Charleston Reborn: A Southern City, Its Navy Yard and World War II.

Charleston Reborn: A Southern City, Its Navy Yard and World War II. By Fritz P. Hamer. (Charleston and London: History Press, 2005. Pp. 188. Paper, $24.99, ISBN 1-59629-020-X.)

Considering the importance of World War II in shaping the modern South, it is surprising that a book-length study of wartime Charleston had not been undertaken before. Fritz P. Hamer's Charleston Reborn." A Southern City, Its Navv Yard and World War 11 ably fills the void. This accessible and balanced study of the Charleston area's long-awaited renaissance is necessary reading for historians interested in the economic and social impact of World War II in South Carolina and the greater region.

After an intrastate battle with Port Royal, the Charleston area became home to a navy yard in 1901 and engendered hope that the yard would invigorate the local economy, which had yet to recover from the trauma of the Civil War. The yard expanded during World War I but then faded to relative economic insignificance in the 1920s. During the interwar period the Navy Department almost closed the yard three times. In the 1930s Franklin D. Roosevelt increased activity as a way to invigorate the local economy. Thus, by the mid-1930s, the yard was operating at full capacity as part of the New Deal and, eventually, the nation's defense buildup. Between 1940 and 1941 the yard's labor force doubled to more than ten thousand; three years later, yard employment peaked at twenty-six thousand. By late 1944 more than fifty-five thousand people had migrated to the Charleston area. More than half came from out of state and some from outside of the country.

The story of the city, county, and navy yard during World War II is largely what one would expect. As with many seaports in the South and the nation, Charleston and its environs experienced a remarkable economic boom and a massive influx of new residents. The war overwhelmed public infrastructure and law enforcement, created tension between locals and migrants, and strained race relations (while inspiring African Americans to challenge white supremacy). Schools were overcrowded, decent housing came at a premium, necessities were rationed, recreation outlets were hard to find, and prostitution rates rose. Hamer's contribution is to show how all of this happened. Charleston Reborn gives readers a real sense of what it was like to live in Charleston and to work in the navy yard during the war.

Historians will probably be most disappointed with the coverage of the pre- and post-World War 11 periods. While he reviews turn-of-the-century booster efforts, Hamer does not consider the extent to which the Spanish-American War inspired greater interest in a militarized economy. In addition, the political battle to secure the navy yard and the pivotal role played by Senator Benjamin Tillman deserve more than a cursory review. In his discussion of the postwar era, Hamer mentions Congressman Mendel Rivers's role in saving the yard from closure in 1949 but does not consider Rivers's prominence in expanding Charleston's defense economy in the 1950s and 1960s, a key element in sustaining Charleston's renaissance. Nor does Hamer recount the lengthy desegregation battle at the navy yard (then naval shipyard) in the 1950s. Considering his thorough analysis of race relations during the war, this final oversight is a curious omission.

JONATHAN F. PHILLIPS

University of South Carolina--Columbia