Journalist Rob Christensen Shares His Book, The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics On UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, July 18, at 9:30 PM

How can a state be represented by Jesse Helms and John Edwards at the same time? In his book The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics, journalist Rob Christensen answers that question and navigates a century of political history in North Carolina, one of the most vibrant and competitive southern states, where neither conservatives nor liberals, Democrats nor Republicans, have been able to rest easy.

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin, premiering Friday, July 18, at 9:30 PM, the News and Observer political reporter shares this new book and explores this eclectic political climate that the author argues enabled North Carolina to rise from poverty in the nineteenth century to become a leader in research, education, and banking in the twentieth.

Although party divisions and the issues of race that often distinguish them are deeply rooted, Christensen explains, North Carolina voters remain loyal to candidates who focus on issues such as education and building a business-friendly infrastructure. With Christensen as a guide, readers may find there is sense after all in the topsy-turvy nature of Tar Heel politics.

“I had been thinking about a book I wanted to read…something that would tie everything together,” says Christensen. “Politics in North Carolina was like stepping back in history, and I saw all these little threads and I wanted to put it all together…and answer some real questions about several political paradoxes.”

In answering these questions, Christensen takes us to picket lines and debates and through numerous red-baiting and race-baiting political campaigns. Along the way we are introduced to many remarkable characters, including a U.S. senator who was a Nazi sympathizer, a candidate for governor who was a Soviet agent, a senator who helped bring down Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon, and a TV commentator who helped usher in the Reagan Revolution.

Rob Christensen has covered North Carolina politics for thirty-four years at the News and Observer in Raleigh.

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Rob Christensen on North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, July 18, at 9:30 PM, with an encore episode airing Sunday, July 20, at 5 PM.