During the New Deal and World War II, the Tennessee Valley Authority was economically limited by marginal farmlands and industry-poor cities, and socially defined by an Upper South society segregated by race in education, employment, and social services. TVA and Black Americans examines the treatment of blacks as employees and clients in Franklin Roosevelt's "boldest and most liberal social planning experiment." In her critical study, Nancy Grant contends that TVA planned for a future revitalized valley that included blacks primarily in traditionally subordinate economic and social positions.Throughout her study, Grant details the largely unsuccessful efforts of national and Valley civil rights organizations, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and progressive TVA employees to change TVA's racial policies. She reveals the harsh reality for blacks of limited job opportunities, unequal distribution of social and educational services, and institutionalized racism within TVA. Tracing the changes in attitudes and procedures from 1933 to 1945, Grant reexamines the history of a Southern government agency that was known for its liberalism and experimentation in social and regional planning and challenges that reputation. Author note: Nancy L. Grant is Associate Professor of History at Dartmouth College.

Given in memory of James C. Ross, Jr. by the Staff of the Bryan/College Station Library System.

Since its inception in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority has played a dual role as federal agency and steward of the Tennessee River Valley. While known to most people today as an energy provider, the agency is also charged with managing and protecting the nation's fifth-largest river system, the Tennessee River, and vast tracts of land and resources encompassing Tennessee and portions of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Included in TVA's mandate is the preservation of the archaeological record of the valley's prehistoric peoples-a record that would have been forever lost beneath floodwaters had TVA not demonstrated a commitment to minimize its impact on the valley and sought to protect its archaeological resources. In TVA Archaeology, fourteen contributors who have worked with TVA in its conservation effort discuss prehistoric excavations conducted at Tellico, Normandy, Jonathan's Creek, and many other sites. They explore TVA's role in the excavations and how the agency facilitated prehistoric investigations along proposed dam sites. They also delve into the history of TVA as it grew from a New Deal program to a federal corporation and reveal how, during the agency's formative years, the TVA board responded to prodding from archaeologists David DeJarnette and William Webb and molded TVA into the steward of a region it is today. TVA remains a mainstay of progress and conservation within an important region of the United States, and its safeguarding of the valley's prehistory cements its legacy as more than just an energy supplier. Students and researchers interested in prehistoric archaeology, the Tennessee Valley, and the history of TVA will find this volume an invaluable contribution to the study of the region. Erin E. Pritchard is an archaeologist with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Her work includes multiple archaeological site investigations, most notably Dust Cave in northern Alabama, and she has authored and coauthored numerous site reports for TVA.

Prisoners of Myth is the first comprehensive history of the Tennessee Valley Authority from its creation to the present day. It is also a telling case study of organizational evolution and decline. Building on Philip Selznick's classic work TVA and the Grass Roots (1949), a seminal text in the theoretical study of bureaucracy, Erwin Hargrove analyzes the organizational culture of the TVA by looking at the actions of its leaders over six decades--from the heroic years of the New Deal and World War II through the postwar period of consolidation and growth to the time of troubles from 1970 onward, when the TVA ran afoul of environmental legislation, built a massive nuclear power program that it could not control, and sought new missions for which there were no constituencies. The founding myth of multipurpose regional development was inappropriately pursued in the 1970s and '80s by leaders who became "prisoners of myth" in their attempt to keep the TVA heroic. A decentralized organization, which had worked well at the grass roots, was difficult to redirect as the nuclear genii spun out of control. TVA autonomy from Washington, once a virtue, obscured political accountability. This study develops an important new theory about institutional performance in the face of historical change.

Beginning with a harrowing, high-speed ride through the Upper South (a TVA baby is a good ol’ boy with a Yankee father and a 12-gauge) and ending in a desperate search through New Orleans graveyards for Darwin’s doomsday machine (“Charlie’s Angels”), Terry Bisson’s newest collection of short stories covers all the territory between—from his droll faux-FAQ’s done for Britain’s Science magazine, to the most seductive of his Playboy fantasies (“Private Eye”), to an eerie dreamlike evocation of the 9/11 that might have been (“A Perfect Day”). On the way we meet up with Somali Pirates, a perfect-crime appliance (via PayPal) and a visitor from Atlantis who just wants a burger with fries, please. Readers who like cigarettes, lost continents, cars, lingerie, or the Future will be delighted. For those who don’t, there’s always Reality TV.

One of the most notable agencies of the New Deal era, the Tennessee Valley Authority was created with a warrant to plan for the socioeconomic improvement of "forgotten" Americans. The construction of the Norris Dam, it was thought, would benefit the region socially as well as economically. This book analyzes and assesses TVA's social experiment in modernization at the grassroots level, using population removal in the Norris Basin as a test case.

This is a study of TVA management of Tellico Dam. Part of the ambitious New Deal project to bring modernity to Appalachia, TVA planning was far-reaching, often far-sighted, but also controversial, involving mass migration of people from their ancestral homes and threats to species, like the snail darter.