Charles W Eagles

The Mind of the South: Fifty Years Later - Chancellor Porter L. Fortune Symposium in Southern History Series Charles W Eagles

Publisher Marketing: This probing collection of essays assesses the wide influence of W. J. Cash and the profound effect of his classic dissection of southern history. Perhaps more than any other historian, W. J. Cash revolutionized the interpretation of southern identity. In 1941, when he published "The Mind of the South," he exploded the correlated myths of the Cavalier South and the New South and gave historiography a new gauge for examining Dixie. In the half century since its publication, Cash's book has lain in the path of every historian of the South. Not all, however, have expressed unified opinions about him and his influence, though few can deny how in the past fifty years his indelible and authoritative work has shaped the writing of southern history. In "The Mind of the South Fifty Years Later" eleven scholars examine this classic study and assess its enduring importance. Bruce Clayton begins by discussing the biography of Cash and tracing his sources. In the subsequent five essays Cash is praised, evaluated, criticized, defended, classified, and acknowledged to be the lion in the crossroads of southern historiography.

Contributor Bio:  Eagles, Charles W Charles W. Eagles is a professor of history at the University of Mississippi. Contributor Bio:  Clayton, Bruce Bruce Clayton is a well-known survival expert, author of Life After Doomsday, Fallout Survival and Thinking About Survival, coauthor of Survival Books and Urban Alert, and former publisher of The Survivalist Directory. Dr. Clayton is a state-certified instructor of radiological defense techniques and fallout shelter management in California and has been trained in disaster shelter management and damage assessment by the American Red Cross. He is a former editor of INFO-RAY, the newsletter of the California Radiological Defense Officers' Association, and has been a contributing editor to Survive magazine, Survival Guide magazine and the Survival Tomorrow newsletter. Contributor Bio:  O'Brien, Michael Michael O'Brien is the author of AVENUE (Flood Editions, 2012), Sills: Selected Poems 1960-1999 (Salt Publishing, 2009) and SLEEPING AND WAKING (Flood Editions, 2007), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He lives in New York. Contributor Bio:  Burton, Orville Vernon Orville Vernon Burton, University Distinguished Teacher/Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the author or editor of many books including "The Age of Lincoln." He is the director of the Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science. Contributor Bio:  Doyle, Don H Don H. Doyle, McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, is author of "New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910". Contributor Bio:  Roark, James L James L. Roark is professor of history at Emory University. Contributor Bio:  Ayers, Edward L Edward L. Ayers is the President of the University of Richmond. He was educated at the University of Tennessee and Yale University, where he received his Ph. D. in American Studies. Previously Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, where he began teaching in 1980, Ayers was named National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Support of Education in 2003. His book, IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES: WAR IN THE HEART OF AMERICA, 1859-1863 (2003), won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished work on the history of the United States. THE PROMISE OF THE NEW SOUTH: LIFE AFTER RECONSTRUCTION (1992) won prizes for the best book on the history of American race relations and on the history of the American South. It was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He is the co-editor of THE OXFORD BOOK OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH (1997) and ALL OVER THE MAP: RETHINKING AMERICAN REGIONS (1996). The World Wide Web version of "The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War" was recognized by the American Historical Association as the best aid to the teaching of history. His latest book is WHAT CAUSED THE CIVIL WAR? REFLECTIONS ON THE SOUTH AND SOUTHERN HISTORY (2005). Contributor Bio:  Reed, Linda Linda Reed is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Houston, where she is also director of the African-American Studies Program. She is currently working on a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer. Contributor Bio:  Reed, John Shelton The noted scholar and essayist John Shelton Reed is William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina. His numerous books include "One South: An Ethnic Approach to Regional Culture"; "Southern Folk, Plain and Fancy"; and "Whistling Dixie: Dispatches from the South". He also serves as editor of the journal "Southern Cultures". He attends the Chapel of the Cross (Episcopal), in Chapel Hill. Contributor Bio:  Wyatt-Brown, Bertram Bertram Wyatt-Brown is Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History at the University of Florida. His books include "Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South" and "The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family".