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
