A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award,
hailed in The Washington Post as "a work of enormous imagination
and enterprise" and in The New York Times as "an important,
original book," Southern Honor revolutionized our understanding of
the antebellum South, revealing how Southern men adopted an ancient
honor code that shaped their society from top to bottom.
Using legal documents, letters, diaries, and newspaper columns,
Wyatt-Brown offers fascinating examples to illuminate the dynamics
of Southern life throughout the antebellum period. He describes how
Southern whites, living chiefly in small, rural, agrarian
surroundings, in which everyone knew everyone else, established the
local hierarchy of kinfolk and neighbors according to their
individual and familial reputation. By claiming honor and dreading
shame, they controlled their slaves, ruled their households,
established the social rankings of themselves, kinfolk, and
neighbors, and responded ferociously against perceived threats. The
shamed and shameless sometimes suffered grievously for defying
community norms. Wyatt-Brown further explains how a Southern elite
refined the ethic. Learning, gentlemanly behavior, and deliberate
rather than reckless resort to arms softened the cruder form, which
the author calls "primal honor." In either case, honor required men
to demonstrate their prowess and engage in fierce defense of
individual, family, community, and regional reputation by duel,
physical encounter, or war. Subordination of African-Americans was
uppermost in this Southern ethic. Any threat, whether from the
slaves themselves or from outside agitation, had to be met
forcefully. Slavery was the root cause ofthe Civil War, but,
according to Wyatt-Brown, honor pulled the trigger.
Featuring a new introduction by the author, this anniversary
edition of a classic work offers readers a compelling view of
Southern culture before the Civil War.
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