A Companion to the American South surveys and evaluates the most important and innovative writing on the entire sweep of the history of the southern United States.* Contains 29 original essays by leading experts in American Southern history.* Covers the entire sweep of Southern history, including slavery, politics, the Civil War, race relations, religion, and women's history.* Surveys and evaluates the best scholarship on every important era and topic.* Summarizes current debates and anticipates future concerns.

List of Contributors.Preface.Part I: the Colonial South.1. The First Southerners: Indians of the Early South (Amy turnerBushnell).2. Spanish and French Exploration and Colonization (Paul E.Hoffman).3. The English Colonial South to 1750 (Cynthia A. Kierner).4. The Origins of Slavery. 1619-1808 (Betty Wood).5. Understanding the South in the Revolutionary Era, 1750--1789(Ira D. Gruber).Part II: The Antebellum South.6. The South in the New Nation, 1790-1824. (Daniel S.Dupre).7. The Plantation Economy (Mark M. Smith).8. The Maturation of Slave Society and Culture (Stephanie J.Shaw).9. Plain Folk Yeomanry in the Antebellum South (Samuel C. Hyde,Jr.).10. Religion in the Pre-Civil War South (Randy J. Sparks).11. Politics in the Antebellum South (Daniel W, Crofts).12. Women in the Old South (Sally G. McMillen).13. Intellectual and Cultural History of the Old South (DavidMoltke-Hansen).Part III: Civil War and Reconstruction.14. Sectionalism and the Secession Crisis (Mary A.DeCredico).15. The Civil War: Military and Political Aspects along withSocial, Religious, Gender, and Salve Perspectives (George C.Rable).16. Emancipation and Its Consequences (Larua F. Edwards).17. Political Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (Michael W.Fitzgerald).18. Economic Consequences of the Civil War and Reconstruction(Joseph P. Reidy).Part IV: The New South.19. Southern Politics in the Age of Populism and Progressivism:A Historiographical essay (Samuel L. Webb).20. The Rise of Jim Crow, 1880-1920 (James Beeby and Donald G.Nieman).21. Women in the Post-Civil War South (Elizabeth HayesTurner).22. The Discovery of Appalachia: regional Revisionism asScholarly Renaissance (John C. Inscoe).23. Religion in the American South Since the Civil War (PaulHarvey).Part V: The Modern South.24. Southern Environmental History (Mart A. Stewart).25. Labor Relations in the Industrializing South (DanielLetwin).26. The Impact of the New Deal and World War II on the South(Pamela Tyler).27. The Civil Rights Movement (Charles W. Eagles).28. the Rise of the Sunbelt: Urbanization and Industrialization(David R. Goldfield).29. The Transformation of Southern Politics, 1954 to the Present(Wayne Flynt).Index.