Painting Dixie Red : University Press of Florida : 9780813060989 : 0813060982 : 30 Sep 2014 : "An eloquent and important examination of one of the most significant political trends of the last fifty years, revealing how prescient President Lyndon Johnson was on the occasion of his signing of the 1965 Civil Rights Bill when he made his famous comment about handing the South over to the Republicans for a generation."--Ralph Young, author of Dissent in America Has the South, once the "Solid South" of the Democratic Party, truly become an unassailable Republican stronghold? If so, when, where, why, and how did this seismic change occur? Moreover, what are the implications for the U.S. body politic?     Painting Dixie Red is the first volume to grapple with these difficult yet critical questions. In this fascinating and timely collection, a distinguished group of scholars engages in an enlightening debate. Some make the case that the South has become Republican, and some contend that it ha