SOURCE: Howell, Kenneth Wayne. “Dixie Historiography Unchained: Old South, New South, or No South?” Southern Studies 7, no. 4 (1996): 21-52.

In the following excerpt, Howell summarizes modern historical assessments of the New South, focusing on such themes as Southern distinctiveness, identity, industrialization, economics, populism, and race relations.

The history of the New South is a diverse and ever growing field of study that continues to capture the attention of scholars and laymen alike.¹ Historians have labored diligently to explain why the South seems to be distinctively different from the rest of the United States. In their efforts to describe these differences, scholars have established an elaborate body of literature which surveys Southern history from colonial times through the twentieth century. Modern scholars face certain common issues and problems in their quest to define the New South. The most basic issue that writers of Southern history confront is “What is the...