"This book not only addresses the social and economic disparities in one of America's poorest regions, but also explains why traditional methods of overcoming these disparities are not necessarily tied to redistributing money. On the contrary, the author points out vividly that the system will only begin to change when non-elites are empowered and hundreds of years of oppression and institutional racism are removed through education and reordering the political structure. This book will be the impetus for additional research and may in fact help the residents and other interested parties facilitate change in the region." -- Charles E. Menifield, coeditor of Politics in the New South: Representation of African Americans in