Civil Rights Crossroads: Nation, Community, and the Black Freedom Struggle.

Civil Rights Crossroads: Nation, Community, and the Black Freedom Struggle. By Steven F. Lawson. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, c. 2003. Pp. xiv, 384. $35.00, ISBN 0-8131-2287-2.)

This collection reflects the work of Steven F. Lawson since his first book, Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South 1944-1969 (New York, 1976), appeared almost thirty years ago. Topically rather than chronologically arranged, the articles are congruent with the historiography of the civil rights movement as Lawson conceives it in his first piece, "Freedom Then, Freedom Now." They focus first on national leaders and events; then on civil rights issues at the local and state levels (in Florida); and finally on a broader range of topics, including the 1950s payola scandal.

As might be expected given Lawson's national perspective, the most informative articles are those that focus on Lyndon Johnson and on black voting and officeholding since 1965, as well as his most recent piece on the congressional payola investigations. "Mixing Moderation with Militancy" draws on a rich array of primary sources as it depicts very vividly Johnson's position--and predicament--as the civil rights movement progressed and changed between the early and late 1960s. Similarly, Lawson's three articles in part 4 that deal with participation by blacks as voters and public officials since 1965 are very useful for instructors and students. "Rock 'N' Roll, the Payola Scandal, and the Political Culture of Civil Rights" provides important insights into the larger investigative culture of the 1950s. Lawson discusses the ways that southern segregationists and northern liberals alike denigrated rock 'n' roll in its early days, before it was whitened by business promoters like Dick Clark and superceded by more overt challenges to white supremacy in the form of protests and sit-ins in the early 1960s.

One of the most puzzling aspects of this collection is the incompleteness of the citations of the articles included. The citation for "The Unmaking of the Second Reconstruction" is omitted altogether. Of the eleven that are listed, six have no publication dates. These omissions are especially frustrating when Lawson discusses the state of the field and the work still to be done. Unsurprisingly, given Lawson's orientation, the book is not strong on civil rights efforts at the grassroots level, including the role of women in the movement. Indeed, Lawson himself argues in the final selection, "Women, Civil Rights. and Black Liberation," that the focus on leaders in formal positions in national organizations and on national politics (in other words, his forte) has not given women their due. The placement of this article at the end of the collection underscores his point.

Still, these qualifications should not detract from the outstanding contributions that Lawson has made in this book and in his career as a whole. Although Lawson notes at the outset that he did not know the direction his scholarship would take when he first published in 1976, his books and articles, including those in Civil Rights Crossroads, are characterized by remarkable continuity and growth, a dual accomplishment in which any scholar should take pride.

North Carolina State University 

GAIL WILLIAMS O'BRIEN