Katharine and R. J. Reynolds

Michele Gillespie’s sophisticated examination of the intertwined lives of Katharine and R. J. Reynolds represents an exceptional contribution to the historiography of the modern South. At once a penetrating portrait of a marriage and an acute analysis of the many ways in which the lives of the partners shed light on business and social history, Gillespie’s book provides readers with dazzling new insights regarding the dynamics of power in the rapidly modernizing region the Reynoldses called home.

Deeply researched, beautifully written, and cogently argued, this is an engrossing study of a power couple extraordinaire, R. J. and Kate Reynolds, which will appeal to a wide readership. Telling us much about an unusual relationship, Michele Gillespie also provides a new way to understand how the post-Reconstruction New South elite helped construct business structures, social relations, and racial hierarchies. The result is an important addition to our understanding of the industrial South in the North Carolina Piedmont heartland.

* author of The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930 *

This innovative, beautifully written dual biography is carefully contextualized in the history and historiography of its region and era, and as a result it makes a significant scholarly contribution to several fields of history not always recognized as being related.

* William P. Hobby Professor of History, Rice University *

[T]he range and depth of Gillespie’s work coupled with clarity of her writing combine to create a read that will be welcomed by students of history — both amateur and academic — who want an interview view of the world occupied by the founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Mary Katharine Smith.

* Northeast Georgia Living *

Gillespie . . . masterfully builds a contextual framework around which to construct and present complementary biographies of two compelling individuals. The result is engaging and thought-provoking narrative history, which is also informative about the social, economic, and political issues of the time and region.

* Choice *

Ms. Gillespie uses Katharine's life and work as a kind of prism through which to view the prejudices and predilections of Southern culture in the 1910s and 1920s. The author . . . also offers an impressively researched essay on the emergence of the post-bellum Southern economy. . . . Ms. Gillespie has . . . produced a rich and original history of misunderstood period, one drawn almost entirely from primary sources.

* Wall Street Journal *

Michele Gillespie provides a sweeping account of how R. J. and Katharine succeeded in realizing their American dreams. . . . Deeply researched, beautifully written, and cogently argued, this is an engrossing study of a power couple extraordinaire.

* McCormick Messenger *

In this examination of Katharine and Richard Joshua Reynolds, Michele Gillespie achieves a rare feat: turning a dual biography into a tour de force. . . . Gillespie has produced a top-notch study of a powerful couple negotiating the shifting socioeconomic world of the New South and early corporate America.

* Journal of American History *

Carefully researched and elegantly written, this thoughtful and engaging dual biography of Katharine and R. J. Reynolds is a story that needed to be told. . . . A sophisticated study that will appeal to a broad range of readers within and beyond the academy, Gillespie’s work pivots on her keen insights about the dynamics of power in a political culture built on intricate hierarchies of race, class, and gender.

* American Historical Review *

In this well-researched joint biography of entrepreneur Richard Joshua Reynolds (RJR) and businesswoman Katharine Smith Reynolds, Michele Gillespie traces the rise of a husband and wife from the ranks of the middling sort to positions of great wealth and power. . . . The author takes care to situate the couple in the economic, political, and social currents of their time, and Gillespie's diligence in this regard informs readers about southern history and conveys appreciation for the lives of the couple.

* Journal of Southern Histo