American South, The: Reader And Guide, A

Description:
The South has long stood as one of the more absorbing areas of the American experience. What sets the South apart, and what has it meant to be a 'southerner'? How have the commonalities of southern life weighed against persisting divisions of gender, race, class, and locality? How has the telling of the region's history reflected, or at times affected, the course of contemporary southern society? For generations, students of the nation's past have been drawn to the region's distinctive, often paradoxical qualities - to its elusive blend of gentility and coarseness, hardship and endurance, hierarchy and rebellion, division and interdependency. In few settings have the stakes of historical interpretation been greater - or the rendering of the past, more hotly contested - than in the American South. The American South: A Reader and Guide represents the first single volume devoted wholly to the sampling and analysis of leading scholarship in southern history, from the region's colonial beginnings to the present. Drawing together essential works in the field - selected and introduced by a roster of cutting-edge scholars - The American South illuminates not only key themes in southern history itself, but also lively debates over how that history should be understood. Comprised of fifteen dynamic chapters, The American South will be of interest to undergraduates, graduate students, and the general reader. Key Features *Organised chronologically to allow readers to trace the history of the American South from colonial times to the present *Each chapter addresses a key theme or period in southern history *Each chapter includes 3 or 4 key readings offering a mix of classic and recent contributions *The substantial introductory essay in each chapter surveys the central issues and developments

Review:
'Ranging from the colonial era to the present day, and incorporating a broad range of historical topics, this impressive collection presents readers with extracts from some of the most influential historical writings on the American South. Each of the fifteen chronological sections is introduced and contextualized by a leading scholar in the field. For students and general readers alike, The American South is the first place they ought to look for what historians past and present have had to say about southern history.' -- Betty Wood, University of Cambridge 'Dan Letwin and his editorial colleagues have selected a wonderful series of readings that introduce students not only to some of the classic works of southern history but to some of the most up-to-date scholarship. Not only students but teachers of southern history will benefit from this intelligent collection and the wise commentaries that accompany it.' -- Tony Badger, University of Cambridge 'Ranging from the colonial era to the present day, and incorporating a broad range of historical topics, this impressive collection presents readers with extracts from some of the most influential historical writings on the American South. Each of the fifteen chronological sections is introduced and contextualized by a leading scholar in the field. For students and general readers alike, The American South is the first place they ought to look for what historians past and present have had to say about southern history.' 'Dan Letwin and his editorial colleagues have selected a wonderful series of readings that introduce students not only to some of the classic works of southern history but to some of the most up-to-date scholarship. Not only students but teachers of southern history will benefit from this intelligent collection and the wise commentaries that accompany it.'

Table of Contents:
1. Thinking about the South, John B. Boles (William P. Hobby Professor of History, Rice University); 2. Origins of the Old South: The Colonial Era, Lorri Glover (Associate Professor of History, University of Tennessee); 3. The South in the Ages of the Revolution and the New Republic, Adam Rothman (Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University); 4. Slavery in the Antebellum South, Stephanie J. Shaw (Associate Professor of History, Ohio State University); 5. Class and Culture in the White South, Victoria Bynum (Professor of History, Texas State University-San Marcos); 6. The Coming of Sectional Crisis, Frank Towers (Associate Professor of History, University of Calgary); 7. The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, Anne Rubin (Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland-Baltimore County); 8. Emancipation, Reconstruction, Redemption, Kate Masur (Assistant Professor of History, Northwestern University); 9. Trials of the New South, Alex Lichtenstein (Associate Professor of History, Rice University); 10. Living Jim Crow, Stephen G. N. Tuck (University Lecturer in American History, Pembroke College, University of Oxford); 11. Worlds of Southern Labor, Eric Arnesen (Professor of History, University of Illinois-Chicago); 12. Minds of the South, Paul Harvey (Professor of History, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs); 13. The New South in Transition: New Deal, World War II, and Cold War, Kari Frederickson (Associate Professor of History, University of Alabama); 14. The Civil Rights Era, Adam Fairclough (Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair of History and Culture of the United States, Leiden University); 15. The American South Today, Clive Webb (Reader in North American History, University of Sussex).

Author Biography:
Daniel Letwin is associate professor of history at Penn State University, where he specializes in labor, race relations, and the American South. He is author of The Challenge of Interracial Unionism: Alabama Coal Miners, 1878-1921. His current research explores the nettlesome issue of 'social equality' in African-American thought during the Jim Crow era.