The New South's New Frontier: A Social History of Economic Development in South-western North Carolina. By Stephen Wallace Taylor. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. Pp. xi, 186. $55.00.

Extract

Economic development is a fragile thing. This book examines the transformation of the southwestern corner of North Carolina from a region with intermittent prosperity in the early part of the twentieth century to an economically stagnant region that has not shared in the tremendous recent economic growth in the southeastern United States. For much of the nineties, this southeastern region from North Carolina to Georgia was the fastest growing region in the United States. What happened to the mountain region and how did it get left out? Taylor rejects simplistic models of an isolated mountain region exploited by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and outside capitalists. Instead, he presents the process of economic change as similar to development in the rest of the South: that is, the result of an interplay between outsiders and mountain people who were never economically isolated from the rest of the country, and who were adept at taking advantage of whatever economic opportunities presented themselves. Many local residents, for example, were very keen about the establishment of a national park in this part of the Smoky Mountains because they thought it would bring in tourists and boost the local economy. Similarly, many locals supported the construction of the Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River; also hoping it would bring economic benefits to the region. Ultimately, however, the result was not one they wanted or intended.