Although I am Southern by birth and personally lived the "southern experience" for at least a portion of my life, I still consider myself a student of Southern culture. And I always welcome the opportunity to learn more about the part of this country that I love best.
Recently, I discovered a book entitled simply "The South." Primarily intended as a reference book, it is one of eight volumes included in a set known as The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Studies. The set covers every geographic area of the country, and each volume contains something for everyone, regardless of which state you may call home. Each book contains resource material written by various authors who cover a variety of subject matter, ranging from architecture, art, ethnicity, and folklore, to food, language, literature, music and religion. The facts and the stories presented in "The South" allow researchers and readers alike to examine the heart, the soul, and the diversity of the residents of this historically significant geographic area.
As a researcher, I highly recommend The Greenwood Enclyclopedia of American Studies. And as a reader of books about the South, its culture and its people, I recommend the volume entitled "The South." As a southerner, it was within this book's 508 pages that I found exactly what Eudora Welty referred to as "a sense of place."
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