My primary interests have been in southern history and culture. I believe that the key to discerning the region's past and present revolves around race. This is especially true in reference to the Civil Rights era. Our understanding of the racial attitudes of that tumultuous period, however, is not yet complete. There are many avenues that have yet to be explored.

My first book, Race, Rock, and Elvis, looks at various non-traditional sources in trying to uncover perspectives not located in political rhetoric, government papers, or conventional documents. I would like to continue research along these lines in the future; I am particularly interested in understanding the relationship between young white radio listeners and the black radio programming that emerged in the post World War II era. Begun as purely economic forums to attract minority advertising and consumer dollars, black-controlled radio programs (usually at white-owned stations) became strong cultural institutions within the southern African American community. Their influence would inadvertently undermine the region's segregationist system.

Finally, I would like to explore the evolution of southern white working-class racial attitudes in the late twentieth century. Resuming the work begun in Race, Rock, and Elvis, this study would focus on the conditions and perceptions which compelled a formerly optimistic generation to turn inward and away from social change. Hoping to make the past more complex and less stereotyped, I am seeking to comprehend the "backlash" from which we are still trying to recover.