Jo V. (jovan) reviewed on 8/13/2009 + 301 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

An interesting book. Not exactly what I expected. Although it's funny in places, that doesn't seem to be the main thrust of the book. With her sharp tongue, Ms. King, a native-born southerner, dissects southern society, cutting her way through the various types of good old boys and southern belles, describing them vividly (and with many references to the arch-types represented in Gone with the Wind). Any desire I ever had to live in the south disappeared in a puff of canon smoke as she described the emotionally crippling impact losing the Civil War had on both the males and females of southern society. From a psychological/anthropological view (from the perspective of an insider who's also lived outside the culture), it's a fascinating study.

Originally published in 1975, reprinted in 1993, it is somewhat dated in the society it describes, though the Afterword (the 1993 addition) brings it somewhat up-to-date.

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