What is a good historical background read on the American South? And, related, for South Carolina?

by FishInABowl

I've been given a great opportunity to do research related to the above regions and I'd like to delve more into their respective history's as a way to gain some background. For what it's worth, the opportunity involves low-income communities, so anything historically-related that can speak to those communities in the above regional contexts will be even better. I've looked online and found the two volumes of "The American South: A History" by Cooper and Terrill which seems highly rated but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything else worthwhile (or less expensive! :) )

If there's a better place for a post of this type, please let me know!

Thanks so much!

fishinabowl

FishInABowl

Some books I'm attempting to look at as a way to get close to getting a decent (and well cited) background are:

  • "The Political Economy of Slavery: Studies in the Economy and Society of the Slave South" by Eugene D. Genovese (1988)
  • I found "After Slavery: Race, Labor, and Citizenship in the Reconstruction South" by Baker, Kelly, and Foner (2013) but don't know whether it's worth reading
  • "Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877" by Foner (2011) which definitely seems seminal.
Dubstripsquads

Howdy!

I'd be more than happy to recommend some books from a variety of areas up to and including the Civil Rights Era. I understand you're looking for context but in what Eras are you looking for specifically? Antebellum? The Civil War? Reconstruction or Later?

Also I highly recommend all three of the books you listed above, but just FYI they're some thick texts. Foner's Reconstruction alone is a heavy read.