Emmerich: "fascinating reading" "significant contribution" to history

Wyatt Emmerich writes in the January 13, 2011 issue of The Northside Sun:

In his new book, A Courageous Cause, Wirt Yerger details the history of this 50-year-old battle. Northsider Joe Maxwell, co-author, does a masterful job of illuminating the passion of the day. It is fascinating reading for those interested in politics. The book is full of new insights into Mississippi's tumultuous 1950s. It is a significant contribution to our state's history.

The reader is is quickly drawn into the monopolistic cronyism of a one-party state, where the Democratic Party ruled with an iron fist and fought tooth and nail to stymie the development of two-party competition. Yerger's disgust is manifested from the beginning of the book where Yerger states, "We founded the modern Republican Party in Mississippi - the ultimate break with the old-line, racist Southern Democrats who didn't know whether they wanted to be liberal or conservative, but were vocally committed to keeping long-held, highly corrupted power."

Pick up a copy from a Northside Sun rack in Jackson and read the full column.