A New History of the American South

by W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Jon F. Sensbach, Laura F. Edwards Narrated by Terrence Kidd

Overview

For at least two centuries, the South's economy, politics, religion, race relations, fiction, music, foodways, and more have figured prominently in nearly all facets of American life. In A New History of the American South, W. Fitzhugh Brundage joins a stellar group of accomplished historians in gracefully weaving a new narrative of southern history from its ancient past to the present. This groundbreaking work draws on both well-established and new currents in scholarship, among them global and Atlantic world history, histories of African diaspora, and environmental history. The volume also considers the experiences of all people of the South: Black, white, Indigenous, female, male, poor, and elite. Together, the essays compose a seamless, cogent, and engaging work that can be read cover to cover or sampled at leisure.



Contributors are Peter A. Coclanis, Gregory P. Downs, Laura F. Edwards, Robbie Ethridge, Kari Frederickson, Paul Harvey, Kenneth R. Janken, Martha S. Jones, Blair L. M. Kelley, Kate Masur, Michael A. McDonnell, Scott Reynolds Nelson, James D. Rice, Natalie J. Ring, and Jon F. Sensbach.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“An important book for anyone interested in Southern history. . . . The book’s contributors brilliantly integrate the contents of their separate chapters, each on a distinct era, into a taut, analytical narrative. Throughout, their voices and styles cohere in striking fashion. . . . To learn of the South’s past as it is viewed today by leading historians, this is the book to read.”—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)

“A multifaceted narrative of the Southern United States, from histories of the African diaspora and Indigenous Americans to cultural, economic and environmental trends.”—New York Times Book Review

“A highly original, landmark work.”—Journal of American History

“A blockbuster collection [that] excels at puncturing [the many caricatures of the South] . . . . the South that emerges from A New History of the American South is fresh and exciting in its unfamiliarity.”—Scott W. Stern, The New Republic

“The thought-provoking and expert essays of represent expansive views of Southern history—beyond the period-focused notions of the region that often appear in history and literature. . . . Drawing parallels between the past and present, [these essays] eschew easy narratives to capture the contradictions of Southern life.”—Foreword Reviews

“This ambitious, collaborative narrative immerses readers in histories of the South’s diverse inhabitants. . . . What emerges is a multi-cultural, complex view of the South as ever-changing and interconnected: regionally, nationally, and internationally.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“A New History of the American South will appeal to readers of history, professional historians, and educators. . . . This collection is a valuable addition to the historiography of the American South, focusing on past interpretations and showing changes and new approaches over time.”—Journal of the Civil War Era

“The open-ended nature of these . . . essays reveals one important fact: we have not yet come to the end of southern history. . . . Not only have [the authors] provided us with a powerful new overview of the southern past (and a great bibliography, too!), but they have also reminded us that it is a history worth telling.”—Journal of Southern History

“Nuanced and scholarly. . . . A New History of the American South is certain to provide valuable insights for scholarly audiences. . . . I hope the book reaches the wider public audience it deserves, especially in this fraught historical moment.”—Journal of African American History

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2023-01-26
Scholars of Southern history come together to create a fresh narrative of the region.

As editor Brundage writes in the introduction, this is the 21st century’s “first, collaborative effort to tell the history of the American South.” More significantly, it serves as an example of how the story of Southern, as well as American, history has been transformed over the last 50 years. Previously, Southern history was the tale, beginning in the early 1600s, of sharply differentiated Black and White races, chattel slavery, distinctive race-based, all-male politics, and a kind of unchanging continuity of the region’s life—a portrait permeated with gauzy camellias and nonsense about enslaved people content with their status. In this largely seamless presentation of the South’s past as historians now see it, those subjects and emphases are greatly diminished in coverage. Assuming larger roles in the story are Native Americans, women, and social, cultural, and economic trends. Racism is still front and center, of course, but the contributors also highlight multiethnic and other relevant, previously omitted elements. Most of the book’s contributors brilliantly integrate the contents of their separate chapters, each on a distinct era, into a taut, analytical narrative. Throughout, their voices and styles cohere in striking fashion. It’s only when the narrative reaches the 20th century that it briefly stumbles, with two contributors focusing on select individuals rather than the South as a whole. The result is to make these people somehow representative of an entire region, while the rest of the book argues against the existence of an undifferentiated part of the country known as “The South.” Nevertheless, to learn of the South’s past as it is viewed today by leading historians, this is the book to read. Contributors include Martha S. Jones, Kate Masur, James Rice, and a host of other distinguished scholars.

An important book for anyone interested in Southern history.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160022413
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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