"In a book that looks backward to the New Deal and forward to the 2012 election, Thurber provides the reader a fresh and nuanced account of the GOP's relationship with African Americans during a crucial three decades of heightened civil rights activism, a period that has shaped the politics of both to this day. His book credits Republican contributions to civil rights advances but explains the reasons for the party's alienation from blacks while challenging the accusation that its "Southern strategy" was deliberately racist. Given the depth of research and probity of its interpretation, this work will come to be regarded as "the definitive study of the Republican Party and civil rights for decades to come" (Irvin Gellman)"--