![]() | Faith in Bikinis: Politics and Leisure in the Coastal South since the Civil War Subjects: Leisure -- Political aspects -- Southern States -- History; Tourism -- Political aspects -- Southern States -- History; Seaside resorts -- Southern States -- History; Seaside resorts -- Atlantic Coast (South Atlantic States) -- History; Seaside resorts --; While traditional industries like textile or lumber mills have received a majority of the scholarly attention devoted to southern economic development, Faith in Bikinis presents an untold story of the New South, one that explores how tourism played a central role in revitalizing the southern economy and transforming southern culture after the Civil War. Along the coast of the American South, a culture emerged that negotiated the more rigid religious, social, and racial practices of the inland cotton country and the more indulgent consumerism of vacationers, many from the North, who sought greater freedom to enjoy sex, gambling, alcohol, and other pleasures. On the shoreline, the Sunbelt South-the modern South-first emerged. ANTHONY J. STANONIS is a lecturer in modern U.S. history at Queens University, Belfast. He is the editor of Dixie Emporium: Tourism, Foodways, and Consumer Culture in the American South and author of Creating the Big Easy: New Orleans and the Emergence of Modern Tourism, 1918-1945 (both Georgia). |
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