Ernest Vandiver was elected governor of the state of Georgia in 1958 on a platform of fiscal conservatism and steadfast resistance to desegregation. Having vowed to defend Georgia’s segregated social system at all costs, Vandiver nevertheless concluded that the state could not close its schools to avoid desegregation. Because of his decision to reject the path taken by George Wallace in Alabama and Orval Faubus in Arkansas and to protect public education in the state by complying with federal court mandates, Vandiver was denounced by the state’s more vocal proponents of segregation. Using primary sources and extensive interviews with the governor and his contemporaries, Henderson tells the full story of Vandiver’s life as a transitional figure in the political history of the state. He portrays Vandiver as a man cast by circumstances into presiding over a crisis greater than any faced by a Georgia governor since the Civil War. Henderson also notes some of Vandiver’s less recognized accomplishments, including the involvement of state government in furthering tourism, foreign investment, and industry. Ernest Vandiver is here recognized for his significant achievements in guiding the state through a period of rapid transformation.

Beginning with the inauguration of Ellis Arnall as governor in 1943, Georgia Governors in an Age of Change traces the gubernatorial leadership of Georgia through four decades, chronicling the state's rise from bastion of southern provincialism to a dynamic and progressive state.

Georgia: A State History, opens a window on our rich and sometimes tragic past and reveals to all of us the fascinating complexity of what it means to be a Georgian. Georgia's past has diverged from the nation's and given the state and its people a distinctive culture and character. Some of the best, and the worst, aspects of American and Southern history can be found in the story of what is arguably the most important state in the South. Yet just as clearly Georgia has not always followed the road traveled by the rest of the nation and the region. Explaining the common and divergent paths that make us who we are is one reason the Georgia Historical Society has collaborated with Buddy Sullivan and Arcadia Publishing to produce Georgia: A State History, the first full-length history of the state produced in nearly a generation. Sullivan's lively account draws upon the vast archival and photographic collections of the Georgia Historical Society to trace the development of Georgia's politics, economy, and society and relates the stories of the people, both great and small, who shaped our destiny.

The classic reference work that provides annually updated information on the countries of the world.