Literature in Review
By Richard Barbieri , Ph . D .
South to America : A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
by Imani Perry Ecco ( 2022 )
Within the past year or so , two of the most powerful and important books on American racial history have been published by authors who attended CSEE member schools in Massachusetts : The Sum of Us , by Heather McGee , 1 and now South to America , 2 by Imani Perry . Though quite different , both should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the historical roots and the present state of Black and White America .
The two offer sharply different approaches to their subjects . While The Sum of Us focuses on a macro level , discussing how White society put up barriers to Black participation in civic life , both locally and nationally , and created social and legal initiatives whose impact made all of us poorer , South to America delves into the granular level of direct experience , with its feet on the ground , as it were . Beginning at Harper ’ s Ferry , Imani Perry travels through ten of the Confederate states , as well as West Virginia , Kentucky and Maryland , the Bahamas , and Cuba .
Checking some details about South to America , I was surprised to find that less than seven weeks after its publication , Amazon offered five different summaries of Perry ’ s book . This disappointed me because South to America defeats summary in its richness of detail and
1 . Milton Academy 2 . Concord Academy
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CSEE Connections Summer 2022 Page 27