Between 1940 and 1980, the Sunbelt region of the United States grew in population by 112 percent, while the older, graying Northeast and Midwest together grew by only 42 percent. Phoenix expanded by an astonishing 1,138 percent. San Diego, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Tampa, Miami, and Atlanta quadrupled in size. Even a Sunbelt laggard such as New Orleans more than doubled its population.

Sunbelt Cities brings together a collection of outstanding original essays on the growth and late-twentieth-century political development of the major metropolitan areas below the thirty-seventh parallel. The cities surveyed are Albuquerque, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa. Each author examines the economic and social causes of postwar population growth in the city under consideration and the resulting changes in its political climate. Major causes of growth such as changing economic conditions, industrial recruitment, lifestyle preferences, and climate are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the role of the federal government, especially the Pentagon, in encouraging development in the Sunbelt. Describing characteristic political developments of many of these cities, the authors note shifting political alliances, the ouster of machines and business elites from political power, and the rise of minority and neighborhood groups in local politics.

Sunbelt Cities is the first full-scale scholarly examination of the region popularly conceived as the Sunbelt. As one of the first works to thoroughly examine a wide range of cities within the region, it has served as a standard reference on the area for some time.

The Melting Pot and the Altar was first published in 1981. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. Recent studies of assimilation in nineteenth-century America have focused on the ways in which immigrant groups maintained separate identities rather than on their absorption in American society. In The Melting Pot and the Altar Richard M. Bernard puts to test the theory of the melting pot. He concludes that although cultural and structural pluralism deserves attention so does interaction between the host society and the immigrants Through extensive quantitative analysis of census reports and marriage records Bernard studies the pattern of intergroup marriage - the ultimate test of assimilation - during a period of massive migration to this country. His research on eleven immigrant groups and the native-born population in Wisconsin suggests that there was considerable intergroup mixing. Moreover, once allowance is made for differing times of arrival, immigration generations, and rural or urban residences, the assimilative patterns of Western and Eastern European groups were remarkably similar. An examination of several factors, such as occupation, age, location, and birthplace of parents, shows that certain demographic and social characteristics rather than any particular ethnic identification increased the likelihood that an individual would marry outside his or her group. The Melting Pot and the Altar is the first multiple variable analysis of marital assimilation in an entire state whose immigration patterns is similar to that of the nation. Both historians and sociologist will find this work of interest as an example of quantitative methodology and for its new evidence on an important subject.

In 1890, the University of Oklahoma Press published a ten-book series titled Newcomers to a New Land that described and analyzed the role of the major ethnic groups that have contributed to the history of Oklahoma. The series was part of Oklahoma Image, a project sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and the Oklahoma Library Association and made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In response to numerous requests, the University of Oklahoma Press has reissued all ten volumes in the series. Published unaltered from the original editions, these books continue to have both historical and cultural value for reasons the series editorial committee stated as well.

"Though not large in number as compared to those in some states, immigrants from various European nations left a marked impact on Oklahoma's history. As in the larger United States, they worked in many economic and social roles that enriched the state's life. Indians have played a crucial part in Oklahoma's history, even to giving the state her name. Blacks and Mexicans have also fulfilled a special set of roles, and will continue to affect Oklahoma's future. The history of each of these groups is unique, well worth remembering to both their heirs and to other people in the state and nation. Their stories come from the past, but continue on the future."