The South has long stood as one of the more absorbing areas of the American experience. What sets the South apart, and what has it meant to be a 'southerner'? How have the commonalities of southern life weighed against persisting divisions of gender, race, class, and locality? How has the telling of the region's history reflected, or at times affected, the course of contemporary southern society? For generations, students of the nation's past have been drawn to the region's distinctive, often paradoxical qualities - to its elusive blend of gentility and coarseness, hardship and endurance, hierarchy and rebellion, division and interdependency. In few settings have the stakes of historical interpretation been greater - or the rendering of the past, more hotly contested - than in the American South. The American South: A Reader and Guide represents the first single volume devoted wholly to the sampling and analysis of leading scholarship in southern history, from the region's colonial beginnings to the present. Drawing together essential works in the field - selected and introduced by a roster of cutting-edge scholars - The American South illuminates not only key themes in southern history itself, but also lively debates over how that history should be understood. Comprised of fifteen dynamic chapters, The American South will be of interest to undergraduates, graduate students, and the general reader. Key Features *Organised chronologically to allow readers to trace the history of the American South from colonial times to the present *Each chapter addresses a key theme or period in southern history *Each chapter includes 3 or 4 key readings offering a mix of classic and recent contributions *The substantial introductory essay in each chapter surveys the central issues and developments