Many historical myths are actually false yet psychologically true. The contributors to this volume see myth and reality as complementary elements in the historical record. Myth and Southern History is as much a commentary on southern historiography as it is on the viability of myth in the historical process. The Old South contains new articles on slavery and secession, antebellum southern women, abolitionism and unionism in the Civil War era, the South's (and the nation's) reconstruction, and the postbellum development of a civil religion.
