Southern Culture

From the very beginning the South was different. The source and significance of this difference has been debated and discussed for over 200 years. In recent decades, the demise of the South as a regional culture has frequently been predicted, although now some scholars and journalists are maintaining that it is proving to be remarkably resilient and is actually having an ever greater influence on the broader American culture.

Southern Culture examines the origins and evolution of the region's culture and focuses on six key patterns that have defined it: agrarianism, class relations, race relations, gender and family traditions, evangelical Christianity, and political traditions.

Southern Culture also explores the products of the culture with major sections on dialect, painting, architecture, pottery, music, literature, and icons and myths. It concludes with essays by each of the authors in which they reflect on where Southern culture is headed.

This new edition includes updating of the chapter on politics as well as updating of sources throughout.

Professors, to see an annotated list of helpful links to accompany Southern Culture, click here.

The teacher's manual is available electronically on a CD or via email. Please contact Beth Hall at bhall@cap-press.com to request a copy.

"Three community college instructors combine their long experience in teaching English, history, and sociology in North Carolina (Vance-Granville Community College) to provide an interdisciplinary introductory text well worth adoption. Beck, Frandsen, and Randall meet well the challenge of merging humanities and social science approaches to regional studies by examining six focal areas: race, class, politics, family, religion, and agrarianism… Highly recommended." —CHOICE Magazine

"[A] scholarly resource that also is fun to read."

— Durham Herald Sun

"Southern Culture presents a holistic view of the South with intelligence and heart in both the research and the analysis. The writers neither glorify nor condemn the South; rather they seek to be informative and descriptive of this region's unique history, people, development. In the process, they have created an enlightening text for all readers, whether natives of the South or new arrivals." — Carol Marion, Guilford Tech Community College

"My students love this text!"

— Cat Drader, Davidson County Community College

"Scholarly readers will be satisfied by the book's research and integration of details into larger concepts; popular readers will also be satisfied by its expression of those ideas in an easy, elegant prose."

— Book News, Inc. (December 2012)

Named an Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE Magazine.