Professor-Politician
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Professor-Politician

The Biography of Alabama Congressman Glen Browder

Geni Certain

Foreword by Wayne Flynt

Title Details

Pages: 312

Trim size: 6.000in x 9.000in

Formats

Paperback

Pub Date: 01/01/2012

ISBN: 9-781-5883-8254-2

List Price: $25.95

eBook

Pub Date: 01/01/2012

ISBN: 9-781-6030-6252-7

List Price: $25.95

Imprint

NewSouth Books

Professor-Politician

The Biography of Alabama Congressman Glen Browder

Geni Certain

Foreword by Wayne Flynt

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  • Description
  • Reviews

Professor-Politician challenges common depictions of politics as a constant struggle of good-versus-evil and heroes-versus-villains, with “dirty politics” usually winning. The truth is that good government can prevail in Montgomery and Washington.

Journalist Geni Certain recounts Glen Browder’s civic adventures as one of Alabama’s prominent scholars and public officials over the past half-century. This is a story of practical and reform politics told by someone specially positioned to comment on the Alabama government and American democracy.

Certain interviewed knowledgeable people, researched public records, and scoured the Browder Collection at Jacksonville State University for this intriguing and inspiring biography of a civic-oriented leader.

Glen Browder’s biography presents a very rare combination of insights stemming from the former Congressman’s record as an academic and as an elected official at both state and national levels. The volume by Certain and Browder may prove especially useful for those young adults who contemplate entry into the arena of electoral politics, but wish to balance the need to win on election day with the desire to serve a public interest by addressing deeply rooted social ills. Their work details the struggles of a professor-politician who lived firsthand with this very difficult balancing act.

—Dr. Jess Brown, Professor of Political Science at Athens State University

[Professor-Politician] fits nicely into historians' ongoing analyses of southern politics after the 1960s. Students of recent Alabama politics will enjoy following the trajectory of Browder's career, the extensive remarks on local and state issues, and the stories of lively politicians who are relatively unknown outside the state. Broadly instructive and insightful.

—The Journal of Southern History

In this well-written biography, Browder emerges as a complex political leader during a critical period of Alabama and American history. Anyone who wants to understand state or national politics will find it a splendid read.

—Dr. Wayne Flynt, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Auburn University History Department

In an era of hyper-partisanship it is good to reflect on an effort to find a middle ground and actually get some things accomplished in Washington. Glen Browder and his "Blue Dogs" were one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal picture that included party politics that almost brought government to a standstill. This excellent study of Dr. Browder's career reminds us what was accomplished and what might be if we sent more like him to Congress.

—Dr. Harvey Jackson III, Eminent Scholar in History, Jacksonville State University

About the Author/Editor

Journalist GENI CERTAIN was for thirteen years an editor of The Anniston Star. She also worked as the editor-in-chief of The Daily Home in Talladega before retiring.