Defending Dixie is a selection from Dr. Clyde Wilson's voluminous writings about the South---past, present, and future---over a period of more than thirty years. The admiring view of Dixie presented here is rare at the present day. Dr. Wilson writes from a belief that the South is a living and long-lasting reality that continues to offer a valuable alternative vision to Americans of the 21st century. More importantly, as he says of Dixie, "there are plenty of good people who love her still."
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Editorial Reviews
Review
...it would be both wise and chastening to read this entire masterly volume, which presents a rare and enlightened view of both our perils and our opportunities.
--Otto Scott -- The Compass
...the compelling quality of these essays speaks broadly to the most vital issues of our national identity and history ... a book that any American could read with profit and pleasure. And I see it as the ideal gift for any young person perplexed by what the late Andrew Lytle called "the present confusion."
--J.O. Tate -- Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture
Professor Wilson is an obstreperous soldier in the great Jacobin wars that have plagued the nation.... The book succeeds magnificently ... must reading for every American interested in the true principles and virtues of republicanism.
Robert C. Cheeks -- Human Events
The range of topics that Wilson covers here is impressive, and he invariably has something interesting to say.... This volume of essays ... is something to celebrate.
--Thomas E. Woods, Jr. -- The American Conservative
This generous collection of Clyde Wilson's essays and reviews, a publishing event that should have occurred long ago, places him on the same level with all the unreconstructed greats in modern Southern letters: Donald Davidson, Andrew Lytle, Frank L. Owsley, Richard Weaver, and M.E. Bradford.
--Joe Scotchie, editor of The Paleoconservatives -- author
--Otto Scott -- The Compass
...the compelling quality of these essays speaks broadly to the most vital issues of our national identity and history ... a book that any American could read with profit and pleasure. And I see it as the ideal gift for any young person perplexed by what the late Andrew Lytle called "the present confusion."
--J.O. Tate -- Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture
Professor Wilson is an obstreperous soldier in the great Jacobin wars that have plagued the nation.... The book succeeds magnificently ... must reading for every American interested in the true principles and virtues of republicanism.
Robert C. Cheeks -- Human Events
The range of topics that Wilson covers here is impressive, and he invariably has something interesting to say.... This volume of essays ... is something to celebrate.
--Thomas E. Woods, Jr. -- The American Conservative
This generous collection of Clyde Wilson's essays and reviews, a publishing event that should have occurred long ago, places him on the same level with all the unreconstructed greats in modern Southern letters: Donald Davidson, Andrew Lytle, Frank L. Owsley, Richard Weaver, and M.E. Bradford.
--Joe Scotchie, editor of The Paleoconservatives -- author
From the Back Cover
Wilson "is the last pterodactyl, soaring close to the sun, casting a long, cold shadow over the politically correct landscape. This volume ... provides Wilson's growing readership with more of his observations on an astonishing variety of subjects ... worried over by a mind as precise and expansive as an encyclopedia.... The importance of this book lies in its originality, which derives from the operation of Clyde Wilson's creative intellect on disparate and wide-ranging bodies of knowledge. These are the same old pre-occupations given new life and meaning by a real mind---as opposed to what passes for minds in the current intellectual establishment. The book is a joy to read for one more reason: its clear and imaginative prose. Most historians write like sociologists.... Wilson writes like a good novelist.... Defending Dixie is the kind of book whose prose you can read for sheer pleasure." --From the Introduction by Thomas H. Landess
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential,
By
This review is from: Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture (Hardcover)
Ths is essential reading for anyone from the South (it would not hurt Northerners either)who desires insight into their culture. The book reviews alone give one a large stack of additional reading material(I know Amazon should be pleased, for I have purchased at least three or four books based on Dr. Wilson's reviews thus far).
Another plus is that these essays and reviews are short, ranging from one to seven pages, which allows the reader to sit back and chew on what has been said before moving to the next bite. Being a collection of essays and book reviews spanning nearly 25 years, one will notice some repetition. I say, "Anything worth saying once is worth saying again." For those of like mind, these essays will encourage, for those of a contrary disposition, I challenge you to read at least the first 150 pages. Then let us reason together.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating collection of essays,
By E. J. (Shenandoah Valley) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture (Hardcover)
"Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture" is a fascinating collection of essays from Clyde Wilson. I can say 'fascinating' truthfully because Wilson's writing is actually enjoyable to read, despite the fact that it is nonfiction. The essays are grouped by content into chapters including "The War: My Myth or Yours" (the content of that chapter is obvious), "The Bloody Banner: Long May It Wave" (about the Confederate flag, and including firsthand information about the late flag battle in South Carolina), "The Other Southerners" (a discussion on slavery, black Confederates, and race relations), "The Agrarian Vision" (about agrarianism as espoused by the Twelve Southerners of "I'll Take My Stand" as well as the belief and practice of later agrarians), and "In Justice to So Fine a Country," which is a catchall bin including essays such as "Confederate Rainbow" (about Catholic and Jewish Confederates), "What to Say About Dixie?" (the South in general), "Confessions of a Neo-Confederate" (a title which Wilson does not appreciate, as he explains in his source notes), and an unusual discussion on tobacco.
"Defending Dixie" has only one real fault: an overly harsh view of the Puritans. The early Puritans who were serious about their Christianity were quite different from their "Yankee," rather than true Puritan, descendents. Where New England went wrong is something that readers will need to investigate further: some argue that its problem was that it continued wanting to be a "city on a hill" after it had deserted the only hill worth standing on.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Defending Dixie--Essays in Southern History and Culture,
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This review is from: Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture (Hardcover)
During recent years, Dr. Clyde Wilson, a professor at the Unviersity of South Carolina, has written numerous essays regarding the Southern states--both contemporary and antebellum. These essays represent his efforts to correct the traditional (northern) versions of Southern society and culture with historical facts.
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