South to America–A New ‘Must-Read’

For a long while now, I have stopped trying to defend the South: the place of my birth, the place my ancesters settled shortly after the United States became a country and the place I have lived my entire life. Of course I knew that the South committed treason by seceding from the nation. I realized there was no legitimate ‘lost cause.’ I was not proud of the fact that the ancestors had owned a ‘few slaves.’ I was aware that my happy happy childhood memories exist iin part because I am white. But there was still something there that made me want to explain to people that the South was not ALL bad. Or was it?

Now, we have a new book that explores the complexities of the South from a Black woman’s perspective. It will be released January 25. Written by Imani Perry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and a Princeton University professor, the book is part memoir and part scholarly meditation. I can’t wait to read it. In fact, I’m calling Indigo Books right now to order a copy!!

Time says “In South to America, Perry shows readers that there is no one archetype of the American South…”

Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste, writes that the book is “an elegant meditation on the complexities of the Amercan South-by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.”