THE QUOTABLE SOUTH
A Compendium of Eclectic Quotes About the South
Al Dixon / Compiler
PUBLISHED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Turner South

• $10.95 paperback
• 288 pages
• 1-58818-090-5 paperback
• Quotations / Regional

the book

Al Dixon has compiled a lively compendium of over 800 quotes by dozens of the South's best-known writers, historians, politicians, athletes, and public figures in every field. This treasury, both down-home and worldly-wise, covers the diversity of the history, attitudes, and ethos of the region, highlighting its unique character--"Not exactly a nation within a nation, but the closest thing to it" (W. J. Cash); its regional pride—"Where outside the South is there a society that believes even covertly in the Code of Honor?" (Allen Tate); its lasting shame--"All I was doing was trying to get home from work" (Rosa Parks); and its continuity in an ever-changing world—"The past is never dead. It's not even past" (William Faulkner). In this approachable exegesis of the mind of the South, wisdom, crotchets, witticisms, and criticisms abound about bubbas and belles, Northern chauvinists, Southern manners, football obsession, the so-called Southern "accent," Delta blues, televangelism, Elvis, and seersucker suits. The Quotable South also recalls the words of transplants and visitors to the South, both Dixie-philes and detractors, making it the complete guide to a Southern sojourn.

Over 800 famous, infamous, well-known, and obscure insights on the Southland by natives and observers, including:

Roy Acuff Maya Angelou Chet Atkins Romare Bearden Geofffrey Beene Wendell Berry Roy Blount Jr. John Wilkes Booth Blanche McCrary Boyd Rick Bragg James Brown Rita Mae Brown Larry Brown Paul "Bear" Bryant Jimmy Carter Johnny Cash Fred Chappell Ray Charles Bill Clinton Andrei Codrescu Samuel Taylor Coleridge Pat Conroy Harry Crews Rosemary Daniell James Dickey Tony Earley John T. Edge Ralph Ellison William Faulkner Bruce Feiler Rev. Howard Finster Shelby Foote Richard Ford Jeff Foxworthy Ernest Gaines Al Gore Jr. Rev. Al Green Jim Grimsley John Grisham Lewis Grizzard Alex Haley Tom T. Hall Barry Hannah Paul Hemphill Rabbi Abraham Herschel Duncan Hines Billie Holiday John Lee Hooker Langston Hughes Charlayne Hunter-Gault Zora Neale Hurston Mahalia Jackson Thomas Jefferson Bobby Jones Michael Jordan Martin Luther King Jr. Tom Landry Leadbelly

Harper Lee Robert E. Lee Rep. John Lewis Huey Long Norman Mailer Bobbie Ann Mason Carson McCullers Tim McLaurin James Alan McPherson H.L. Mencken Henry Miller Margaret Mitchell Willie Morris Albert Murray Vladamir Nabokov Ogden Nash Willie Nelson Lewis Nordan Flannery O'Conner Rosa Parks Walker Percy Richard Petty Ludlow Porch Padgett Powell Sister Helen Prejean Elvis Presley Reynolds Price Paul Prudhomme John Crowe Ransom Julia Reed John Shelton Reed Herb Rollins Louis Rubin Celestine Sibley Memphis Slim Lillian Smith Lee Smith William Styron Donna Tartt Allen Tate Peter Taylor Jean Toomer Harriet Tubman Ted Turner Mark Twain Alice Walker Robert Penn Warren Booker T. Washington Eudora Welty Bailey White Tennessee Williams Hank Williams Jr. August Wilson Oprah Winfrey Tom Wolfe Richard Wright ...and dozens more

the author

Al Dixon is a freelance journalist. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

the praise