A Companion to the American South

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Edited by John B. Boles

Blackwell Publishers

Due/Published October 2001, 536 pages, cloth

ISBN 0631213198

Surveys and evaluates the most important and innovative writing on the entire sweep of the history of the southern United States. Twenty-nine essays from leading experts in the field analyze the various interpretive schools, briefly summarize the positions and approaches of the seminal books, and suggest the range of subjects and interpretations for every important era in southern history. The coverage includes topics such as slavery, politics, the Civil War and Reconstruction, race relations, the civil rights movement, southern religion, and women's history. Each chapter includes a select bibliography as a convenient reference to encourage further reading.

"Teachers and students of southern history alike will owe a great debt to John Boles for years to come. The essays in A Companion to the American South, written by scholars who are themselves at the cutting edge of the new southern historiography, cover every conceivable aspect of southern history. This volume will indeed be an indispensable companion to every southern history course."--Anthony Badger, University of Cambridge

Table of Contents

List of Contributors Preface.
Part I: The Colonial South:
1. The First Southerners: Indians of the Early South Amy Bushnell (University of Charleston).
2. Spanish and French: Exploration and Colonization Paul E. Hoffman (Louisiana State University).
3. The English Colonial South to 1750 Cynthia A. Kierner (University of North Carolina at Charlotte).
4. The Origins of Slavery, 1619-1808 Betty Wood (Cambridge University).
5. Understanding the South in the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1785 Ira D. Gruber (Rice University).
Part II: The Antebellum South:
6. The South in the New Nation, 1790-1824 Daniel S. Dupre (University of North Carolina at Charlotte).
7. The Plantation Economy Mark M. Smith (University of South Carolina).
8. The Maturation of Slave Society and Culture Stephanie J. Shaw (Ohio State University).
9. Plain Folk Yeomanry in the Antebellum South Samuel C. Hyde, Jr. (Southeastern Louisiana University).
10. Religion in the Pre-Civil War South Randy J. Sparks (Tulane University).
11. Politics in the Antebellum South Daniel W. Crofts (University of New Jersey).
12. Women in the Old South Sally G. McMillen (Davidson College).
13. Intellectual and Cultural History of the Old South David Moltke-Hansen (Historical Society of Pennsylvania).
Part III: Civil War and Reconstruction:
14. Sectionalism and the Secession Crisis Mary A. DeCredico (United States Naval Academy).
15. The Civil War: Military and Political Aspects along with Social, Religious, Gender, and Slave Perspectives George C. Rable (University of Alabama).
16. Emancipation and Its Consequences Laura F. Edwards (Duke University).
17. Political Reconstruction, 1865-1877 Michael W. Fitzgerald (St. Olaf College).
18. Economic Consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction Joseph P. Reidy (Howard University).
Part IV: The New South:
19. Southern Politics in the Age of Populism and Progressivism: A Historiographical Essay Samuel L. Webb (University of Alabama at Birmingham).
20. The Rise of Jim Crow, 1880-1920 James Beeby (Bowling Green State University) and Donald G. Nieman (Bowling Green State University).
21. Women in the Post-Civil War South Elizabeth Hayes Turner (University of Houston-Downtown).
22. The Discovery of Appalachia: Regional Revisionism as Scholarly Renaissance John C. Inscoe (University of Georgia).
23. Religion in the American South Since the Civil War Paul Harvey (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs).
Part V: The Modern South:
24. Southern Environmental History Mart A. Stewart (Western Washington University).
25. Labor Relations in the Industrializing South Daniel Letwin (Penn State University).
26. The Impact of the New Deal and World War II on the South Pamela Tyler (North Carolina State University).
27. The Civil Rights Movement Charles W. Eagles (University of Mississippi).
28. The Rise of the Sunbelt: Urbanization and Industrialization David Goldfield (University of North Carolina at Charlotte).
29. The Transformation of Southern Politics, 1954 to the Present Wayne Flynt (Auburn University).