The Southern State of Mind

In a collection of essays as provocative as the region that inspired them, leading historians and literary critics offer a combined effort to define Southern identity at the end of the twentieth century. Removed from the devotional, certifying, and celebratory view of the South that has dominated books of this genre, The Southern State of Mind addresses the question of whether inherited Southern values, problems, and contradictions have survived the onslaught of modernization. The historians examine the origins of current ideas about Southern identity. They address the biracial South and the growing pessimism about race relations in the region, although some contributors argue that a bridge across the racial divide does exist in certain areas of the South. The literary critics speculate on the present and future of the region's character. They show that Southern writers, African Americans included, are often concerned with issues other than the interaction of the black and white communities. The overarching dialogue among the contributors illustrates how the ideological self-identification in the South has a powerful potential for shaping national attitudes.