John Clark and Charles Prysby have written an outstanding book on southern politics and political parties. The edited volume is not unusual in this field, and this particular edition is one of the strongest I have read. Clark and Prysby and their contributors chart the rising polarization of party activists within the Democratic and Republican Parties in the U.S. South. They empirically demonstrate, with an impressive 11-state survey of more than 7,000 local party activists, that the distinctive South in partisan activist politics is falling to the wayside.

In a novel research design, the volume compares surveys of southern party activists in 1991 and in 2001. Another novel aspect is the organization by subject (e.g., race, religion, party organization), and not state by state, as is often the case with volumes on southern politics. The result is a highly readable, easily digestible, and coherent book where the reader is left with a solid understanding of the partisan change that has occurred in the South. This coherence is particularly commendable for an edited volume.

There are three subject areas. After an excellent introductory chapter, the first section examines factors hypothesized to cause party conflict (chap. 2 on religion by John Clark; chap. 3 on race by Jay Barth; and chap. 4 on population migration by Laurence Moreland and Robert Steed). The second section of the book investigates attitudes of southern party activists (chap. 5 on activist issue opinions by Patrick Cotter and Samuel Fisher; chap. 6 on partisan attachments by Jonathan Knuckey; chap. 7 on factionalism by John McGlennon; and chap. 8 on issue proximity between activists and voters by Barbara Patrick, Steven Shaffer, Patrick Cotter, and Samuel Fisher). The final section examines organizational changes in southern parties (chap. 9 on whether southern activists are “purists” or “pragmatists” by Charles Prysby; chap. 10 on joining party organizations by James Newman, Steven Shaffer, and David Breaux; chap. 11 on the electoral activities of party activists by Robert Hogan; chap. 12 on activists' incorporation into the overall party structure by John Bruce and Clark; and a concluding chapter, chap. 13, by Prysby and Clark).

There are many new insights to be gained from this book, including the role of the Christian Right in party politics. It is interesting that in 2001, Republican Party activists were split “down the middle” (p. 25) regarding the Christian Right. About half of southern Republican activists favored the Christian Right, and the other half did not. Clark points out that these divisions may lead to fights for control of the state parties in the next few years. In terms of race and religion, we learn that African American Democratic activists who identify with the Christian Right and those that do not have very similar policy preferences on some issues (p. 23). Additional findings suggest that Republican hopes to bring evangelical African Americans into the party may not be realized, given the policy differences found between black Christian Right activists and white Christian Right activists.

One conclusion to be drawn generally from the book is that southern political party activists have come to resemble their nonsouthern counterparts. Knuckey notes that the partisan attachments among both Republican and Democratic activists are stronger now than in the early 1990s. The “weakest links” (p. 88) among Democratic Party activists in 1991 have left the party. The result is a somewhat more strongly partisan Democratic Party. However, even in 2001, a large 46.4% of Democratic county chairs had partisan attachments that were “mixed” (between strong and weak). Thus, the trend suggests increased partisanship within southern Democratic activists, though vestiges of the older, nonpartisan Democratic Party of the South are still retained.

The volume also offers extensive evidence about ideological changes, divisions, and the motivations of party elites. Cotter and Fisher find that Democrats have become more liberal over the last 10 years, and have also become more unified than Republican activists. However, McGlennon reports that factionalism within both parties' organizations has declined. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is an examination of party activists' motivations. More African American Democratic activists are motivated by purposive incentives related to pursuing public policy than are white Democratic activists. White Democrats, in contrast, are more likely to be motivated by solidary incentives (chap. 3). Also, Republicans are “somewhat more likely” to mention purposive incentives, compared to Democrats (p. 154).

Differences between the parties suggest the rise of a competitive two-party South. Hogan shows that Democrats have increased the extent of their “campaign activities” between 1991 and 2001, presumably because of this increased partisan competition. However, Bruce and Clark show that “Republican contact with elected officials increased over the decade of the 1990s, while Democratic contact decreased” (p. 195). These findings, and others, suggest that the Democrats are not to be counted out in the electoral realm, yet are also potentially on the ropes.

I have one minor quibble with the book. While the authors do an excellent job of making connections across states and time in the analysis, I would have liked a bit more integration on the points that are somewhat contradictory. (For instance, why have Democratic activists become only somewhat more partisan relative to Republicans [chap. 6], while Republican activists have become much more ideologically diverse than Democratic activists [chap. 5]?) Some chapters (when considered together) present puzzles for scholars to examine, and the authors could have focused more on these interesting puzzles. Still, though, the fact that these puzzles emerge from this book upon reading it is evidence of its high quality.

In sum, Southern Political Party Activists is an excellent piece of political science research, and it is particularly strong for an edited volume. This book is recommended to scholars of parties, public opinion, mass and elite behavior, minority politics, and partisan change. Perhaps it goes without saying, but it should be required reading for scholars and observers of southern politics.