Customer Reviews

Redneck Nation: How the South Really Won the War

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I loved this book! Michael Graham skewers everyone from radical feminists to radical Christians to radical NASCAR fans (and lots of folks in between) with his razor sharp wit.

I don't know if the South can really be held responsible for all the wacky things going on in this country today. Maybe we can just chalk some of it up to basic human stupidty. But if you've ever felt a little queasy while listening to someone talk about last night's "Survivor" episode...if you've ever wondered how educated adults can gaze upon an art masterpiece and be offended...or if you've ever despaired over the darker side of human nature that gives us racism and all other manners of intolerance, you'll enjoy this read.

In spite of the comic presentation, a book like this should make us take a hard look at ourselves and say "I'm going to stop this idiotic behavior." We all know that's not going to happen, but if Mr. Graham's points are completely lost on you, then in the immortal words of Jeff Foxworthy, you might be a redneck!

It has been some time since I first read this book (about three years), and after re-reading it, I found it just as well-written and entertaining, but was even more baffled about the right-wing tendencies of its author.

Essentially, the thesis of the book is as follows: Michael Graham, a southerner, always thought that the North was a place where good ole boy politickin' was abhorred, intellectualism is celebrated, and idiocy was absent. But after living there and observing Northerners like me (although I live in Tennessee as the profile says, I was born and raised in Chicago), he has concluded that the general lunacy that is commonplace in the South is actually commonplace everywhere, Northerners just don't realize it or admit it if they do.

Good premise because I agree wholeheartedly, though I do have to believe that this is more prevalent down south, having lived here for six years and counting and finding stereotypes reinforced everywhere. But anyway, the book itself goes beyond the premise to a much deeper and effective arguement, and that is the demise of intellectualism in the country as a whole is not something to be celebrated or treated lightly. He consistently, and hilariously, points out example after example of things that are thought of as trivial, or not representative of the status quo, being just the opposite. People like to think that diminishing social standards and scary addictions to pop culture trash are not really that bad, that they are just little guilty pleasures. Like Graham, I am very troubled by that notion, and have never understood why the intellectual in this country is mocked and admonished, rather than thought highly of.

Graham touches on this as well when he says that the root of Southern anger at the North lies in the fact that not only do Southerners know that Northerners think of themselves as superior and more intelligent, but that Southerners often suspect that the "Yankeeboys" are right, although they'll never admit it. He touches on the idiocy of many fundamentalist Southern religious groups, where he produces one of my favorite quotes about groups like that which is, "In the South, the true measure of devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ is to be a complete and utter idiot on his behalf."

In the end, I really enjoyed the main points of the book, but did not appreciate how Graham framed the context, which in some instances morphes into a right-wing slant, with rants on extreme multiculturalism and school choice. But what really is odd, the previous sentence nonwithstanding, Graham comes of as fairly moderate in this book, politically speaking. All of the values he champions in this book, like the praise of the intellectual, his anger at the rejection of reason, evidence and science in favor of "my way or the highway", his admonishment of extreme religion and faith as the guiding forces in life, and his bemoaning of decisions and appointments made through friendship and back-slapping relationships instead of by quantifiable results (among other examples in the book), are all thoroughly rejected in the neoconservative power we have today in America. And while Graham tries to be fairly moderate in the book, I have visited his website frequently and listened to his show a few times and he is very much a supporter of modern conservativism. That just makes me wonder why, being that he identifies himself with a group that has made no secret of championing what Graham says he hates most.

All in all though, a very effective book and can still be enjoyed by liberals who appreciate a well-written and defended conservative viewpoint, although they might not always agree.

Michael Graham - a radio talk-show host and former PR guy for the Republican Party - obviously wants to follow in the footsteps of HL Mencken, Dennis Miller, and Michael Moore as an acid-penned critic of "redneck" Southern culture. Like these gentlemen, Graham seems to believe that if you can't say something nasty about other people, then you shouldn't say anything at all. Graham grew up in a tiny rural village in South Carolina and, to put it politely, he hated it. This book is filled with every imaginable put-down of white, native-born Southerners. If you read this book you'll get the impression that Southern culture is responsible for everything from the Bubonic Plague to crabgrass in your lawn. And, most of Graham's comments contain nothing that most Southerners (and non-Southerners) haven't heard before - Southerners are still refighting the Civil War, they're racist and inbred, they don't like "book learnin" and despise intellectuals, etc. Graham's one unique twist on this tiresome refrain is that the South's backward, ignorant "redneck" ideas have swept the nation - he's as contemptuous of Northern yuppies and California academics as he is of his native region. According to Graham, the South has "won" the Civil War and Civil Rights battles by successfully exporting its racism, segregation, anti-intellectual beliefs, and "irrational" religious beliefs to the rest of the nation. For proof, he offers examples such as NASCAR (which, Graham announces with horror, is now the top spectator sport in the country), the "politically-correct", anti-free speech mindset at universities such as Cal-Berkeley and "Hahvud", and the growing "I am a victim" mentality among minorities nationwide, which he claims started with white Southerners after their defeat in the Civil War. Graham even sees the victory of "backward" Southern ideals in TV shows such as "Sex and the City", which he claims is basically just the story of Southern-style "trailer trash" women who happen to live in the Big Apple (and dress somewhat better). Some of Graham's schtick is admittedly funny, but there's nothing really new here (If you've seen or read Jeff Foxworthy's "You may be a redneck if..." books or comedy routines, you've seen most of Graham's stereotypes). Graham is also wrong in some of his historical claims - Northern racism wasn't "exported" from the South, but existed long before the Civil War. Bottom line: some of this book is funny, but Graham's endless pages of put-downs (of Southerners AND Northerners) gets repetitive really fast, and he adds very little that's new as the book goes along - it's basically one long, Dennis Miller-style rant on the same subject.

Having come from the "south" I should be offended by his raucous humor about "us". Unfortunatly truth hearts.
Laughing, crying, holding my sides I read it non-stop.
His humor is reminiscent of Chris Rock, who manages to "get" everyone.
In these times, it really is important to laugh at ourselves and our strangenesses. This book pretty much covers them all.
Have plenty of pork-rinds available.

Let's suppose, for a minute, that your impression of America is of a place where the best rises to the top, where the backwards days of racism and good ol' boy networks are long gone, where stupidity is challenged and intelligence is rewarded.

If that's how you feel, I'm not saying you shouldn't read Graham's book... I'm just saying you should sit down with a nice, stiff drink before you do.

Graham's book is a rapid-fire presentation of tell-me-it's-not-true facts and rapier wise-guy commentary, asserting that while it's commonly accepted that the northern ideals of meritocracy, anti-racism and accountability won over the backwards southern society of the 1960's, in fact it was the south that won. According to Graham, today we live in a culture of whining, victimized, racist idiots - and he piles up the proof so high that by the end I predict you'll be crying either from laughter or depression, or perhaps a combination of both.

Graham has presented a tight, witty volume full of stuff you'll wish he was making up - but he's not. Oh, man. I need a drink.

This here Redneck Nation that Michael Graham done jawed about is purty funny. But iffn I'm ta make sense of this hyar review, I reckon I'd best render this in Ainglish. Lucky fer me I got a trans-lay-ter program.

*Click* There.

Graham's thesis, if this were a dissertation, is that The South, defeated in war, was victorious in its ideas. How so? Traditions emanating from our sweltering swamps have somehow been absorbed by our Northern brethren. Such as the Redneck tradition of victimhood, that is, whining about the consequences of one's own actions, screaming "racism" or "discrimination" for every imagined injustice."

The thesis runs into little buzz-saws of history.

The author took a bus to Oral Roberts University because it presented itself as a place where "reason and deep-seated faith could coexist." Turned out to be otherwise. Surprised? Not me. But I'm astonished the author was. He must have missed the press releases of Oral Roberts himself ascending the Golden Tower (yes, there is such a thing). I guess he couldn't get a bus ticket to some Jesuit institution.

Graham offers the Florida mayor, Carolyn Risher, who signed a proclamation two years ago on city letterhead declaring that Satan was officially banned. Goofy? Sure. Goofy on the level of the Pilgrims who escaped religious persecution for the freedom to practice a little persecution of their own with the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. There are plenty of other goofisms: American Transcendentalism, Shakers/Quakers, the Oneida community - the first proto-Marxist community, and - Father Divine? Some guy in New York who was actually God. Really. He said so.

What the North lacks in fundamentalist fervor it makes up in exotic lunacy. I recall an opportunity-seeking swami who moved to Oregon and started his own ashram. His followers changed the name of the town to Poona, all under the rubric of democracy. The IRS, however, was less indulgent of his beliefs and confiscated dozens of his colorful Rolls-Royces and sent him packing back to India, which, climate-wise, is a lot like the South. Maybe humidity is the glue of Southern-ness.

The Ku Klux Klan, the only organization that is allowed to be more hated than even the Taliban, reared its ugly head throughout the South, and yet no less than Democratic Senator Robert Byrd was a genuine sheet-wearing member of the brotherhood from West Virginia which was carved out of the Old Dominion because it was stickin' to the Union.

Graham complained about nepotism and left South Carolina for Chicago where he discovered a fundamental difference: "In Chicago, they deliver." Oh, really? Has this guy ever read any columns by the late Chicago columnist Mike Royko?

Finally, is it too much to ask a fellow Southerner to get the contraction of "you all" straight? Graham employs two versions - y'all/ya'll - on two consecutive pages, yet.

For the record, the correct contraction of "you all" is "y'all."

As an expatriate South Carolinian (but who is returning soon and nailing his feet to the ground) I have thoroughly enjoyed Michael Graham from his days on public radio and writing for the Free Times of Columbia. Redneck Nation followsw in the Graham tradition of bludgeoning into submission any attempt for the Old South to rise again. So, obviously Graham sees the needs to point out that the rest of the country, paticularly the self-important intellectual elites, have adopted the Old South's ideals and called them enlightened. Read this book, and you'll be surprised at hoe accurately Graham skewers both the North and South equally. This book is also laugh out lous funny. Buy it, read, and definitely give one to your Yankee friends. They'll love it, too.

I'm a liberal and found this book an interesting read. It wasn't laugh out loud funny, but it was sometimes amusing and rather thought provoking. Alas, Graham's observations that the South's nepotism, racism and elevation of the mediocre have become instead the entire USA's standards seems to be proven by a casual look around me. In fact, the North went the South even better and took all its attributes to levels undreamed of before. It's rather a depressing tale, though Graham tells it in a humorous manner. The book encourages thought as well as some smiles and it is nice to read someone kick NASCAR a little.

Although the author might be antagonistic about the South, the book itself clearly demonstrates that America is united in its redneck attributes and one cannot accuse the South of being any worse than the north.

A worthwhile read but be prepared to feel pretty depressed about the state we're in.

On page 14, Michael Graham writes: "[T]he Civil War was a classically southern enterprise: A handful of clods -- without an army or a navy --come up with the lousy idea of starting a war, and their fellow Southerners are too polite to tell them how stupid they are. After attacking Fort Sumter, the South proceeds to get its [...] kicked from Appomattox to Yazoo City, then announces, 'We never wanted slavery, anyway,' and blames the whole thing on the Yankees."

Too bad REDNECK NATION was written before the Iraq War because Graham could have played up the similarities between his view of the Civil War and the Iraq invasion to bolster his argument that America has become a nation of yokels. In both wars, you had a Southerner leading a "handful of clods...starting a war." Both wars were instigated "without an army or a navy" -- in the case of the Iraq War, it was without an army or a navy capable of nation building or suppressing a guerrilla insurgency. Both wars at the outset had a delusional "Mission Accomplished" moment -- Fort Sumter and Bush's photo-op in a flight suit. In both wars, the rationale for war flip-flopped. For the Civil War, the belligerents' rationale switched from defending slavery to defending "states rights." For the Iraq War, the belligerents' rationale switched from eliminating a "grave and gathering threat" to America's security to spreading democracy throughout the Middle East.

Graham identifies rampant cronyism as another symptom of why we are now a Redneck Nation. Cronyism was once part of the accepted way of life in the South, but is now assented to throughout the country. Graham says that in southern culture, whom you know has long been more important than what you know. Personal connections in the South trump merit or individual competence. He could have noted that the Bush administration raised cronyism to unprecedented heights in selecting contractors to operate in Iraq. For reasons of charity, we won't mention Katrina.

Graham says that people in the South judge you based on the "Who's your daddy?" principle. If you wield an important last name, doors open for you in the South, regardless of your education or proven abilities. He cites Hillary CLINTON as a modern nationwide instance of someone with minimal accomplishments whose advancement is based almost exclusively on the prominence of her last name. Not surprisingly (Graham is a stanch Republican), he's silent on whether George W. BUSH would have become a Texas governor and a president of the United States without the Bush family name.

Graham's right-wing blinders undermine his arguments at times. For instance, Graham decries "the progressive income tax...we insist that people who excel be punished for their efforts." Graham is contrasting today's society with the Golden Age of Meritocracy of the 1950s and '60s. Graham apparently doesn't know that the income tax was far more steeply progressive during the Golden Age of Meritocracy, with the highest incomes taxed at a 90 percent marginal rate. He also doesn't seem to comprehend that the gap between the rich and the middle class is about as wide as it has ever been, exceeding even the era of the robber barons and the great trusts, despite our "punishing" progressive income tax.

How much are we "punishing" billionaire hedge fund managers -- who, by the way, are lightly taxed thanks to a convenient loophole in the tax code?

Graham equates a high income with excellence of achievement. We don't want to "punish" excellence. But look around. The CEO of Countrywide Credit earned $[...] million in one year while he drove his company into a ditch. Other CEOs in the financial sector also made insanely risky bets with the shareholders' money. Those CEOs earned tens of millions of dollars before the bets went sour, then earned additional tens of millions in severance pay when the board of trustees belatedly booted them from office. Is this the sort of excellence Graham worries that a progressive income tax punishes?

Over all, though, Graham hits the right notes in exploring the steep decline of American society and culture. The Second American Enlightenment, which ran from roughly FDR to JFK, is now a distant memory. Graham defines the mindset that held sway during that period of enlightenment as "Northernism" (page 10): "Northernism represented meritocracy, the celebration of individual ability and achievement over race, class, and family connections. It represented culture, people who listened to jazz and attended operas without the word 'Ol' in the title. Northernism held high the standard of reason and demanded that all traditions and superstitions and heartfelt prejudices be measured by that standard."

An excellent history of Graham's "Northernism" of the 1950s is William F. Buckley Jr's limpid and mellifluous GOD AND MAN AT YALE. Of course, Buckley's goal was to destroy "Northernism" (reason, skepticism, enlightenment) and reinvigorate religious enthusiasm. Buckley probably deserves as much credit as anyone for begetting the America of today, a Redneck Nation.

Mr. Grahm through his thorough his extensive research and entertaining writing style presents a totally unecpected viewpoint on American culture.