Magnolias Without Moonlight: The American South from Regional Confederacy to National Integration

This book is a series of essays about the South. Perhaps more than any other region of the country, the South has been described by images of a world that never was. From 'Gone With the Wind' to the images of little children being escorted into school by soldiers the images of the South have told a story of their own that is no more true than the story of the west as depicted by John Wayne, or the New Jersey shown in the Sopranos. These ten essays discuss various aspects of the south that may be different than just the images present. The essays vary from an analysis of violence in the the South to the coming together of Americans after 9/11. The most interesting of the essays to me (from Louisiana) is the analysis of politics in the South as practiced by Johnson, Clinton, George W. Bush and others. The result of course is the change in the south from solidly Democratic to solidly Republican. Dr. Hackney is a historial specializing in the South, although he is not Southern. It makes for a slightly different view.