Origins of the New South, 1877–1913: A History of the South

C. Vann Woodward

LSU Press, Aug 1, 1981 - History - 672 pages

Winner of the Bancroft Prize

After more than two decades, Origins of the New South is still recognized both as a classic in regional historiography and as the most perceptive account yet written on the period which spawned the New South.

Historian Sheldon Hackney recently summed it up this way:
“The pyramid still stands. Origins of the New South has survived relatively untarnished through twenty years of productive scholarship, including the eras of consensus and of the new radicalism. . . . Woodward recognizes both the likelihood of failure and the necessity of struggle. It is this profound ambiguity which makes his work so interesting. Like the myth of Sisyphus, Origins of the New South still speaks to our condition.”

This enlarged edition contains a new preface by the author and a critical essay on recent works by Charles B. Dew.

Contents

• THE REDEEMERS: 1
• THE FORKED ROAD TO REUNION 28: 47
• THE LEGACY OF RECONSTRUCTION: 51
• PROCRUSTEAN BEDFELLOWS 2: 75
• THE INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION: 107
• THE DIVIDED MIND OF THE NEW SOUTH: 142
• THE UNREDEEMED FARMER: 175
• MUDSILLS AND BOTTOM RAILS: 205
• SOUTHERN POPULISM: 235
• REVOLT AGAINST THE EAST: 264
• THE COLONIAL ECONOMY: 291
• THE MISSISSIPPI PLAN AS THE AMERICAN WAY: 321
• THE ATLANTA COMPROMISE: 350
• PROGRESSIVISMFOR WHITES ONLY: 369
• PHILANTHROPY AND THE FORGOTTEN MAN: 396
• BONDS OF MIND AND SPIRIT: 429
• THE RETURN OF THE SOUTH: 456
• CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES: 482
• CRITICAL ESSAY ON RECENT WORKS by Charles B Dew: 517
• INDEX: 629

About the author

C. Vann Woodward is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University. A native of Arkansas, he earned his under-graduate degree at Emory University. He holds M.A. degrees from Columbia University and Oxford University and the Ph.D. degree from the University of North Carolina. He has served as president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Southern Historical Association. He won the Bancroft Prize for this book in 1952 and the Sydnor Award for The Burden of Southern History in 1962. He was a recipient of the National Institute of Arts and Letters Literary Award in 1954. Among his other books are Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, and Reunion and Reaction.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Origins of the New South, 1877–1913: A History of the South; A History of the South
• Author: C. Vann Woodward
• Edition: reprint, revised
• Publisher: LSU Press, 1981
• ISBN: 0807100196, 9780807100196
• Length: 672 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)