Dixie Dateline: A Journalistic Portrait of the Contemporary South

by John B. Boles (Editor)

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182 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1983

About the author

John B. Boles is an American historian who retired as the William P. Hobby Professor of American History at Rice University in 2019. Born in Houston, Texas, he grew up in a rural, racially segregated Bible Belt town where his family farmed cotton and later raised chickens. Raised in a staunchly Baptist household, Boles’ early experiences shaped his later research in Southern social history. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Rice University in 1965 and a PhD from the University of Virginia in 1969. Boles began his academic career at Towson State University, later teaching at Tulane University before joining Rice University in 1981, where he held prominent chairs and contributed extensively to scholarship. He authored numerous books on the social history of the Southern United States, including religious, black, and women’s history, and edited multiple volumes. Boles served as editor of the Journal of Southern History for over 30 years and was president of the Southern Historical Association in 2017-18. His 2017 biography Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty is widely regarded as a definitive one-volume study of Thomas Jefferson.