Remembering Robert Byrd
The passing this week of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia makes one miss the days when Southern politicians were complicated rather than merely crass. Yes, Byrd clung to office longer than he should have. Yes, he was a master of pork barrel spending. Yes, he lined up with the states’ rights and nullification Dixiecrats in the 1960s. But — like his fellow former Klansman Hugo Black of Alabama — he overcame his racist upbringing and became a supporter of civil rights, a defender of the promises of a living Constitution, and a champion of the poor and middle classes …
Congratulations to Randall Williams for New Alabama Guide
“The Alabama Guide: Our People, Resources, and Government is a humdinger and ought to be on a book shelf in every home in the state,” says Alvin Benn in his January 13, 2010 Montgomery Advertiser column. NewSouth Books Editor-in-Chief Randall Williams coordinated and designed the over 700-page Alabama Guide in association with the Alabama Department of Archives and History …