Book Description
Doug Wilder's story is one even a Hollywood scriptwriter would be hard-pressed to imagine: A black candidate, given up for dead by many in his own party, wins election in the South, partly on the strength of votes from Appalachian mountaineers and low-country rednecks. But it happened. Doug wilder's stunning upset election as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1985 marks a milestone in the South: Not only was Wilder the first black to win a statewide election in Virginia, he became the first black to win a statewide executive office in the South since Reconstruction. Wilder became the nation's highest-ranking black elected official -- and a serious contender for governor, an office that no black anywhere has ever won. Now one of the journalists who covered the 1985 campaign tells the behind-the-scenes story of how Wilder pulled off his remarkable upset. "When Hell Froze Over" offers a rare glimpse of how politics really works. -- From publisher's description.