A New History of the American South, edited by W Fitzhugh Brundage with Laura F Edwards and Jon F Sensbach, is a surprisingly coherent narrative told through 15 essays.

One advantage of having multiple historians each writing an essay on a specific time and perspective is the expertise each can bring to their specialization. While the writing styles are, as expected, varied they still manage to contribute to a nice overall history. This also allows a reader to read from cover to cover to gain a long view or to select specific essays that speak to their areas of interest. For the purpose of this review, I read straight through. While I am glad I did, I am probably one of those people who would have read select essays at first then gone back at some point to read the rest. And I think either approach would work well.

While this is an academic work, it is also quite accessible for any reader with an interest in southern history. Because of the chapters being self-contained essays, picking and choosing ones to read doesn't leave a reader wondering if they might have missed something in a previous chapter, as is often the case when picking a chapter out of a single author history.

This will certainly be of interest to historians who teach or research in the area. I also think this will be an excellent book for the informal history buffs who like to keep abreast of contemporary perspectives. I now fall more into the second category, and I anticipate revisiting a few of the essays in the future.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )