South to America

Summary

A reflective journey through the American South in which Perry, a Princeton scholar raised in Alabama, argues that the region is essential to understanding the moral and cultural shape of the entire nation. Moving from Appalachia and the Black Belt to Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas, she blends memoir, criticism, and history to challenge the framing of the South as a backward exception. The book reasserts the region as the crucible of American identity.