-critical account of the author's ups and downs as a wanderer and journalist makes A Paler Shade of Red great literature. About the Author Born in Paris, W. E. Gutman is a veteran journalist and author. A former writer at OMNI magazine and U.S. editor of Science in the USSR, he covered politics and human rights in Central America from 1994 to 2006. He lives with his wife in southern California.

A collection of poetry by and about Finnish Americans and how their ancestry helped shape them into the people they are today.

A political scientist and Republican party insider examines how Texas made its dramatic shift from Democratic stronghold to GOP dominance. In November 1960, the Democratic party dominated Texas. Democrats held all thirty statewide elective positions as well as the entire state legislature. Fifty years later, this stronghold had not only been lost—it had reversed. In November 2010, Republicans controlled every statewide elective office, as well as the Texas Senate and House of Representatives. The state’s congressional delegation in Washington was comprised of twenty-five Republicans and nine Democrats. Red State explores why this transformation took place and what these changes imply for the future of Texas politics. Wayne Thorburn analyzes a wealth of data to show how changes in the state’s demographics—including an influx of new residents, the shift from rural to urban, and the growth of the Mexican American population—have moved Texas through three stages of party competition, from two-tiered politics to two-party competition, and then to the return to one-party dominance, this time by Republicans. Thorburn reveals that the shift from Democratic to Republican governance has been driven not by any change in Texans’ ideological perspective or public policy orientation—even when Texans were voting Democrat, conservatives outnumbered liberals or moderates—but by the Republican party’s increasing identification with conservatism since 1960.

The Midwest has produced a robust literary heritage. Its authors have won half of the nation's Nobel Prizes for Literature plus a significant number of Pulitzer Prizes. This volume explores the rich racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the region. It also contains entries on 35 pivotal Midwestern literary works, literary genres, literary, cultural, historical, and social movements, state and city literatures, literary journals and magazines, as well as entries on science fiction, film, comic strips, graphic novels, and environmental writing. Prepared by a team of scholars, this second volume of the Dictionary of Midwestern Literature is a comprehensive resource that demonstrates the Midwest's continuing cultural vitality and the stature and distinctiveness of its literature.