I'm very interested in this topic. Do you have a "favorite" (most accurate, least revisionist) writeup of the causes of the political realignment that happened

I'm very interested in this topic. Do you have a "favorite" (most accurate, least revisionist) writeup of the causes of the political realignment that happened between the 1940s and the 1980s? Specifically, if you don't think it was largely about civil rights, what do you think was happening? I don't understand how the facts you've cited establish either of these two sentences as "revisionism": "Democratic support for civil rights legislation helped the party secure the long-term loyalty of a majority of African American voters, but alienated many of the party’s white voters. This led to Republican gains in new areas of the country, especially the South (Black and Black 2002.)" As you say, the traditional (pre-1960s) coalition of the Democrats was (white) conservative Southerners and liberal Northerners. That explains the messy partisan alignment of the five bills you mentioned. (The voting patterns are clear if you look at geography, not party affiliation[1].) In the aftermath of those bills, we find evidence that something strongly alienated the white, conservative Southern Democrats, and resulted in Republican gain. While the national politics you mention are confusing, there is a clear visual pattern in the presidential voting records of a southern state like North Carolina [2]: blue prior to the 1960s, and red afterwards. What was it that alienated the white, conservative Southerners? Perhaps there is a more compelling answer to this than "civil rights", but your evidence does not establish that. You cite George Wallace, but his story is one of many that supports the quoted passage and its thesis that civil rights was a key issue. A long-time Democrat, he was one of many blue dogs who broke with the national party over segregation. His famous "segregation now, tomorrow, forever" speech in 1963 was arguably his moment of greatest acclaim by his electorate, and by 1968, he was sufficiently alienated from Democrats to make a third-party run as a segregationist. Many other Southern dems (eg Eastland, Thurmond) opposed the civil rights bills, and in their aftermath, switched parties in name or in spirit (supporting Republican national candidates), citing civil rights or segregation as a particular point of policy difference. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_party_and_region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_pa... [2] https://www.270towin.com/states/North_Carolina https://www.270towin.com/states/North_Carolina