Sphinx on the American Land: The Nineteenth-Century South in Comparative Perspective (Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History)

By Peter Kolchin

One reason that the South attracts so much interest is that its history inevitably involves big questions--continuity versus change, slavery and freedom, the meaning of "race," the formation of national identity, the struggle between local and centralized authority. Because these issues are central to human experience, southern history properly conceived is of more than regional interest. In A Sphinx on the American Land, Peter Kolchin explores three comparative frameworks for the study of the nineteenth-century South in an effort to nudge the subject away from provincialism and toward the kind of global concerns that are already transforming it into one of the most innovative fields of historical research.

The volume opens with a comparison between the South and the North, or what Kolchin terms the "un-South." This basic context, he explains, provides an essential backdrop for understanding the South; how one conceptualizes "southernness" has meaning only in terms of what it is not. Turning to the cohesion and variations among what he calls the "many Souths," Kolchin reminds us that there has never been one South or archetypal southerner. Internal distinctions--whether geographic, class, religious, or racial--ultimately raise the question of whether one can properly speak of "the" South at all.

Finally, Kolchin explores parallels between the South and regions outside the United States--or "other Souths." He considers a number of ways in which the South can be studied in a broad international setting, paying particular attention to the similarities and differences between the emancipation of southern slaves and Russian serfs. In an eloquent afterword, he ponders the nature and importance of comparative history.

Kolchin examines how scholars have approached each of his comparative frameworks and how they might do so in the future, making A Sphinx on the American Land at once a work of history and of historiography. Illustrating the ways in which southern history is also American history and world history, this elegant, profound volume proves Kolchin to be one of the stellar southern historians of his generation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080712866X
• ISBN13: 9780807128664
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures Rock!

Welcome to another instalment of the Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures. This year's lectures are by Peter Kolchin, best known for his comparison of American slavery and Russian serfdom. While not as illuminating as previous lecturers Eric Foner (Nothing but Freedom) or Drew Gilpin Faust (The Creation of Confederate Nationalism), Kolchin has provided a fascinating introduction into the historiography of the American South. His very readable lectures are extensively documented, giving the reader an introduction into the latest historiography of the region. Kolchin's first lecture deals with comparisons between the North and the South. How much did the regions differ and how much did they have in common? Despite the many debates American historians have had over the last century the answer to this is actually rather simple. They differed enough to fight a civil war, but had enough in common not to try to fight a second. Kolchin correctly argues that slavery marked an essential difference between the two regions. He is very acute in how slavery created a distinct and ultimately weaker Southern economy. Although southern growth rates in the decades before the civil war was higher than that of the North, the growth rate in every Southern subregion was slower than in every Northern subregion. The reason for the higher growth rate was that more Southerners moved to the richest Southern region. Likewise, in urbanization, industrialization, mechanization and education the South was falling further behind the North.Kolchin's second lecture looks at the Many Souths within the South. What is a typical southern region? For certain purposes, tiny Delaware or the Mississippi Delta can serve as a useful example. Kolchin also looks at comparisons within time, over gender, and over age. He discusses the question of popular support for the Confederacy. Given that few of the third of the population that were slaves supported secession, Kolchin points out that only in Texas did secession have the support of a majority of the population. By contrast the much maligned Reconstruction governments were able to win, for a time, majority support. Kolchin goes on to discuss the differences between and within freedpeople, ex-slaveholders and Northerners. He also points out how white Southern Republicans consisted of ex-Whig slaveholders leaders and ex-Democrat yeoman unionist voters. Finally Kolchin's third lecture looks at "other souths." He notes the Elkins debate over whether slaves were treated better in Latin America than in the American South. He looks at the construction of Confederate Nationalism in context. In a way the essence of Southern nationalism, like that of American nationalism, and soviet nationalism, was loyalty to an idea, as opposed to language or religion. Jews and immigrant Catholics could be welcomed to the South, as long as they supported the ideology of slavery. Kolchin goes on to suggest that even if the South had been victorio