Book excerpt: Introduction: Family biography as regional history -- Ascension. Becoming the Bankheads of Alabama ; A slaveholder's son in the postwar South, 1865-1885 ; "He was a getter, and he got" : the making of a New South congressman ; Establishing the new order ; Political challenges, 1904-1907 ; Roads and redemption ; Party men, city women -- Succession. New directions ; Senator from Alabama ; Burning bridges, taking chances ; Mr. Speaker ; "A good soldier in politics" : the last campaign ; At the crossroads.