This ethnographic account of community development relates the successful efforts of Shiloh County (a pseudonym for a small, rural political subdivision in the American South) to achieve local autonomy while using external resources to meet local needs. The study describes the political influences of family, religion, neighborhood, community and county in decision making and the responses to resulting developmental change. It traces the use of state and federal laws in taxing local industries, as well as the combining of local, state, and federal funds and programs to improve facilities and services in the county. It explains the participation of the county in a federally funded experimental program in the school system and shows how educational change was accomplished in the county's best interest, while altering imposed programs with additions to existing facilities, services, and practices. Utilizing primary and secondary data gathered via three and one-half years of observation and interviews, this study includes an interdisciplinary analysis of the relationships within the county and its links with external agencies, as well as anthropological literature on acculturation. (JD)