Most of the research on the South ties the region to the North, emphasising racial binaries and outdated geographical boundaries, but The American South and the Atlantic World seeks a larger context. Helping to define New Southern studies, this book–the first of its kind–explores how the cultures, contacts, and economies of the Atlantic World shaped the South. Ranging chronologically from colonial times to the modern era, the essays challenge current narratives about the South through an interdisciplinary spectrum of topics, including migration, religion, slavery, gender, literature, and ethnography.

This book features some of the best work available on the topic, designed to explore not just southern themes but the historiographical and methodological issues that are now known as New Southern studies.