American South

American South

episodes

Interviews with scholars of the American South about their new books.

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, "The Surgeon's Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War" (UNC Press, 2025)

April 4, 2026

The Surgeon's Battle

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between May 1 and May 22, 1863, Union soldiers marched nearly 200 miles through the hot, humid countryside to assault and capture the fortified city o…

Abe Walker, "Reassembling the UAW: Insurgency, Contention, and the Struggle for Unionism in the American South" (Temple UP, 2026)

March 17, 2026

Reassembling the UAW

Abe Walker
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

When Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Assembly Plant opened in 2012, the United Auto Workers were excited by the golden opportunity to organize in the anti-un…

Antwain K. Hunter, "A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865" (UNC Press, 2025)

March 16, 2026

A Precarious Balance

Antwain K. Hunter
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865 (UNC Press, 202…

Danielle Wiggins, "Black Excellence: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Black Liberalism" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

March 8, 2026

Black Excellence

Danielle Wiggins
Hosted by Michael Stauch

A provocative new history of modern black liberalism Black Excellence: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Black Liberalism (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)…

Rebecca Sharpless, "People of the Wheat: Culture and Cultivation in North Texas" (U Texas Press, 2026)

March 7, 2026

People of the Wheat

Rebecca Sharpless
Hosted by Scott Catey

If you’ve ever wondered where your wheat flour is coming from, who is milling it (and how), or how it came to be such an important staple, then this e…

Paul Gillingham, "Mexico: A 500-Year History" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025)

March 7, 2026

Mexico

Paul Gillingham
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Mexico is among the most unique nations in the world, writes Northwestern University historian Paul Gillingham in Mexico: A 500-Year History (Atlantic…

Sarah Jones Weicksel, "A Nation Unraveled: Clothing, Culture, and Violence in the American Civil War Era" (UNC Press, 2026)

February 27, 2026

A Nation Unraveled

Sarah Jones Weicksel
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

During the American Civil War, clothing became central to the ways people waged war and experienced its cost. Through the clothes they made, wore, men…

Cecilia Márquez, "Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation" (UNC Press, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Making the Latino South

Cecilia Márquez
Hosted by Anna Lindner

The presence of Latinx people in the American South has long confounded the region's persistent racial binaries. In Making the Latino South: A History…

Danielle N. Boaz, "Voodoo: The History of a Racial Slur" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 1, 2026

Voodoo

Danielle N. Boaz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Coined in the middle of the nineteenth century, the term "voodoo" has been deployed largely by people in the U.S. to refer to spiritual practices--rea…

Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)

January 31, 2026

Black Folk

Blair Kelley
Hosted by Susan Liebell
Listen:

In the United States, the stoicism and importance of the “working class” is part of the national myth. The term is often used to conjure the contribut…

Thomas Aiello, "Return of the King: The Rebirth of Muhammad Ali and the Rise of Atlanta" (U Nebraska Press, 2025)

January 30, 2026

Return of the King

Thomas Aiello
Hosted by Craig Gill

Return of the King: The Rebirth of Muhammad Ali and the Rise of Atlanta (U Nebraska Press, 2025) tells the story of Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring …

O. Jennifer Dixon-McKnight, "We Paved the Way: Black Women and the Charleston Hospital Workers' Campaign" (UP of Mississippi, 2025)

January 20, 2026

We Paved the Way

O. Jennifer Dixon-McKnight
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

In the spring of 1969, hundreds of workers, all Black and mostly female, went on strike at Medical College Hospital and Charleston County Hospital to …

Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado, "Taco" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

January 19, 2026

Taco

Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Taco (Bloomsbury, 2025) is a deep dive into the most iconic Mexican food from the perspective of a Mexico City native. In a narrative that moves from …

Caroline Peyton, "Radioactive Dixie: A Nuclear History of the American South" (U Georgia Press, 2025)

January 17, 2026

Radioactive Dixie

Caroline Peyton
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

How and why did the South’s history, culture, and politics shape the region’s nuclear and energy industries? And how is that history linked to broader…

Brian Martin, "From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War" (ECW Press, 2022)

January 12, 2026

From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge

Brian Martin
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Despite all we know about the Civil War, its causes, battles, characters, issues, impacts, and legacy, few books have explored Canada’s role in the bl…

Sonya Lea, "American Bloodlines: Reckoning with Lynch Culture" (UP of Kentucky, 2025)

January 9, 2026

American Bloodlines

Sonya Lea
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Summer 1936: Rainey Bethea, a young Black man, is tried for the rape and murder of an elderly white woman. The all-white, all-male jury takes just fou…

W. Ralph Eubanks, "When It's Darkness on the Delta: How America's Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land" (Beacon Press, 2026)

January 7, 2026

When It's Darkness on the Delta

W. Ralph Eubanks
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

Once the powerhouse of a fledgling country’s economy, the Mississippi Delta has been consigned to a narrative of destitution. It is often faulted for …

T. R. Johnson, "New Orleans: A Writer's City" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

January 6, 2026

New Orleans

T. R. Johnson
Hosted by Mark Klobas

New Orleans is an indispensable element of America's national identity. As one of the most fabled cities in the world, it figures in countless novels,…

Robert D. Bland, "Requiem for Reconstruction: Black Countermemory and the Legacy of the Lowcountry's Lost Political Generation" (UNC Press, 2026)

January 5, 2026

Requiem for Reconstruction

Robert D. Bland
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

The promise of Reconstruction sparked a transformative era in American history as free and newly emancipated Black Americans sought to redefine their …

Jeff Roche, "The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right" (U Texas Press, 2025)

December 18, 2025

The Conservative Frontier

Jeff Roche
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

American conservatism as we know it today is a West Texas export, argues College of Wooster professor Jeff Roche in The Conservative Frontier: Texas a…