Short of a Revolution: The Fusion Insurgency and the Triumph of Jim Crow in North Carolina

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Craig Thurtell

Short of a Revolution

The Fusion Insurgency and the Triumph of Jim Crow in North Carolina

Craig Thurtell

$277

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

The University of North Carolina Press
13 January 2026

History of the Americas; Social discrimination; Ethnic studies; Black & Asian studies; Regional government

Chronicling the rise and fall of North Carolina’s fusion movement, this book illuminates an intricate interplay between politics, economic agendas, and racism. It examines how wealthy agriculturalists, industrialists, lawyers, merchants, and railroad leaders manipulated the state’s political, economic, and social structures to assert dominance and maintain white supremacy, undermining the power gained by African Americans during Reconstruction. By the mid-1890s, however, Black and white Republicans and supporters of the smaller Peoples' Party formed a coalition known as fusion, upending two decades of the Democratic Party’s white elite political domination in North Carolina. After four years, the Democratic Party mobilized under the menacing banner of white supremacy and, led by conservative, pro-business white people, restored the party’s control over the state government.

Craig Thurtell contends that an examination of this period reveals that race was not the sole factor in the Democratic Party’s quest for control. Instead, elite white men sought to establish a new social order influenced by class divisions, and Short of a Revolution provides a comprehensive analysis of these dynamics, revealing the multifaceted motivations behind the political shifts of late nineteenth-century North Carolina.

By: Craig Thurtell
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 25mm, Spine: 155mm
ISBN: 9781469689821
ISBN 10: 1469689820
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 13 January 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Craig Thurtell is an independent scholar.

Reviews for Short of a Revolution: The Fusion Insurgency and the Triumph of Jim Crow in North Carolina

""This book offers an insightful exploration of political economy in the American South. Its analysis provides fresh perspectives on the intersections of race, class, and economic systems.""--Gregory Mixon, author of Show Thyself a Man: Georgia State Troops, Colored, 1865-1905 ""With detailed new research and a fresh interpretation of the economic and racial forces in 1890s North Carolina, Short of a Revolution sheds invaluable light on the violent clashes that finally crushed the Reconstruction experiment and launched the Jim Crow South.""--Harry L. Watson, author of Building the American Republic: A Narrative History to 1877, Volume I