The South as an American Problem - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820317527 ISBN 13: 9780820317526

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 1996

Synopsis

How do southerners feel about the ways in which the rest of the country regards them? In this volume, twelve observers of the modern South discuss its persistent image as a people and place at odds with mainstream American ideals and values. Ranging from the South's climate to its religious fundamentalism to its great outpouring of fiction and autobiography, the contributors show how and why our perceptions of the region have been continually refashioned by national/southern tensions, trends, and events. At the same time, they show that although the nation has sought, time and again, to change the region, America also has used the South to expose and modify some of its own darker impulses.

As editors Larry J. Griffin and Don H. Doyle point out, no single approach could clarify the complexities underlying this persistent notion of a "Problem South." Representing a diversity of backgrounds and interests, the writings in this volume are the products of strong and independent minds that cut across disciplines, disagree among themselves, blend contemporary and historical insights, and confront conventional wisdom and expedient generalities.

Filled with fresh insights into the dynamics of the region's long-troubled relationship with the rest of the nation, this volume allows us all to view the current state and future course of the South, as well as its link to the broader culture and polity, in a new light.

About this title

From the Back Cover

In this volume, twelve authors take a challenging new look at the South. Departing from the issue that has lately preoccupied observers of the South - the region's waning cultural distinctiveness - the contributors instead look at the dynamics of the region's long-troubled relationship with the rest of the nation. What they discover allows us all to view the current state and future course of the South, as well as its link to the broader culture and polity, in a new light. To envision the concept of the "Problem South", and what it means to those within and without the region, six historians have joined together with a sociologist, an economist, two literary scholars, a legal scholar, and a journalist. Their essays, which range in subject from the South's climate to its religious fundamentalism to its great outpouring of fiction and autobiography, are the products of strong and independent minds that cut across disciplines, disagree among themselves, blend contemporary and historical insights, and confront conventional wisdom and expedient generalities. Although consensus among the contributors was never the goal of this collection, some common themes do suggest themselves. Above all, there is not only a South defined by its geography, history, and society, but also a mythic and metaphoric South - one continually refashioned by national/regional discourse, trends and events. In addition, the South has long been a mirror in which America has viewed itself. The nation has sought, time and again, to change the region, but it has also used the South to expose and modify darker impulses of American culture.

About the Author

Larry J. Griffin (Editor)
LARRY J. GRIFFIN is a professor of sociology and political science at Vanderbilt University.

Don H. Doyle (Editor)
DON H. DOYLE is McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. His books include Nations Divided (Georgia) and Faulkner's County.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0820317527
• ISBN 13: 9780820317526
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328
• Editor: Griffin Larry J., Doyle Don H.