Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South

I had the privelege of reading Brown's work in the eleventh grade. It was recomended to me by a former History proffesor at West Point who was my American Studies instructor. While, as pointed out by some other reviews, the book is slow to read (such as other great authors such as Page Smith, and select works by Stephen Ambrose, it offers a vital and credible perspective into the society that we lost, in my opinion, when reconstruction began. I enjoyed the read (it took me two weeks) and found it enlightening and, while comprehensive and labyrinthian in references it is a populist perspectiveon the very elitist social environment in the pre-bellum South. Overall, I would reccomend this book to any intellectual, especially those young WASPs in the South who find their cultural influences constantly being bruised by hasty generalizations, who has an interest in the gentry class of the Old South. I would reccomend a parralel read with William Faulkner or other promenint Southern writers, such as Twain, as well.

Slavery was a major cause of the civil war, and yet most Southerners did not own slaves. This is a very telling fact and an interesting question. Southern Honor is an interesting look at the concept of Honor in the south and how it tied into the culture of the whole region and all classes. When Northerners attack the south for slavery, because of the concept of honor, it became not just an attack on the slave owners, or the rich southerners it was an attack on the whole region and culture. This is an important fact when looking at the causes of the civil war. I enjoyed reading this book, I learned a lot from it, and it helped to explain why many Southerners did what they did. This is an important book to read when studying the civil war or the history of the South.

When I purchased this book, I expected a topical history of the ways of the Old South. WRONG! This work is an in-depth sociological study of the way honor (and other areas of person) were perceived and displayed in that lost era. Not only is the exposition a shock for those who mourn for the Old South, but gives personal insight into the behavior of the region today. Excellent book - slow reading