Synopses & Reviews
Offering a broad, up-to-date reference to the long history and cultural legacy of education in the American South, this timely volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture surveys educational developments, practices, institutions, and politics from the colonial era to the present. With over 130 articles, this book covers key topics in education, including academic freedom; the effects of urbanization on segregation, desegregation, and resegregation; African American and women's education; and illiteracy. These entries, as well as articles on prominent educators, such as Booker T. Washington and C. Vann Woodward, and major southern universities, colleges, and trade schools, provide an essential context for understanding the debates and battles that remain deeply imbedded in southern education. Framed by Clarence Mohr's historically rich introductory overview, the essays in this volume comprise a greatly expanded and thoroughly updated survey of the shifting southern education landscape and its development over the span of four centuries.
Review
"This excellent (and singular) source of scholarship on education from a unique cultural perspective will be a welcome addition to academic libraries, especially in those institutions with strong education programs."
-Library Journal Starred Review
Review
"This volume adds new perspectives and insights in its cultural approach to the South. . . .Readers will be impressed with the clarity of writing and breadth of coverage. . . .Every public and academic library should own this readable volume. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers."
-Choice
Review
"An excellent reference work and jumping-off point for new research."-Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
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"This volume is recommended for purchase by academic libraries and any other libraries assembling the complete encyclopedia."
-American Reference Books Annual
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"A solid resource and a valuable contribution to our understanding of education, which plays a major role in defining and developing southern culture in its various forms."
-North Carolina Historical Review
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"Individuals interested in the South and in Alabama history, in particular, will find the volume explanatory and engaging."
-Alabama Review
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"Well-written, interesting, and wide-ranging in its scope. . . .
Education is highly recommended to those with interests in southern education. It is a thoughtful, readable, useful work that will undoubtedly serve, as did its predecessor, to help shape twenty-first century thinking about the role of education in shaping southern culture."
-Florida Historical Quarterly
About the Author
Charles Reagan Wilson is Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair in History and professor of southern studies at the University of Mississippi. He is coeditor of the original Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Clarence L. Mohr is professor in and chair of the history department at the University of South Alabama. Mohr's major publications include On the Threshold of Freedom, which won the Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians, and Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945-1980.