University Alabama Press Alabama: The Making of an American State

Alabama: The Making of an American State is itself a watershed event in the long and storied history of the state of Alabama. Here, presented for the first time ever in a single, magnificently illustrated volume, Edwin C. Bridges conveys the magisterial sweep of Alabama’s rich, difficult, and remarkable history with verve, eloquence, and an unblinking eye.   From Alabama’s earliest fossil records to its settlement by Native Americans and later by European settlers and African slaves, from its territorial birth pangs and statehood through the upheavals of the Civil War and the civil rights movement, Bridges makes evident in clear, direct storytelling the unique social, political, economic, and cultural forces that have indelibly shaped this historically rich and unique American region.   Illustrated lavishly with maps, archival photographs, and archaeological artifacts, as well as art works, portraiture, and specimens of Alabama craftsmanship―many never before published―Alabama: The Making of an American State makes evident as rarely seen before Alabama’s most significant struggles, conflicts, achievements, and developments.   Drawn from decades of research and the deep archival holdings of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, this volume will be the definitive resource for decades to come for anyone seeking a broad understanding of Alabama’s evolving legacy. Review "Alabama: The Making of an American State is an exceedingly welcome and useful work. It is a popular history designed for everyone--and everyone should read it as the author tells the story of the state in a "warts and all" fashion." --The Alabama Review "This is not in the strictest terms a scholarly book. Bridges has read and digested scores of books and articles on Alabama history--indeed, he helped to create a goodly percent of that original scholarship--and here . . . he has told the story of our state, in his own pleasing style, for a general audience. This highly readable, smooth, one-volume study should be read by all Alabamians, especially those who wonder, as we often do, how did we get to this spot? . . . No discussion of this book should end without the highest praise for the illustrations. Bridges, the archivist, has assembled the best imaginable collection of maps, documents, paintings, photographs--many never published before. Each one, from photos of convict labor camps to the burning bus in Anniston, to a chicken farm in Monroe County, evokes its time and place with great power." --The Tuscaloosa News "[Alabama: The Making of an American State] is physically impressive. It is lavishly illustrated with 167 color and 122 black-and-white images, and is printed on heavy high-gloss paper. . . . Bridge's book fills a gap in the literature between academic histories directed towards scholars and college students and textbook histories aimed at the 4th grade. He succeeds admirably in covering with poise and equanimity the state's successes and it often self-inflicted problems and failures. . . . [Bridges] has produced an exceptional work that belongs on all Alabama bookshelves because it makes an abiding contribution to the historical literature of our state." --The Wiregrass Archives"We have long needed Alabama, and who better to write it than Edwin Bridges, director emeritus of the Alabama Department of Archives and History? His well-balanced and magnificently illustrated account of the state's history is just a delightful--if sometimes sobering--read." --G. Ward Hubbs, author of Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman and Guarding Greensboro: A Confederate Company in the Making of a Southern Community "In beautiful and concise prose that understands the heart of the state, this story traces the successes and failures of Alabama and its people and, more importantly, explains why events played out as they did. The full-color illustrations and maps make it th