The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Volume 18: Media

Edited by Allison Graham, Sharon Monteith

Charles Reagan Wilson, General Editor

464 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 30 illus., bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-7143-0
    Published: September 2011
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-6913-0
    Published: September 2011
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-8351-3
    Published: September 2011

New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

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This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture examines how mass media have shaped popular perceptions of the South--and how the South has shaped the history of mass media. An introductory overview by Allison Graham and Sharon Monteith is followed by 40 thematic essays and 132 topical articles that examine major trends and seminal moments in film, television, radio, press, and Internet history. Among topics explored are the southern media boom, beginning with the Christian Broadcast Network and CNN; popular movies, television shows, and periodicals that have shaped ideas about the region, including Gone with the Wind, The Beverly Hillbillies, Roots, and Southern Living; and southern media celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Truman Capote, and Stephen Colbert. The volume details the media's involvement in southern history, from depictions of race in the movies to news coverage of the civil rights movement and Hurricane Katrina. Taken together, these entries reveal and comment on the ways in which mass media have influenced, maintained, and changed the idea of a culturally unique South.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi

About the Authors

Allison Graham is professor of communications at the University of Memphis.
For more information about Allison Graham, visit the Author Page.

Sharon Monteith is professor of American studies at the University of Nottingham.
For more information about Sharon Monteith, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"[A] multi-year, multi-dimensional, and unprecedented series."--Library Journal

“An interesting addition to the wide array of topics covered in other volumes of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Most academic and larger public libraries, especially those that own other volumes of the encyclopedia, will definitely want to add this title.”--American Reference Books Annual

"This book addresses the breadth of mass media and a media-shaped South. . . . Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers."--Choice

“Readers interested in the media’s cultural power will find this reference work useful, entertaining, and often provocative.”--North Carolina Historical Review

“A very high standard of quality. Browsing through it will reward and, like a favorite episode of Andy Griffith, ultimately satisfy.”--Florida Historical Quarterly

“In powerful and subtle ways, the author’s introduction and individual selections underscore that the South may have been more influential on the national psyche overall than that of any other place or region other than the generic west or New York City.”--Louisiana History