A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle

by Nancy French

A columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News , Nancy French blends her hilarious fish-out-of-water tale with humorous observations about the South's obsession with everything from church attendance to the blue-state notion that red staters think as slowly as they speak.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Nancy French is author of the 2025 Evangelical Memoir of the Year, GHOSTED: an AMERICAN STORY. She has also collaborated on multiple books for celebrities - six of which made the New York Times best seller list. She has conducted a multi-year journalistic investigation, written commentary, and published for the nation’s most prominent newspapers and magazines.

She lives in Chicago with her husband – journalist David French – and family.

Reviews

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review forthcoming--suffice it to say Nancy French is hilarious, insightful, and incisive. Just some quotes to support the case:

"The reason the Southern birth rate is higher than the Northern birth rate
is that it takes Southerners three times as long to say, 'Stop that!'".

"That's the thing about condescension. You don't have to actually be smarter than others to use it as a conversational tool; you must just have the willingness to elevate yourself while putting down others. This may not be the healthiest way to deal with other people, but I've found it's a lot easier than actually taking a hard look at oneself."

"In fact, fads take hold so quickly in the evangelical world that you can to almost any evangelical church and find people with "The Purpose Driven Life" tucked under arms or in purses. And when we had children and found ourselves in disagreement with the trendy Christian parenting book, we were reduced to the embarrassing admission that we weren't, in fact, "Growing Kids God's Way". In the early 90s, the fashion was to replace old hymnals with overhead projection screens to spare the congregation the effort of picking up the book and having to turn the pages--in ten years, the plan is roll people in and out of the church on sleeper sofas and give them straws with Communion so they won't ever have to sit upright."

May 2017: Still laugh out loud, say "amen" aloud, and am chronically disposed to reading sections of interest, humor, and "ain't that the truth" to my family! Living so very near to her first pageant upset makes it all the better! Simply can't wait for my Book Club to discuss it--road trip to Paris, TN anyone?

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son, Jason, gave me this book because this author was born and raised in Paris, TN, where he now lives. She writes about her childhood and a lot of the traditions in her home town, and he thought it would be interesting to me. It was, in fact, and I enjoyed this humorous tale of a young woman raised as a conservative Christian who ends up living in Manhattan, Ithaca, NY, and Philadelphia - places where most of the people she met treated her like she had some kind of disease (being a conservative and a Christian). My favorite part was the childbearing. Her first child was born in Kentucky at a Bapitst hospital where the doctor asked if he could pray over her baby and ask for God's blessing on him. Then, her second child was born in Ithaca, where they did not believe in epidurals,disposable diapers, or pacifiers - much less God! She handles it all with good humor and writes a delightful book.

[Heather Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't the type of book I'd normally pick up, yet I found myself laughing with each chapter. Nancy truly has a gift for words. It doesn't matter where you live, or what your political and religious beliefs are, this book will make you smile. As a Texan who works in New York and lives in California, I could totally relate to just about everything Nancy wrote - her grocery store and garbage dump experience, her mother's cardboard box collecting obsession. It's a fun read.

[Renee Macneil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A conservative friend of mine gave this to me to read because her friend wrote it. It is actually an interesting first person account of how conservatives view liberals.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got on to this book recently when Bill Kristol was suggesting the author's husband (or someone like him) as a darkhorse presidential candidate. I did not realize that Nancy French was a writer, but he is a good one. She writes of what it was like to be a southerner who spend many of her early married years in Philadelphia and New York City. She is unfailingly polite but still manages to skewer urban progressives for their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. At the same time, she is not afraid to poke fun at herself while still holding up the ideals of liberty, democracy, and freedom of religion. As someone who certainly has more in common with your typical southerner than your typical urbanite, I appreciated the ways in which she maneuvered dangerous social shoals with dignity and grace. So she's not nearly as acerbic as Florence King, but she is surely the better for it.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous memoir by a woman who grew up in Paris, Tennessee. Then she trades in for a new life up North where her husband gets a job in a law firm. She has a hard time adjusting to the liberal beliefs of the people she met in the cities where they lived - New York City and Philadelphia. Most of her acquaintances regarded her evangelical beliefs with suspicion. I related to her experiences from the opposite direction - a liberal who moved to the South. I know Texas is not "the South", but to someone who has lived in Colorado and Washington, it certainly seems like it. My son feels the same way. Attitudes are not what we have been arouond before.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have lived my entire life in a "Red State" and even considering that Nancy French's essays are humorous and perhaps exaggerated a bit, I loved the comparisions between the "blue and red states" It is hard for me to wrap my mind around some of the attitudes she described. If you are as uninformed on the attitudes of the democrats of the United States as me, you should take a peak at Nancy French's Red State of mind.

[Emily Rhoads · Rating 4 out of 5]

As it is written by a woman from my hometown of Paris, TN, this book took pages right out of my high school experience. I thought it was hilarious. It does a good job at showing the big city from a small town girl's perspective.

To the liberals hating on it because she's right wing... it's satire. Pick your battles and get the hell over it.

[Drusilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas gift from Mom - Having grown up in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and, as an adult, having moved to Virginia, I was looking forward to reading this book.

French grew up in Tennessee and moved to NY and Philadelphia eventually moving back to the South. She tried to be funny in her stories and tried to hard. I did not care for her exaggeration and style of writing.

[Madam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nancy French is one of those right-wing Christian Republicans who thinks she's striking a blow for smart, funny conservatives (yeah, I know, an oxymoron). All she demonstrates is that she's a smug, self-righteous asshat.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have lived in the south, you will love this book! I loved it so much I emailed the author and she actually emailed me back! I couldnt believe it. Anyway, this book is hilarious, and since she is from TN I could relate to most of the book.

[Judi Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and funny - a great find for $3 at Big Lots so it did not have high expectations. We live just North of Paris TN and could relate to most aspects. My husband and I read this one outloud over dinner and it was a good choice.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laugh-out-loud funny. A refreshing, honest look at how different areas of the country stereotype each other. Anyone who's ever been transplanted from a small town to a city can relate to the learning curve.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Dad for Christmas.

[Cc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who appreciates the cultural differences between rural and urban, southeast and northeast, old school and new school would like this book.

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purchased the book at Big Lots cheap. Boring, too much re southern baptist stuff. boring

[Cindy Kester · Rating 2 out of 5]

It showed the different ways things are viewed depending on what part of the country you live in. It was a fun read while vacationing in the south.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's style reminded me a little of Celia Rivenbark, whose humor I also enjoyed.

I'm glad I read this book. It was fun.

[Lindee Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having graduated in 1974 from the same Nashville college the author attended (David Lipscomb, now Lipscomb University), I can so relate to Nancy’s stories. Of course, times were different in 1970 when I arrived on campus from “the North (Ohio),” and talk among the Southerners was about “the war,” but it wasn’t the one raging in Vietnam. No, it was the CIVIL war!

For the most part, I did fine with the drawl until a professor spelled something. “Aaaaah” and “Waaaah” for “i” and “y” stumped me. And, in chemistry class, “Gay Lussix” turned out to be “Gay-Lussac” (pronounced more like “ghee luSAUCK” when not spoken in Southernese).

Nancy’s tale of serving drinks in a Belle Meade restaurant was similar to mine when I worked at the Pancake Man in downtown Nashville one summer. The bartender took pity on my lack of alcoholic beverage knowledge and arranged the drinks and garnishes so I would be able to serve the correct one to the correct guest. The hostess was flummoxed by my lack of recognition of the famous Grand Ole Opry stars seated at my tables. (This was pre-Opryland.) Even when she told me who they were I still didn't know most of them.

It was fascinating to see the North from a Southerner's perspective, especially someone with a similar background to me. I do have to admit that I would probably be equally out of place in NYC and Philadelphia. I laughed out loud at some of her stories. It was a great read.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read and hear a lot from David French. This was written by his wife. Time has not been kind to the book. It seems dated and out of touch now. French is a punchy writer, but it comes off poorly overall. Lots has changed since its publication in 2006. She probably has, too.

[Tori]

2008- Really didn't like that much. Maybe because I'm from a blue state?