Sunbelt Cities: Politics and Growth since World War II

Published by University of Texas Press 1983

Sunbelt Cities

Politics and Growth since World War II

Edited by: Richard M. Bernard and Bradley Robert Rice

https://doi.org/10.7560/775763

Overview
Contents

About this book

Between 1940 and 1980, the Sunbelt region of the United States grew in population by 112 percent, while the older, graying Northeast and Midwest together grew by only 42 percent. Phoenix expanded by an astonishing 1,138 percent. San Diego, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Tampa, Miami, and Atlanta quadrupled in size. Even a Sunbelt laggard such as New Orleans more than doubled its population.

Sunbelt Cities brings together a collection of outstanding original essays on the growth and late-twentieth-century political development of the major metropolitan areas below the thirty-seventh parallel. The cities surveyed are Albuquerque, Atlanta, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa. Each author examines the economic and social causes of postwar population growth in the city under consideration and the resulting changes in its political climate. Major causes of growth such as changing economic conditions, industrial recruitment, lifestyle preferences, and climate are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the role of the federal government, especially the Pentagon, in encouraging development in the Sunbelt. Describing characteristic political developments of many of these cities, the authors note shifting political alliances, the ouster of machines and business elites from political power, and the rise of minority and neighborhood groups in local politics.

Sunbelt Cities is the first full-scale scholarly examination of the region popularly conceived as the Sunbelt. As one of the first works to thoroughly examine a wide range of cities within the region, it has served as a standard reference on the area for some time.

Author / Editor information

Richard M. Bernard is Dean of the Jackson

College of Graduate Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman

Bradley R. Rice is Professor Emeritus of History at Clayton Junior College in Morrow, Georgia.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1 INTRODUCTION Bradley R. Rice and Richard M. Bernard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 ATLANTA: IF DIXIE WERE ATLANTA Bradley R. Rice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3 MIAMI: THE ETHNIC CAULDRON Raymond A. Mohl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
4 NEW ORLEANS: SUNBELT IN THE SWAMP Arnold R. Hirsch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
5 TAMPA: FROM HELL HOLE TO THE GOOD LIFE Gary R. Mormino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
6 DALLAS-FORT: WORTH MARKETING THE METROPLEX Martin V. Melosi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
7 HOUSTON: THE GOLDEN BUCKLE OF THE SUNBELT Barry J. Kaplan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
8 OKLAHOMA: CITY BOOMING SOONER Richard M. Bernard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
9 SAN ANTONIO: THE VICISSITUDES OF BOOSTERISM David R. Johnson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
10 ALBUQUERQUE: CITY AT A CROSSROADS Howard Í. Rabinowitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
11 LOS ANGELES: IMPROBABLE LOS ANGELES David L. Clark Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	268
12 PHOENIX THE DESERT METROPOLIS Bradford Luckingham Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
13 SAN DIEGO: THE ANTI-CITY Anthony W. Corso Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 358

eBook

Published: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 9780292769816