Dixie Rising: How the South Is Shaping American Values, Politics, and Culture

by Peter Applebome

In “one of the best portrayals of the South in years” (Washington Post), the Atlanta bureau chief of the New York Times travels from catfish farms and neo-Confederate gatherings to casinos and country music festivals and examines the reasons behind the region’s growing influence. Index.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, High School, Sociology, American History

416 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 1996

Reviews

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting!! Very thorough

[Patrick Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty prescient book written more than 20 years ago. The theory of the book was that with the rise of the ``New South,'' the nation has come to resemble the region rather than the reverse. Applebome saw the south and country as becoming a place that's bitterly antigovernment and fiercely individualistic, where race is a constant subtext to daily life, and God and guns run through public discourse like an electric current. In many parts of the country this is spot on. Applebome argued the South's obsession with states' rights and the elevation of Christian Right values from radical fringe to political mainstream, would spread to the nation as well. He speaks of Wallace, Duke and Gingrich and other men of the South and there message. It's a decent read and interesting to see how the author was aware o the train coming down the track that caught many by surprise.

[Ryan]

A fascinating, if somewhat dated, exploration of what, exactly, makes the South "The South." Mostly a political history, but very enlightening, full of really fun (and sometimes horrifying) anecdotes, the almost 400 page book is a pretty quick read. Each chapter is an examination of a particular place in the South, and how that place embodies some past trauma or event, or is representative of the "New South," the emerging (at that time; mostly emerged now) economic powerhouse of urbanized and liberalized metroplosises, and de facto political segregation along new class (read: urban vs. suburban) lines. Really, really interesting stuff.

[Agatha Donkar Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hampered by being out of date -- it was published in 1996 -- and by the author's occasionally smug, self-satisfied, look-how-progressive-I-am-for-loving-the-South-even-though-I-was-not-born-there tone of voice. There's some good stuff buried in it, but Blue Dixie is a better look at Southern politics and any number of books are better looks at Southern culture.

[Emila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently re-read this book after reading it first as a sophomore in college. It made a dent in my thinking then, and although somewhat dated today, it is still worth a read. It provides a good history of more recent Southern politics, and culture in general.
PS: Raleigh shout-out re: the New South.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to argue with his point.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I recall, not a bad book. Would be interesting to revisit it to see how informative it is now.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many of the people who reviewed the book ... I reread it after years of moving my copy of the book from place to place. It does seem dated. Still, it holds a place in my heart.

[Barb Cherem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not an easy book to read as it was describing twenty years earlier and of course the book itself is twenty years old, so a bit of a time warp. Many of the cities discussed throughout the south have changed greatly yet again. What I read seemed pretty fascinating though in the history of some of these areas. Attitudes and history and values were well described and made sensible.