Professor Black is one of the premier scholars of southern politics in the UnitedStates. He is the co-author (with Merle Black) of The Vital South: How Presidents are Elected (1992, Harvard University Press), Politics and Society in the South (1987, Harvard University Press), and The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002, Harvard University Press). His newest book, also co-authored with Merle Black, is entitled Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics (2007, Simon & Schuster).