Regenerating Dixie : electric energy and the modern South /
Casey P. Cater.
- Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, (c)2019.
- 1 online resource (x, 262 pages) : illustrations, maps.
- History of the urban environment .
Includes bibliographies and index.
An Unseen Force in the New South -- Electricity and the Mind of the New South -- A Mighty Outpost of Progress -- Power for the Masses and the Farm -- A New Power Era -- Public Dams, Private Power -- The Heart of the New South.
"Regenerating Dixieis the first book that traces the electrification of the US South from the 1880s to the 1970s. It emphasizes that electricity was not solely the result of technological innovation or federal intervention. Instead, it was a multifaceted process that influenced, and was influenced by, environmental alterations, political machinations, business practices, and social matters. Although it generally hewed to national and global patterns, southern electrification charted a distinctive and instructive path and, despite orthodoxies to the contrary, stood at the cutting edge of electrification from the late 1800s onward. Its story speaks to the ways southern experiences with electrification reflected and influenced larger American models of energy development. Inasmuch as the South has something to teach us about the history of American electrification, electrification also reveals things about the South's past. The electric industry was no mere accessory to the "New South" agenda --
9780822986898
Electrification--History.--Southern States Electric power--History.--Southern States