Current Project
“Practical Idealism”: The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, 1955-2025
I’m currently in the final stages of completing a book-length manuscript on the modern history of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, an organization dedicated to implementing the ideas of Henry George and supporting the civic and community development of Fairhope, Alabama.
Books
The American South and the Great War, co-edited with M. Ryan Floyd (LSU Press, 2018)
Choice Reviews 2019 “Outstanding Academic Title”
The American South and the Great War, 1914–1924 investigates how American participation in World War I further strained the region’s relationship with the federal government, how wartime hardships altered the South’s traditional social structure, and how the war effort stressed and reshaped the southern economy. These essays address a variety of subjects, including civil rights, economic growth and development, politics and foreign policy, women’s history, gender history, and military history.
Reviews
Orville Vernon Burton
“[T]he essays in The American South and the Great War, 1914-1924 illustrate just how important World War I was not just to the economy but to the very idea of ‘southern identity’ and patriotism, to race relations, gender, civil rights, and culture. This is an essential book for students of the modern South.”
Rod Andrew, Jr.
“Finally, we have a comprehensive treatment in one volume of how the war influenced changes related to race, women, economics, regional and national identity, and the region’s relationship to federal power, illustrating how critical the Great War was in preparing the ground for the deeper transformation resulting from World War II.”
Transforming the South (LSU Press, 2014)
Winner of the 2015 James F. Sulzby Book Award (Alabama Historical Association)
Transforming the South focuses on three developments in the Tennessee Valley: the World War I-era government nitrate plants and hydroelectric dams at Muscle Shoals, Alabama; the extensive work completed by the Tennessee Valley Authority; and Cold War/Space Age defense investment in Huntsville, Alabama. I show, how, with each project, local boosters lobbied to receive federal funds for their communities while simultaneously forming economic development organizations that would prepare those communities for further growth, even as development drove social change.
Reviews
Journal of Southern History
“Transforming the South has a lot to offer and is an important book, especially for those interested in the origins of the Sun Belt South and anyone trying to understand the economic development of northern Alabama in the twentieth century.”
Journal of Economic History
“Any scholar interested in understanding the industrial transformation of the South, industrial recruitment, or place-based policies will benefit from reading this work.”
Book Chapters
“World War II: ADDSCO Identification Badge”
A History of Mobile in 22 Objects (2021)
“Accommodating the Forces of Change”
NASA and the Long Civl Rights Movement (2019)
“The Battle of Commerce Is Begun”
The American South and the Great War (2018)
“Clicking the Trinoculars into Position”
The Historian behind the History (2014)
“From Nothin’ to Somethin’”
Nation within a Nation
(2014)
Articles
“‘Bad Birmingham’: The Magic City’s First Experiment with Prohibition, 1907-1911”
This article traces the history of localized prohibition efforts in Birmingham in the years proceeding the nationwide movement.
Alabama Heritage 146 (Fall 2022): 48-55.
“An Interview with Dr. Glenda Gilmore”
I interviewed Dr. Gilmore about her career as a historian for the Southern Historian, a graduate, peer-reviewed journal published through the University of Alabama.
Southern Historian XXX (Spring 2009): 7-16
“Becoming Alabama: The Civil Rights Movement”
I authored a series of twenty-four articles, published quarterly, for Alabama Heritage, tracing the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama from 1960-1965.
Alabama Heritage, 95 (Winter 2010) – 116 (Spring 2015): vars.
Encyclopedia and Textbook Entries
I have written several entries for the Encyclopedia of Alabama:
I’ve also contributed to, and edited for, The American Yawp, “A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook.” See Ch. 23, “The Great Depression.”
See my CV for additional publications, including Book Reviews and other published items.
Matthew L. Downs, Ph.D. 