W.J. Cash explains that the “body” of the antebellum “Old South” of agriculture transformed into the post-Reconstruction “New South” of industrialism (l). However, the “mind” of the South remained constant throughout this transformation. Cash claims that the Union’s victory in the Civil War was illusory because afterwards white southerners strengthened their beliefs in white superiority and mastery of the black population (103-106). Thus, the northern “Yankee, seeing his victory brought to nothing,” attempted to reclaim triumph over the white southerner (105). Cash’s thesis is that although white southerners changed their occupations and infrastructure after the Civil War to feature rapid industrial “Progress,” white southerners became more stubborn in their belief of white superiority and racism towards blacks. Cash uses his knowledge and personal experiences of living in the south to articulate his interpretation of the southern mind throughout American history up to the book’s original publication in 1941.
Most white southerners despised northerners’ progressive politics, labor unionism, and public education. Worse still, during the Reconstruction Era, white southerners competed with black southerners for wage labor and were on an equal social level. Thus, from this socioeconomic desperation of racial equality, white southerners adopted the “Yankeedoms” of industrialism after Reconstruction, especially with the expanding cotton mills (156-162). However, the cotton mill owners only hired white laborers. Therefore, not only did the South’s post-Reconstruction industrialism result in significant wealth for the mill owners, it also increased the standard of living for many white southerners who no longer had to compete with blacks for jobs. Consequently, industrial “Progress” had elevated the common white southerners’ social and economic status above that of blacks. White southerners had “entirely removed from all direct competition” the possibility of social equality between the landless white southerners and blacks, as was the case during the antebellum period in the “Old South” (214). Cash mentions that many southern blacks moved north to fulfill the labor shortage in the industrial factories that hired blacks for employment. Due to his southern perspective, however, Cash focuses on those blacks who remained in the South.
In regards to the mass migration of southern blacks to northern cities, Cash only emphasizes the social and economic effects on the South. He does not fully consider the southern blacks who left the South as southerners. Furthermore, he analyzes the “pull” motivations for southern blacks who sought wage labor in northern cities but avoids the issue of the “push” factors for southern blacks who left the South to avoid racist discrimination and violence from white southerners. The primary social effect was that racial segregation in the south, coupled with the migration of blacks to northern cities, resulted to “feed the white man’s fears” of blacks, most violently expressed through lynching. As a result, white southerners increased their racist prejudice and discrimination towards blacks who remained in the south (305-319). Perhaps this avoidance is due to Cash’s focus on the South or perhaps this is due to him being a white southerner, but Cash is unclear on the motivations of the southern blacks who migrated north.
Rather, Cash emphasizes the social and economic effects on the white southerner. Although the race-based plantation system of the “Old South” elevated common white southerners above black slaves, the slaves were the recipients of a paternalistic system in which slaveholders provided the necessities for their slaves, including food, clothing, and shelter. Although plantation owners exploited white southerners for their labor, white southerners were by “extension a member of the dominant class” because they were white and the slaves were black (38-39). After Reconstruction, cotton mill owners utilized a similar paternalistic system but substituted white southerners as the recipients of paternalism in lieu of blacks. For example, the wealthy cotton mill owners allocated “store credit” to southern white mill workers. The mill workers could only spend this credit at the mill store at a price that was higher than retail, which provided the mill owners with additional profits. Therefore, the mill owners provided landless southern whites with the necessities not only to escape “from competition with the blacks” but also to have full time employment under the paternalism of the wealthy southern mill owners (175-178).
However, the mill owners had to convince the southern whites to live within this exploitative and paternalistic system. Southern Democratic politicians appealed to the white southerners’ unique susceptibility to demagoguery with fiery rhetoric that distracted the southern whites from their poverty and dependency upon the mill owners (251). Political bosses bribed southern white voters to vote as the mill owners wished while demagogues aimed resentment towards the “Yankee” and hatred for blacks (246-247). However, Cash implies that only white southerners were attracted to demagogues. Northerners and blacks also appealed to prejudice rhetoric and popular appeals, evidenced by Robert La Follette, William Jennings Bryan, and Marcus Garvey. In this case, human beings, not just southerners, are hedonistic and prefer politicians who promise favorable policies.
Cash’s prose focuses on the social, economic, and political events that shed light on the southerners’ mind throughout American history, stretching from colonialism to the end of the Great Depression. He expresses a tremendous skill for writing literature and a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the South. His work acts as both an explanation of the “Lost Cause” ideology and as a challenge to it. Moreover, he challenges white southerners to address their problems and to attempt to fix them. However, Cash avoids using footnotes to cite his sources for statistics and quotes and rarely cites the information in the text. Despite its shortcomings, Cash’s interpretation of the white southerners’ mind is a remarkable piece of literature that allows readers to understand the southern way of life.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2020
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This is the writer....
By Hybrid. on July 21, 2020
W.J. Cash was a phenomenal writer. His end is tragic. He gets under your skin with his snark and deep observations. This is the book to understand the South and how it came to be the distinct region it remains today. Also relevant to Civil War scholars. And multiple readings are in store... His mastery at the sentence level is unparalleled. It's a level of genius you might find in Canton, but Cash was truly haunted... and haunting. Also a long index at the end. I can't recommend this book enough. Unforgettable.
By Hybrid. on July 21, 2020
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Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2015
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Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2018
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Still an essential introduction to the social history of the southern United States
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2020Verified Purchase
Andy B.
If you like the subject read the book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2019Verified Purchase
Nicholas McRae
If you have a deep interest in American or Southern history this work would make a nice addition to your collection
Reviewed in Canada on July 18, 2015Verified Purchase
Craig
Great.
Reviewed in Canada on September 11, 2019Verified Purchase
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Excellent book from someone who lived the life of the ...
Reviewed in Canada on November 1, 2014Verified Purchase
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