The Journal

Recommended Reading #4

People often ask me what to read next, and it’s always tough to answer. I just say “it depends.” Known as a guy who knows Southern books, they think I’ve read them all and know everything about the South. However, the vast number of books and articles on Southern topics is truly staggering. Any other collector will understand that I often find myself immersed in reading about a book or in the pursuit of finding it, more than in reading the book itself.

It was not so long ago that I knew hardly anything about what would become my life’s passion and pursuit. There was no one to recommend where to begin, and I had no inkling of what to search for. One day, I’ll share my initial research—many docs and my spreadsheet with names of historians, important figures, collectors, teachers, thinkers, publishers, or anyone associated with Southern history, literature, and culture.

To the recommendations. For a general survey on various aspects of the South, I always send people to the lists Abbeville Institute put together. Also, Dr. Clyde N. Wilson wrote a series of Southern Readers Guides.

Discovering the Journal of Southern History was an early milestone in my learning. I recommend the early issues—that’s where you’ll find the Giants. You could spend many years only reading those involved with the first issue published in February of 1935. I mean look at the Board and Editors (those in bold I highly recommend and will get their own essay in the future. Currently, I don’t know much about Dumond and Shyrock):

Philip M. Hamer, University of Tennessee

Dwight L. Dumond, University of Michigan

E. Merton Coulter, University of Georgia

Fletcher M. Green, Emory University

Thomas P. Abernethy, University of Virginia

William C. Binkley, Vanderbilt University

Richard H. Shryock, Duke University

Charles S. Sydnor, University of Mississippi

Wendell H. Stephenson, Louisiana State University

A favorite in 1.1 is “The Propaganda Literature of Confederate Prisons” by William B. Hesseltine (add him to your list). Don’t sleep on the book reviews—therein lie undiscovered volumes on the most obscure topics.

“A Journey Through the South in 1836: Diary of James D. Davidson” in 1.3 is a must-read. The first entry in the Diary about Cincinnati had me dying. We have his papers because they were preserved by his daughter. Around 80,000 documents make up the collection and span more than a hundred years.

Notice what he says about the South as a Virginian. Of Louisiana, he writes: "The Southern gentleman is an improvement upon the old Virginia gentleman. Young men in the South are taken by the hand and led into prosperity. In Va. they are kept back. The prejudices of the old prevent them patronizing the young. Not so in the South."

2.1 contains a foundational essay of Southern history: “What the South Has Done About Its History” by E. Merton Coulter. (THE historian of Georgia). Likewise, “Some Problems Involved in Writing the History of the Confederacy” by Charles W. Ramsdell in 2.2 is highly recommended. Ramsdell is another one of my top guys.

I wrote about Avery Craven previously, and his essay “Coming of the War Between the States: An Interpretation” in 2.3 is important in the historiography of the War.

For 2.4, I recommend “Walter Lynwood Fleming: Historian of Reconstruction” by Fletcher M. Green. You should be familiar with Fleming, if not….

You will find the above issues & more on the folkchain archive page. I plan to add more soon.