There's no way to completely summarize what Horowirtz concluded
in this short space, but let me highlight some of the standout points I found when I read
it.
1) Southern identity is sometimes tied to "The Lost cause"--that
of the Civil War and independence--and that this sometimes defines what it is to be southern. (I
agree, but of course it's more complex than that)
2) There is a
huge social, economic and racial gap between blacks and whites in the South, even today.
Horowitz talks about feeling like he was the enemy, as an outsider, and Jewish, talking to
southern whites, and as a white man talking with African-Americans. (I agree and think most of
the country doesn't realize how much of our racial legacy, and the legacy of slavery, still exist
in the South)
3) The South is easy to dismiss as a bunch of
rednecks, "crackers", or uneducated people, but the South is a society made up of complex people
and views, and there are no easy answers, no clear "right" or "wrong". (I agree
completely)
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