Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-274) and index.

1. Before Jim Hunt: The Birth of the Tar Heel Progressive Myth 5 -- 2. Jimmy Hunt of Rock Ridge 16 -- 3. Political Education of Jim Hunt 32 -- 4. Jim Hunt, Terry Sanford, and the Limits of Tar Heel Progressivism, 1960-1967 46 -- 5. Jim Hunt and the Political Transformation of the American South, 1968-1971 59 -- 6. "Keep Your Eye on Him": Hunt's 1972 Campaign for North Carolina Lieutenant Governor 72 -- 7. Learning How to Lead: Hunt's First Two Years as Lieutenant Governor 86 -- 8. Mandate of '76: How Hunt Became Governor 100 -- 9. New Beginning: Jim Hunt and the 1977 Agenda 118 -- 10. Jim Hunt's "Political Prisoners": The Wilmington Ten and the Charlotte Three 136 -- 11. Califano Controversies: Jim Hunt's Conflicts with the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) 154 -- 12. Selling of North Carolina, 1977-1980: Jim Hunt and the Economic Expansion of the Tar Heel State 170 -- 13. Jim Hunt and Howard Lee: The Governor and the State's First Black Cabinet Secretary 184 -- 14. Reelection of Jim Hunt, 1980: A Progressive Wins in a Conservative Year 199 -- 15. James B. Hunt, Jr., and the Evolution of North Carolina Progressivism, 1937-1980 217.