Books by James C. Cobb

Vernon and Irene Castle popularized ragtime dancing in the years just before World War I and made dancing a respectable pastime in America. The whisper-thin, elegant Castles were trendsetters in many ways: they traveled with a black orchestra, had an open

The 1954 Brown v Board of Education ruling is a watershed event in the fight against racial segregation in the US. Examining how our historical understanding of segregation has evolved since then, this book suggests that the Brown decree and the civil rights movement have accomplished more than the hard statistics of black progress can reveal.

From the Great Depression to the Sunbelt Era the South has pursued industrial development as the remedy for its economic ills. The mixed results of this ongoing crusade are chronicled in this path-breaking study, updated to 1990, in which James Cobb examines the expectations, achievements, and side effects of the dive for southern industrialization.