Recommended Books

The Essential Southern Library


The South has a four-hundred year tradition and culture. Our collective past cannot be defined by a four year struggle for independence, nor by historians and commentators with an anti-Southern agenda. Every Southerner should have a copy of the following books in their library or at least be familiar with the subject material, the authors, and the themes presented. These books define the South, the Southern tradition, Southern culture, and the Southern people. Select a category to see what our scholars have chosen as the essential titles for each theme.

Recommended Books

General Works

The Sectional Conflict and The War for Southern Independence

States Rights and the Original Constitution

Reconstruction

The Colonial South and the Early Federal Period

Plantations and Plain Folk

Southern Literature

Political and Social Commentary

Southern Culture

The New South