This one-stop introduction to the American South brings together key readings in southern history, from the region's colonial beginnings to the present. Drawing together essential works in the field - selected and introduced by a range of cutting-edge scholars - The American South is the ideal textbook for undergraduates and graduate students in American Studies and History. Explores key themes in southern history: * the South from colonial beginnings through the American Revolution * the origins and evolving character of American slavery* life in the antebellum South o the roots, course and consequences of the American Civil War * emancipation, Reconstruction and the coming of the New South * the rise, nature and ultimate defeat of southern segregation * the inter-dynamics of race, class and gender in the cultural and material development of the region * current trends of the American South within a global context.