This is due in large part to the sad fact that Reconstruction never quite ended.  The Southerner endures endless fusillades at his own heritage; never quite erudite enough, never quite progressive enough, always a little late to the party.  The Southerner is both curiosity and cancer, welcomed for comedic value but spurned for ideological rigidity.

Needless to say, it is difficult to learn about Southern culture in universities.  Such classes are a rarity and, when they do exist, focus entirely on the unforgivable brutishness of the plantation system.  There is, however, more to the South than slavery, plantations, and the Civil War.  So where do we go to actually learn about Southernness?  Good news, friends.  Here’s a list.

If you haven’t investigated the topic before, start here:

1.  The Big Three: The Basis of Your Education in Southernism

Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity

UGA’s James Cobb provides a compelling and comprehensive survey of Southern identity that pulls no punches where failures are concerned, yet does not shy away from the complex cultural history of the South.  Not overly academic, but more than deep enough for the novice.  Start here.

The Mind of the South

W.J. Cash’s mid-century masterpiece on the Southern psyche and its formative elements.  Read this next and enjoy the sensation of falling down a rabbit hole.  Cash’s assertions about the formation of Southern identity are as accurate today as they were prescient 60+ years ago.  A must have.

The Burden of Southern History

C. Vann Woodward’s work rounds out what I consider “The Big Three.”  Granted, I slightly despise this book.  Woodward’s primary thesis is that if you are a Southerner, you have a pathological difficulty interacting with the world.  He spends the better part of the book providing supporting material on why Southernism is a pathology rather than a culture.  Of course, he was at Yale at the time of its publication (1960), a time when doing pop-psych on the South was terribly en vogue.  So if I hate it so much, why do I recommend it?  Because it perfectly illustrates how the rest of America sees the South.  Enjoy your outrage.

2. A Deeper Understanding

Once you’ve passed through the Big 3 and are ready for some deeper reading, I recommend the following, in no certain order:

The Southern Tradition: The Achievement and Limitations of an American Conservatism

Eugene Genovese’s slim volume on Southernism and its attendant spirit, a unique brand of agrarian conservatism (don’t mistake the term — it would be a complete stranger to today’s “conservatives”) is a fascinating and quick read through the genesis of the Southern political identity.

The Idea of the American South

Michael O’Brien’s book is not a page turner and is only recommended for the serious student of Southernism.  It’s not exactly engaging and its thesis is often elusive.   However, its contents are eminently useful for understanding a particularly formidable period in the South’s history. Not for the timid.

The Southern Essays of Richard M. Weaver

I hesitated to put this on the list.  Weaver is a highly polarizing figure commonly noted for his books on political theory (Ideas Have Consequences, Visions of Order) and his Southern Essays can be challenging and even maddening. Again, not for the timid — these essays require focus but are highly rewarding.  Certainly, some of the political stances are dated (at best).  Overlook these, and you’ll be highly rewarded for your efforts.

“Reading the South” will be an ongoing series about beginning an understanding of the South through literature, music, and art.

A reader wrote me this week inquiring about a number of things, and where to find good Southern writing was at the top of his list.  My answer was long and, I admit, a bit of a tirade.  However, he brings up a good point: where does one go to find good Southern writing?  And what qualifies as Southern writing, anyway?

The first thing one has to do is shake off the idea of “The South” as a monolith.  There are an infinite number of Souths, and we each experience them differently.  The man who operates a shrimp boat in Bayou le Batre has a specific South.  The dentist in the suburbs of Alpharetta has a South of his own, too.  A chemistry teacher in Chattanooga, a lawyer in Gulfport — all varied existenses in a mulitude of subcultures, but united by something we call the South.  But what is it?

In his seminal Mind of the South (stay with me now — this is where it gets deep), WJ Cash opens by asserting that there is “a profound coviction that the South is another land, sharply differentiated from the rest of the American nation, and exhibiting within itself a remarkable homogeneity.”  Simply, when Southerners identify themselves as Southerners, they are setting themselves in opposition to everything un-Southern.  We assume that the description alone carries with it a description of our values and even hints at our personalities.  Of course, Cash puts it better:

Nevertheless, if it can be said there are many Souths, the fact remains that there is also one South.  That is to say, it is easy to trace throughout the region…a fairly definite mental pattern, associated with a fairly definite social pattern — a complex of established relationships and habits of thought, sentiments, prejudices, standards and values, and associations of ideas.

In short, we are bound less by a common experience than a common idea of the South, and that idea is changing rapidly.  The South changes and is changing, and we change with it, if only imperceptibly.

So how do we meet Southerness head on?  How do we engage with it, grapple with it, and ultimately claim some understanding of it?  The answer is that we probably can’t, but we can damn well try.  We are an expressive and expansive people, and our art is the best place to start.  Here are a few places to begin reading the South as it stands, alive and breathing:

The Chattahoochee Review: a great journal with varied content, much of which is available online.  Of note is their “Podcasts” section, which contains interviews with authors, as well as lectures if you feel like making your commute educational.

Black Warrior Review: Experimental and definitely not just regional, BWR contains some highly innovative work.  Well worth checking out.

StorySouth: Self-Explanatory.  A great online hub for reading current authors.

The Louisiana Review: A much more regional thing.  Online content is scarce, but back issues are cheap.

Reading the South is an experiment.  It’s about working through what it means to be Southern and to be engaged with Southern arts and letters.  Let’s talk it out.  Tell me what you think.  We’re just getting warmed up.