ROOTS OF SOUTHERN POPULISM:YEOMAN FARMERS & THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE GEORGIA UP: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890

by Steven Hahn

Despite the vast changes in plantation agriculture following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the lot of small farmers was little improved. Examining the nonplantation region of upcountry Georgia as a microcosm of the South, Steven Hahn showed how farmers were buffeted by such forces as the unravelling of antebellum household economy, the development of market forces, the growth of a new class of merchants-landlords, and rising tensions between town and countryside--and how their resentments fueld the Populist movement at the end of the 19th century. For this updated edition, Hahn will add new material to discuss how the book has stood up since it was published over twenty years ago, how the arguments and questions were received, and what influence they may have had on scholarship. He will also consider what has happened to historical interest in Populism, poor white people and populist politics, as well as why he thinks it likely that interest may revive and what sort of
questions and arguments may drive it.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, American

373 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 1985

About the author

Steven Hahn is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor in American History at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really, really enjoyed this book! Hahn took statistical info from 2 counties in Georgia upcountry & used the data to extrapolate some bigger political themes in the after-reconstruction/redeemer period. I learned a lot. It was really neat to see how the populists came to fruition from this very tenuous place between the southern dems & the radical republicans, mostly based on race & family/neighbor connections. Very cool to learn how the upcountry was forced to move from independent subsistence farming to mostly cotton economy too.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carefully crafted, deep analysis of two counties in Upcountry Georgia, 1850-1890. Explores the region’s experience with secession, the Confederacy, and the rise of a modern capitalist economy. Shows that the failure of Populism in the 1890s was due to trends decades in the making. Deep dive into poor farmers and their artisan republicanism.