The South Through Time: A History of an American Region, Volume II (2nd Edition)

Incorporating the enormous amount of very sophisticated revisionist scholarship that has appeared over the past 25 years, this book provides a consistent, overall reinterpretation of southern history — from Reconstruction to the present (1997) — offering a less fact-filled, more narrative and more interpretative approach that expands the concept of southern history both chronologically and geographically. Reflects the author's first-hand familiarity with the newest scholarship — as the editor of the Journal of Southern History and co-editor of a major study of southern historiography, Interpreting Southern History. Explains why things happened the way they did rather than just telling what happened. Tells more about the entire South — not just the eastern seaboard. Introduces and explores new research on topics such as women's history, the rise of sharecropping, the cause of Populism, and the impact of World War II. Features better, more extensive coverage of blacks and women than earlier histories of the South. Offers insights gained by what is now called a “gendered analysis.” Explores southern environmental history — including flora and fauna, pesticides and pollution, and attempts to shape the landscape. Discusses the recent South (politics, urban and economic growth, cultural change) through the summer of 1997 — drawing on the newest monographic, periodical, and newspaper documentation. For anyone interested in the history of the South or Southern civilization.