Mack Paul | Miracle Road

ABOUT THE EVENT

Tickets include a copy of Miracle Road: The Story of Research Triangle Park, guaranteed entry to the event, and a seat in the reserved section. Mack will sign books after the program.

All live author events are subject to change. More information about our events can be found at quailridgebooks.com/eventsfaq.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Miracle Road is a comprehensive account of the origins and rise of Research Triangle Park, which has transformed one of the poorest states in the nation into an economic powerhouse, detailing a fascinating and important case study of urban development in the twenty-first century.

Research Triangle Park in North Carolina (RTP) emerged under the unique circumstances of a poor Southern state that needed to find a way to offset the declining industries of tobacco, furniture, and textiles in the 1950s. Through the sustained commitment of nearby universities, business leaders, and local and state officials, state leaders established the largest science and research park in the United States in an area that was nothing but “possums and pines.”

Miracle Road tells this story through the eyes of those at the center of it, like the local black leaders who convinced white officials to desegregate public schools with the justification that it would make the area more appealing to tech companies, or how a chance meeting between the governor and a Danish executive led to North Carolina becoming an epicenter for weight loss drugmakers decades later. Allen Paul and Mack Paul organize the story around major periods in RTP’s growth, showing how RTP came to define the region and the state by the 1990s as well as the major setbacks it encountered in the early 2000s.

Breaking down the strategies that led to RTP’s success, like creating new institutions in targeted tech areas to spur activity and factoring quality of life into the regional planning of the area, Miracle Road demonstrates how the story of Research Triangle Park is a fascinating and important case study of urban development in the twenty-first century.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MACK PAUL cofounded Morningstar Law Group, where he is a partner. He teaches land use law at North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. Mack served as chair of the Greater Triangle Regional Council and has written extensively about the development of the Triangle Region.

Allen Paul (1939–2026) was the author of From Honey with Love: My Life as a Second-Chance Dog, Katyn: Stalin’s Massacre and the Triumph of Truth, and coauthor of College Sports on the Brink of Disaster: The Rise of Pay-for-Play and the Fall of the Scholar-Athlete.