True South: Travels Through a Land of White Columns, Black-Eyed Peas & Redneck Bars

by Jim Auchmutey (Editor)

Book by Auchmutey, Jim

198 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Jim Auchmutey is author of the new book "Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America," the companion volume to the Barbecue Nation exhibition he helped curate at the Atlanta History Center. An Atlanta native, he was an editor and reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for almost 30 years, specializing in stories about the South and its history and culture. He was twice named the Cox Newspaper chain's Writer of the Year and was honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, the Associated Press and the Sigma Delta Chi journalism society. He has co-authored two cookbooks, is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and has won awards for his food writing from the James Beard Foundation and the Association of Food Journalists. His previous book was "The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long Road to Forgiveness.," a story of race, religion and reconciliation set at Koinonia, the Christian community in southwest Georgia where Habitat for Humanity was born.

Reviews

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading a copy of this in my travels in Georgia. I couldn't finish so I luckily was able to find a used edition on amazon. This really brought back some memories of living in Florida growing up where I was born and raised. Made me want to go back and have some real southern cooking, minus the chitlins, of course. The book is nicely told stories by those of the region something hales from. I loved finding out the origination of many of the things I just took for granted like moon pies, cheerwine, etc. Really enjoyed this book and revisiting my childhood.

[Tammy]

Brought back a number of memories of things I grew up with and loved. Such a relief to finally read a book about the South that included so many different aspects instead of painting all of us with the "rich daddy/sorority sister/Scarlett O'Hara wannabe" brush.

Highly recommended!

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid snapshot look at southern culture, from deep in the heart of Texas to the periphery of Dixie. It's not meant to be exhaustive, but it gives a good cross-section of both the everyday accounts of people remembering trivial things like their favorite kinds of overalls they wore when children, to the more seismic changes in America for which the South was in many ways the main battle ground, literally and figuratively.

The best entry in my opinion is a Northern interloper's description of how he came to love country music and then set out to compile a list of the funniest lyrics he encountered in the genre (titles like "My Wife ran off with my best Friend and I still miss him," or "You're the Reason our Kids are ugly").

The book neither swerves nor solely dwells on festering wounds still left open and suppurating more than a century removed from slavery and sectarian bloodshed. It's a part of the story and so it's included.

The book's especially interesting as most of the entries seem to be written and compiled just before Bill Clinton took the White House, which naturally would have put the section on the pros and cons of the name "Bubba" in a different light. Writers like Pat Conroy had already granted the place an imprimatur (or reclaimed it from the days of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor) when "True South" was written, but entries like "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," or "The Firm," and of course "Forrest Gump," hadn't yet penetrated mass consciousness and done for the South what Robinson Jeffers would do for Big Sur.

The fascination, romanticism, and outright disdain and loathing with which the rest of the country regards the South is treated, but again, not at any great length, and that's for the best. This is good bathroom reading, or something to leave open on the coffee table to conceal that mountain of unpaid bills when company comes over. You might be a redneck if...

Recommended.