BusinessSolutions Best Books of the Month Shop Women's Shoes Learn more nav_sap_SWP_6M_fly_beacon $5 Albums spigen All-New Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote Grocery Amazon Gift Card Offer gcbts gcbts gcbts  Amazon Echo Starting at $49.99 Kindle Voyage NBA 2K16 Back to School with Columbia Sportswear in Amazon Outdoor Recreation Learn more
The South Was Right and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.

Qty:1
  • List Price: $27.95
  • Save: $7.30 (26%)
FREE Shipping on orders over $35.
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Gift-wrap available.
The South Was Right! has been added to your Cart
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: 100% Satisfaction! Good condition, former library copy with usual markings, some wear, name on bottom edges of pages, packaged well and ships fast with tracking number.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 3 images

The South Was Right! Hardcover – March 31, 1994

339 customer reviews

See all 9 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
Hardcover
"Please retry"
$20.65
$16.84 $8.66

"Courage to Act" by Ben S. Bernanke
Rich with detail of the decision-making process in Washington and indelible portraits of the major players, "The Courage to Act" recounts and explains the worst financial crisis and economic slump in America since the Great Depression, providing an insider’s account of the policy response. See more
$20.65 FREE Shipping on orders over $35. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • The South Was Right!
  • +
  • Everything You Were Taught about the Civil War Is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!
  • +
  • The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
Total price: $49.00
Buy the selected items together

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

More than 120,000 copies in print!

The South Was Right!
By James Ronald Kennedy and Walter Donald Kennedy

History is written by the victor, and that of the American Civil War is no different. The idea that Southerners would die in order for only 6 percent of the population to own slaves just does not pass the "sniff" test.
The myth of a freedom-loving North and an evil, slave-holding South is just one that is exposed in The South Was Right! The idea of big government not only was politicized through the issue of slavery but also was made inevitable in the South's defeat. Because of the surrender, "we the people" of the United States are no longer sovereign. Today, a supreme federal government dictates what rights the states can exercise.
After the Union victory, a campaign of ongoing cultural cleansing has been waged to keep the South in its assigned place in American history. While many ethnic, religious, and cultural groups are celebrated, Southern heritage often is viewed with a wary eye.
Predicted to be "one of the most controversial books of the decade" when first published, The South Was Right! lives up to that forecast. This book is filled with documented evidence supporting all of the authors' claims and paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a captured people, their struggle to preserve their heritage, and their right to exist as a distinct culture and an independent country.

Descendants of Civil War soldiers, twin brothers James Ronald Kennedy and Walter Donald Kennedy are life members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and are active in other organizations promoting limited government and American liberty. They are frequent speakers at conferences and on radio and television programs.
In addition to The South Was Right!, the Kennedy twins have written numerous Pelican titles, including Why Not Freedom!: America's Revolt Against Big Government, Was Jefferson Davis Right?, and Nullifying Tyranny: Creating Moral Communities in an Immoral Society. Ronald, a resident of Mandeville, Louisiana, also has written Reclaiming Liberty. Donald, a resident of Downsville, Louisiana, has written Myths of American Slavery and, with Al Benson, Lincoln's Marxists, both of which are published by Pelican. The Kennedy twins are recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal of the National Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), the Governor Thomas Overton Moore Award from SCV's Louisiana Division, and the Southern Heritage Award from the Southern Heritage Society. In addition, they have been honored with numerous other awards for their efforts in defending the traditional view of the South and American liberty.

From the Back Cover

Two decades after the debut of The South Was Right!, the ideas espoused by authors and twin brothers James Ronald Kennedy and Walter Donald Kennedy can no longer be dismissed as the outrageous declarations of a radical element. They are the well-researched and popular view of a generation seeking to expose big government and the growing loss of states' rights and personal freedoms.

Not for the faint-hearted, The South Was Right! is an authoritative and well documented study of the mythology behind Civil War history and its effects on contemporary society. The authors present extensive evidence that the South was an independent country invaded, captured, and occupied by a vicious aggressor, as it still is today. The Kennedy brothers eloquently and clearly contrast the stark realities of the tremendous human cost of the War for Southern Independence with the nearly bloodless political revolts and economically driven secessions of the twentieth century, including those of Eastern Europe and the American continents. They examine how Southern secession in 1861 was based upon a violation of unalienable rights as announced in the Declaration of Independence, and, just as the captured nations of the old Soviet Union reemerged when that empire crumbled, the Kennedy twins predict that "the South shall rise again!"

Southerners should read this book with a sense of obligation to the truth. Others should read it with open minds.

See all Editorial Reviews
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Best Books of the Month
Best Books of the Month
Want to know our Editors' picks for the best books of the month? Browse Best Books of the Month, featuring our favorite new books in more than a dozen categories.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 431 pages
  • Publisher: Pelican Publishing; 2nd edition (March 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1565540247
  • ISBN-13: 978-1565540248
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (339 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  •  Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 86 people found the following review helpful By Robert Hawes on August 11, 2007
Format: Hardcover
"We definitely have a problem when children in the South are raised on the fables of 'Honest Abe' while they're taught that their own forebears were the villains of our country's history." - Michael A. Grissom, "Southern by the Grace of God"

I think most of us realize that history is not a pure study. History is the story of mankind, and men have their prejudices; they pass their tales down to posterity laden with their own bias, and in the hope that future generations will support and perpetuate their way of thinking.

We can see this truth at work in our own time. George W. Bush's presidency is not yet ended, and already the battle has begun to define it as either a success or a failure, and the conclusions being reached quite obviously reflect the personal political beliefs of those who are doing the evaluating. Objectivity is in short supply.

Consider a few other examples from recent times:

Was the Vietnam War worthwhile? Why did we lose?
Was the the decade of the 1980s a "decade of greed", or a vindication of the free market?
Do social welfare programs really help anyone, or do they just make people dependent upon the state? And is the government justified in confiscating the income of individuals in order to fund these programs?
Was Bill Clinton's impeachment justified?
Was the invasion of Iraq justified?
Is it worth suppressing civil liberties in order to wage the "war on terror"?

We as a society are at odds over such questions. What one person will claim as fact, another will deride as partisan, special interest agenda pandering designed to cloud the issue. And how will future history view these questions and the great debate that surrounds them?
Read more ›
10 Comments Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
258 of 321 people found the following review helpful By Todd Bovair on November 30, 2005
Format: Hardcover
...Born and bred in upstate NY. I am also civil war buff. This book is extremely important, for the fact of the matter is that MOST of the history that is taught today is WRONG. Not wrong in the general outcomes/ what happened sort of way, but wrong in explaining the TRUE motivations of the involved parties, as well as glossing over less-than savory events and dirty little secrets. The American Civil War is one of the most misunderstood events in our nation's history, and most of the misunderstanding is from Americans themselves! What we are taught about the Civil War here in the U.S. does not accurately explain what really happened (and don't even get me started on how we turn normal men into unstained 'heroes'). This book gets 5 stars for its fresh approach (how many more volumes of standard Civil War history can we stomach? There are already tens of thousands!) and because it raises questions on what you thought you "knew" about the Civil War.
Let me make it clear that this book does not defend or make a case for slavery. The authors concede right off the bat that slavery was disgusting. What the authors DO defend is the motivations of the vast majority of Southerners (and it isn't to uphold slavery), and what the authors attack is the North's (and more specifically, Lincoln's) motivations (and it isn't to free their fellow man). While I don't agree with about half of their observations, I ABSOLUTELY concur with their conclusions about Lincoln. Yes, he was a great man, but he was NOT the man we have been taught to believe he was. If nothing else, reading this book will give you a fresh take on an event that we still feel the repercussions from almost 150 years later. This book is a must read for anyone interested in The American Civil War. Read it for yourself and then decide whose version of history sounds correct.
286 Comments Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
174 of 217 people found the following review helpful By A Customer on March 13, 2000
Format: Hardcover
After purchasing the book through Amazon.Com and reading it, I could only wonder how many of the other reviewers had done the same! Yes, the authors refer to pro-union persons as Yankees frequently. I wonder if anyone has ever noticed how offensive the term "rebel" can be when used ad nauseam in a work? The authors do not use the term yankee with the vitriole other reviewers would have one believe but rather to call attention to the fact how desensitized our culture has become to the overly casual use of the terms "rebel" and "Civil War". Secessionist? Definitely. War for Southern Independence? Without a doubt. However, it will be odd to the enlightened observer that our culture commonly uses the term "rebel" as a perjorative, yet is offended by the same use of the collective "yankee". Truth be told, the war was not a Civil War, had it been, both armies would have fought for control of a central government. This was a war of secession, one nation (The Confederate States) seeking to remove itself from a seperate, sovereign nation just as the colonies had done with England and King George ninety years before. The authors point out with authority and documentation that the Constitution of The Confederate States of America forbade the further importation of slaves. The authors further document and narrate that the majority of slaves were not beaten and ill treated by slave owners as others would have one believe and that, all things considered, slavery was not the primary cause behind the war, as race relations were, if anything, more strained in the north than they were in the south. The authors do a good job underscoring the fact that they are not pro-slavery nor do they advocate a return to such a system.Read more ›
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
The South Was Right!
This item: The South Was Right!
Price: $20.65
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

Want to discover more products? Check out these pages to see more: south is right, south hero, secession of southern states