Hi! I'm European and I'm seeking literature to get an understanding of the culture and mindsets in the US around the civil war. I am looking for non-fiction books that are -- pro-slavery-- and also books published in the confederacy in generally, and other recommendations anyone might have. Books that represent extremist opinions all over the political and religious dimensions are also very welcomed
I think it would be worthwhile to start with some of the secondary literature to get a good sense of the context for what these people were arguing.
Secondary Sources
Drew Gilpin Faust, The Ideology of Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Antebellum South
Charles Irons, The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Antebellum Virginia
Kenneth Greenberg, Masters and Statesmen: The Political Culture of American Slavery
J. Mills Thornton, Power and Politics in a Slave Society: Alabama: 1800 - 1860
William J. Cooper, Liberty and Slavery: Southern Politics to 1860
Adam Tate, Conservatism and Southern Intellectuals, 1789 - 1861
Manisha Sinha, The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina
Lacy Ford, Jr., Deliver us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South
Lacy Ford, Jr., Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800 - 1860
Stephanie McCurrie, Masters of Small Worlds: Yeoman Households, Gender Relations, and the Political Culture of the Antebellum South Carolina Low Country
Eric Walther, The Fire-Eaters
Bertramm Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South
James Oakes, The Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders
David Ericson, The Debate Over Slavery: Antislavery and Proslavery Liberalism in Antebellum America
You will also be able to find several primary sources. 19th century prose is not always the most readable, but it's available. They are by and large available in public domain in PDF form, or otherwise reproduced on the web. Others have been collected and published.
Primary Sources
Thomas Roderick Dew, "An Essay on Slavery," 1849
Carol Bleser, ed. Secret and Sacred: The Diaries of James Henry Hammond
George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South, or, the Failure of Free Society, 1854
George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters, 1857
For theological perspectives, look at the writings of Charles Hodge, Robert Lewis Dabney, and James Henley Thornwell
There are several works by William Gilmore Simms available