An Old Creed For The New South

Review: ?An Old Creed for the New South is a most thoughtful study of the emerging interpretations of antebellum slavery in the immediate post-Civil War period and in the historical literature in the first half-century after emancipation. The analysis of the major (and minor) historians who helped shape the historical study of slavery--from Holst to Philips--shows the relationships among the uncovering of new sources, the asking of particular questions, and the beliefs of individual scholars.

Based upon extensive research in a wide variety of sources, John David Smith has demonstrated how post-Civil War descriptions of the slave experience by southerners and northerners, by blacks and whites reflected (and, in turn, influenced) contemporary concerns about southern and racial issues. Smith's examination of the writings of contemporaries and historians is an important contribution to the study of slavery and emancipation, as well as a major work of historiographic analysis.?-Stanley L.

Engerman, Professor of Economics and History, University of Rochester