Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South

For anyone searching for indepth studies of the postwar American South, this is absolutely it. Wilkie brings the keen eye of a child of the South to the descriptions of life in his home town, county, state and region, and uses his journalist's skills to make it all vibrant and immediate to readers of any geographic locale. He does not pull punches in his frank descriptions of what was true in the South's postwar decades, nor does he excuse his own participations and prejudices as he passes through his own changes on a long journey to understanding the nation's necessary reassessments of civil rights and collective wrongs. While it helps to have a prior knowledge of the Civil Rights movement in this country, and a sense of how the Dixiecrats became Republicans, this book is accessible to any reader of American history and social change.

Having been born in Mississippi and having defected to the West at the age of 23, I picked up Wilke's book to get in touch with my "Southern roots". Wilke's account of his roots and his involvement with the civil rights movement is more than any of my high school and college history books could ever explain. Progressive Curtis Wilke made me realize I should be proud of my heritage but also aghast at what caused all of these atrocities and racist views. The South's dirty laundry is something that needs to be acknowledged in order to overcome the past.

Curtis Wilkie's Dixie is described as a "personal odyssey"--that it is. It is a terrific account of growing up in the Old South and being a part of the making of the New South. It is howlingly funny in parts and chillingly thoughtful and full of insight. Any person northerner or southerner will find this book rewazrding.