Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State

Megan Ming Francis is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University, Malibu. She completed her PhD in the department of politics at Princeton University, New Jersey in 2008, and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago in 2008-9 and as a Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center of Law, Society, and Culture at Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2009-10. Francis's research interests include American political development, race, crime, civil liberties, and civil rights.

'Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State is an outstanding contribution to the fields of race and politics, American political development, and legal studies. Drawing on rich archival sources, Francis redefines our understanding of the early civil rights movement, the NAACP, and its relationship to the American presidency and Congress. Her research forces us to revise our understanding of the complicated relationships between early twentieth-century presidents and the black movement for racial justice. This work also sharply highlights how social movement organizations tack back and forth between multiple strategies to achieve their goals. Students of American politics, history, legal studies, race and politics, and social movements will all find this a must-read.' Michael C. Dawson, John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College, and Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago

• 1. Rethinking civil rights and American political development; 2. The birth of the NAACP, mob violence, and the challenge of public opinion; 3. The unsteady march into the Oval Office; 4. Anti-lynching legislation and the sinking of the Republican ship in Congress; 5. Defending the right to live; 6. Civil rights bound; Appendix: manuscript sources.