Country People in the New South

“Thoughtful and thought-provoking.” — Southern Cultures

“Well written and provocative. . . . This book presents a fresh perspective on the New South; it would be enjoyed by anyone interested in how different groups of southerners dealt with the massive political, social, and economic changes that followed the Civil War.” — Alabama Review

“Deserves the respectful attention of all scholars interested in rural America, Southern history, or the cultural conflicts of the 1920s.” — Historian

“A fine example of southern rural history and a reminder of its considerable diversity.” — CHOICE

“This [is a] subtle and well-crafted study. . . . Her footnotes are a delight in themselves.” — Journal of American History

“A valuable regional study that reinvigorates the traditional picture of the southern rural uplands.” — Florida Historical Quarterly

“Keith’s book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of what happened when the New South collided with the Old. All students of the New South and of southern agriculture should read it.” — Agricultural History

“Jeanette Keith has written a delicately nuanced study about modernization and resistance in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.” — Journal of Southern History

“The heart of the book is a finely crafted and absolutely compelling account of how the drama of socioeconomic change and sociocultural persistence played itself out in one small place in the New South era. That drama, pitting traditional folk against modernizing reformers and innovating capitalists, was one of the central themes in the New South’s history; and Keith’s unpretentious exposition of it in the Upper Cumberland is a model that speaks persuasively, if only implicitly, to the larger theme.” — Journal of East Tennessee History

“Keith’s engaging story portrays the rural South during a critical period with both compassion and honesty. This is a rich and compelling book, one that gets at the central dilemmas of life in this time and place.” — Edward L. Ayers, University of Virginia