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4.0 

South to America

By Imani Perry
South to America by Imani Perry digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

WINNER OF THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“An elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South—and thus of America—by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.” —Isabel Wilkerson

An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals, and landscapes of the American South—and a revelatory argument for why you must understand the South in order to understand America

We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In South to America, Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole.

This is the story of a Black woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always called home and considering it with fresh eyes. Her journey is full of detours, deep dives, and surprising encounters with places and people. She renders Southerners from all walks of life with sensitivity and honesty, sharing her thoughts about a troubling history and the ritual humiliations and joys that characterize so much of Southern life.

Weaving together stories of immigrant communities, contemporary artists, exploitative opportunists, enslaved peoples, unsung heroes, her own ancestors, and her lived experiences, Imani Perry crafts a tapestry unlike any other. With uncommon insight and breathtaking clarity, South to America offers an assertion that if we want to build a more humane future for the United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.  

A Recommended Read from: The New Yorker • The New York Times • TIME • Oprah Daily • USA Today • Vulture • Essence • Esquire • W Magazine • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • PopSugar • Book Riot • Chicago Review of Books • Electric Literature • Lit Hub 

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242 Reviews

4.0
Thinking Face“One of my goals this year is to read more nonfiction. I am so glad I started with this book. I feel like this should be mandatory reading for everyone. The way she shows how southern history has shaped the America that we see today is truly eye opening. I highly recommend reading this book.”
“This was really a great book. I learned so much history I didn’t know. I like how it was structured, not using a timeline, but telling stories. I really disliked the author’s insertion of her personal religious beliefs/experiences in the book. It added nothing substantial and felt somewhat preachy. Not intolerable though. I REALLY REALLY disliked the audiobook. It was read by the author and it was so hard to listen to. Her rhythm was so weird and there would be random pauses where there didn’t need to be. I truly almost stopped the book multiple times because of this. But the book itself was so good, I persisted. And I’m glad I did. But I’ll never listen to another book read by this author.”
“DNF at 43%”
“Probably more towards 4 stars. I love Imani Perry, and this is a great read. It has a similar feel to Clint Smith’s How the Word is Passed, but since Smith’s focus was smaller it had more sticking power for me.”

About Imani Perry

Imani Perry is the National Book Award–winning author of South to America, as well as seven other books of nonfiction. She is the Henry A. Morss Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and is a 2023 MacArthur Fellow. Perry lives between Philadelphia and Cambridge with her two sons.

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