Does the South Exist? “A land still fought-for, even in retreat.”

 

A Review of The Idea of The American South, 1920-1941, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979) by Michael O’Brien.

I have an invitation to extend to Michael O’Brien, the British author of The Idea of the American South, 1920-1941. At his convenience, I would like Mr. O’Brien to accompany me to a small establishment (one of those notorious Southern “fighting and drinking clubs”) known as “Frank’s” in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, on the banks of the James River. We must go on a Saturday night to ensure a full house and high spirits. I shall escort Mr. O’Brien into the building and beg the attention of the revelers. Then I shall defer to Mr. O’Brien so that he may announce to the assembled farmhands and blue-collar workers the underlying thesis of his book: There is no South. After that, Mr. O’Brien must fend for himself, for by the time his words have taken hold, I intend to be a good way down the road to Newport News.

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