From the book jacket: The history of Cobb County in the last century was the history, in microcosm, of the modern suburban South. As the cover photo illustrates, Kennesaw Mountain, the scene of a major Civil War battle, serves as the backdrop for the new Cobb. Well into the twentieth century, Cobb and the rest of the South suffered the consequences of defeat: a below-average standard of living, a lack of national power, and a tradition of segregation and one-party politics that set the region well outside the national mainstream. Cobb began to change when two mid-century wars brought Bell Aircraft, Lockheed, and Dobbins Air Base to the county. Military spending triggered a population boom and a more progressive, more affluent society. By the late twentieth century, Cobb was a very different place. The numerous upscale office buildings of the Galleria-Platinum Triangle area represented one of America’s richest business centers. A dynamic two-party system produced a U.S. Speaker of the House, a Georgia governor, and other state and national leaders. By the year 2000 the metropolitan Atlanta suburbs led the way in making Georgia one of the fastest growing states in the Union. Counties such as Cobb took on a greater significance than ever before. Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South is an attempt to explain how and why this remarkable change came about.