Although W.J. Cash (1900-1941) wrote only one book, The Mind of the South, before his untimely death in 1941, his work is recognized as one of the best single-volume histories of the American South ever published.

A native son of the Carolinas, W.J. Cash grew up with an intimate knowledge of the region's culture, society, and history. An aspiring writer, Cash first taught English after graduating from North Carolina's Wake Forest College, a career that fell short of his long-term literary ambitions. Cash then pursued an intermittent career as a journalist, honing his insights on the American South by working for a number of newspapers. Yet his failing health and high-strung temperament allowed him to work for only short periods before retreating to his parents' home to regain his mental and physical strength. In 1936, based on a series of articles that he had written for the nationally...