The Rise and Fall of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas

by James D. Ross

2024 · University of Tennessee Press

Founded in eastern Arkansas during the Great Depression, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) has long fascinated historians, who have emphasized its biracial membership and the socialist convictions of its leaders, while attributing its demise to external factors, such as the mechanization of agriculture, the repression of wealthy planters, and the indifference of New Dealers. However, as James Ross notes in this compelling revisionist history, such accounts have largely ignored the perspective of the actual sharecroppers and other tenant farmers who made up the union’s rank and file. Drawing on a rich trove of letters that STFU members wrote to union leaders, government officials, and others, Ross shows that internal divisions were just as significant—if not more so—as outside causes in the union’s ultimate failure. Most important, the STFU’s fatal flaw was the yawning gap between the worldviews of its leadership and those of its members. Ross describes how, early on, STFU secretary H. L. Mitchell promoted the union as one involving many voices—sometimes in harmony, sometimes in discord—but later pushed a more simplified narrative of a few people doing most of the union’s work. Struck by this significant change, Ross explores what the actual goals of the rank and file were and what union membership meant to them. “While the white leaders may have expressed a commitment to racial justice, white members often did not,” he writes. “While the union’s socialist and communist leaders may have hoped for cooperative land ownership, the members often did not.” Above all, the poor farmers who made up the membership wanted their immediate needs for food and shelter met, and they wanted to own their own land and thus determine their own futures. Moreover, while the leadership often took its inspiration from Marx, the membership’s worldview was shaped by fundamentalist, Pentecostal Christianity. In portraying such tensions and how they factored into the union’s implosion, Ross not only offers a more nuanced view of the STFU, he also makes a powerful new contribution to our understanding of the Depression-era South. James D. Ross Jr. is an associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is a specialist in the interaction of race, class, and religion in twentieth-century United States history.

Hostile Skies

by James J. Hudson

1996 · Syracuse University Press

From April to November 1918, the American Air Service grew from a poorly equipped, unorganized branch of the US Expeditionary Forces to a fighting unit equal to its opponent in every way. This text details the actual battle experiences of the men and boys who made up the service squadrons.

Wall Street People

by Charles D. Ellis, James R. Vertin

2003 · John Wiley & Sons

Writing with James R. Vertin, author Charles D. Ellis presents brief profiles of 85 Wall Street leaders who contributed to the growth of the world's major financial marketplace. The authors divide these individuals - all men, which tells a tale right there - into four slightly arbitrary groups: masters of investing, movers and shakers, business builders, and wisemen and rascals. The collection is drawn from the other writers' pieces about these men, and includes occasional articles the featured financiers wrote themselves. Apart from a few brief notes about some patterns that the author observed, these excerpts from various sources stand alone, with no overarching theme or exposition. getAbstract keenly feels the lack of a few analytical essays that might have pulled the collection together and integrated it thematically, but even so, this serves as a useful research tool and an interesting introduction to a unique confluence of powerful men.

Billy Mitchell

by James J. Cooke

2002 · Lynne Rienner Publishers

"A sad but compelling story of a man of brilliant talent and exceptional foresight destroyed by overweening ambition and egotism."--Braham Myers, Everyone's War "What emerges from the pages of this outstanding biography is a complete picture, or as complete as we will probably ever get, of the man Billy Mitchell. And it is in those personal details that we see some of the character traits--indeed, some would say character flaws--that made Mitchell such a lightning-rod for controversy."--Michael Huebner, Quarterly Journal of the Great War Society "James Cooke has done an excellent job of portraying the foibles, strengths, and failings of the first American prophet for airpower in a most evenhanded fashion.... This is an immensely readable book and the most balance[d] portrayal of Mitchell I have seen to date."--Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II (LTC, USA Ret.) "A good read that raises the art of military biography to a new level."--Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association "[Cooke] draws the richest picture of Mitchell yet seen....Brings to life a man often called a founder of the modern U.S. Air Force."--William Jeanes, Smithsonian "Unlike almost all other books about Mitchell, Cooke's treatment is balanced, critical, and thorough.... A splendid job of correcting a distortion of history."--Kenneth P. Werrell, Journal of Military History "Cooke's comprehensive reevaluation of the still-controversial life and career of Billy Mitchell is a welcome breath of fresh air."--Dennis Showalter This compelling chronicle of a controversial figure--a man who could be charming, fanatical, arrogant, and confrontational--places Billy Mitchell in the context of the great debates over U.S. air power between the world wars. Mitchell demonstrated during WWI that massive air power could decisively affect combat operations on the ground, and he argued vehemently to anyone who would listen that air power would be the decisive factor in the next war--a war that he was certain would be fought with Japan. But his brilliance was often overshadowed by his personal failings: typically, he alienated those in power who could act on his ideas. In a highly publicized trial, Mitchell was court-martialed and found guilty, ostensibly for openly attacking the Navy and the War Department over the fatal crash of the airship Shenandoah, but primarily for making public his warnings about U.S. weaknesses in the air. Although the air attack on Pearl Harbor made Mitchell look to some like a prophet martyred for his integrity, Cooke revises that portrait to reveal a character fatally flawed by consuming ambition and a man who was a victim only of circumstances of his own creation. CONTENTS: Introduction. Young Willie. From the Philippines to Alaska. The Great War, 1917. The Western Front. Victory, 1918. Return to Washington. The Ostfriesland. Pacific Tour. Glory, Glory, Billy Mitchell. Damned Rot. Resignation and Crusade. Politics and Decline. The Last Flight. Mitchell Revived