The American South: A Reader and Guide - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0748619968 ISBN 13: 9780748619962

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2011

Synopsis

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

About this title

About the Author

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.

From the Back Cover

AUTHOR APPROVED'This impressive collection presents readers with extracts from some of the most influential historical writings on the American South. 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//'This wonderful series of readings introduces students not only to some of the classic works of southern history but to some of the most up-to-date scholarship. Students and teachers of southern history will benefit from this intelligent collection and the wise commentaries thataccompany it.'//Tony Badger, University of Cambridge//What makes the American South distinct?//The American South: A Reader and Guide// is the first single volume devoted 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 range of cutting-edge scholars - //The American South// is relevant to undergraduates, graduate students and academics.Key themes in southern history are explored:o the South from colonial beginnings through the American Revolutiono the origins and evolving character of American slaveryo life in the antebellum Southo the roots, course and consequences of the American Civil Waro emancipation, Reconstruction and the coming of the New Southo the rise, nature and ultimate defeat of southern segregationo the inter-dynamics of race, class and gender in the cultural and material development of the regiono current trends of the American South within a global contextDaniel Letwin is Associate Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University. He is author of //The Challenge of Interracial Unionism: Alabama Coal Miners, 1878-1921.//ISBN 978 0 7486 1997 9Edinburgh University Press22 George SquareEdinburgh EH8 9LFwww.euppubli

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0748619968
• ISBN 13: 9780748619962
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416
• Editor: Letwin Daniel