The first comprehensive history of Bright Leaf tobacco culture of any state to appear in fifty years, Long Green: The Rise and Fall of Tobacco in South Carolina explores the advances and retreats of tobacco's influence in South Carolina from its beginnings in the colonial period to its heydey at the turn of the century, the impact of the Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and on to present-day controversies about health risks due to smoking.

The book describes Pee Dee farmers' struggles against large manufacturers and attempts at industry reforms and covers the Tri-State Cooperative of the 1920s and the Hoover administration Federal Farm Bureau's program for tobacco that forged a lasting and successful partnership between tobacco growers and the U.S. government. The technological revolutions of the post-World War II era and subsequent tobacco economy hardships due to increasingly negative public perception of tobacco use are also highlighted. The book details the roles and motives of key individuals in the development of tobacco culture, including firsthand experiences as related by older farmers and warehousemen, and offers informed speculations on the future of tobacco culture. Long Green allows readers to better understand the full significance of this cash crop in the history and economy of South Carolina and the American South.