Development Arrested
The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta
1 of 1 copy available
“A stunning and fresh analysis of the political economy of white supremacy and the redemptive power of the blues.” —Darlene Clark Hine, co-author of The African American Odyssey
Development Arrested is a major reinterpretation of centuries-old conflict between African American workers and the planters of the Mississippi Delta. The book measures the impact of the plantation system on those who suffered its depredations firsthand, while tracing the decline and resurrection of plantation ideology in national public policy debate. Despite countless defeats under the planter regime, African Americans in the Delta continued to push forward their agenda for social and economic justice.
Throughout this remarkably interdisciplinary book, ranging across fields as diverse as rural studies, musicology, development studies, and anthropology, Woods demonstrates the role of music—including jazz, rock and roll, soul, rap and, above all, the blues—in sustaining a radical vision of social change.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 2, 2017 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781786632531
- File size: 3532 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781786632531
- File size: 3532 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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November 15, 1998
Part of Verso's "Haymarket" series, examining aspects of American history, politics, and culture from various perspectives on the political Left, this book covers the history of the conflict between the planter elite and African Americans in the Mississippi Delta. Woods (African and African American studies, Pennsylvania State Univ.) also discusses the part that blues and spiritual music have played in developing the "vision, spirit, philosophy and will" of African Americans in this struggle. While academics will find some of what Woods has to say about the Delta insightful, the value of this work is reduced by misleading statements (usually minor), the author's reliance on assertions when analysis is needed, and a writing style that resorts far too frequently to long lists and the overuse of "et cetera." An optional purchase for the history collections of academic libraries.--Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
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