When you pick up this little book, be prepared to keep turning the pages until you're finished. This is the fourth one of Smith's books that I've read cover to cover. I've enjoyed them all [especially STONO], but this one resonates and relates to today's world. The creation of racial stereotypes by white Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has echoes in the racial profiling of suspected terrorists today. The amount of research that went into this book is incredible, but it is not "weighty" or dull. Smith's writing is engaging and thoughtful. There can be little doubt that this fine young scholar is THE rising star [some would say he's already THE star] of Southern historians.