This in-depth account of the rise   and decline of the Citizens' Councils of America details the organization's   role in the massive resistance to school desegregation in the South following   the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Included are a new preface and   updated bibliography.  "A tour de force of research and   narration. . . in highly readable style. [McMillen] . . . seems to have read   everything the historical record has to offer on the subject and to have known   exactly what to make of it. . . Himself squarely on the side of the future,   he is sensitive to the anguish that prompted the hysteria of the misguided racist. . . .   By any test, a masterful study." -- Journal of Southern History  "Takes seriously the people who   made the movement, when ridicule and caricature would have been an easier analytical   technique. Solidly researched and well written. . . an intriguing story." --   Augustus M. Burns, Social Studies