Dr. Kari Frederickson

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Dr. Kari Frederickson, assistant professor of history at The University of Alabama, was named the 2002 Harry S. Truman Book Award winner for her work, "The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968" (The University of North Carolina Press, 2001).

The Harry S. Truman Book Award of $1,000 recognizes the best book written in a two-year period that deals primarily and substantially with some aspect of the history of the United States between April 12, 1945 and Jan. 20, 1953, or with the public career of Harry S. Truman. The award is given biennially in even-numbered years by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs.

"We were impressed with this book on many fronts," said Dr. Jeffrey Gall, chair of the Harry S. Truman Book Award subcommittee and assistant professor of history and M.A.E. director for social science at Truman State University.

"To begin with, Frederickson is an excellent writer who tells a compelling story. She begins her account in the 1930s and has a closing section that takes her conclusions into the late 1960s. The heart of her book focuses squarely on the Truman era and the pivotal attempt of the Dixiecrats to use a third part campaign to throw the 1948 election into the House of Representatives and thus get a president with whom they would be more satisfied ... it is worth noting that one of our committee members remarked, 'of all the finalists, this is the book that will impact the way I teach period'," Gall said.

Frederickson received her doctorate from Rutgers University; she currently teaches courses on the modern South at UA. She lives in Tuscaloosa with her husband and daughter.