Between 1815 and 1861 thousands of planters formed a unique emigrant group in American history. A slaveholding; landholding elite; southerners from Georgia and South Carolina uprooted themselves from their communities and headed for their society’s borderlands with a frequency and intensity unsurpassed by any comparable class. A phenomenon of such singularity and significance preoccupied many of the South’s leading citizens and generated a great deal of interest and discussion among movers and prospective movers; as well as among those who stayed behind. While many wondered what emigration could do for them as individuals or households; others engaged in a public debate as to what emigration said about them as a class and as a society. That multilayered debate surrounding the personal and social; spiritual and ideological meanings of emigration is at the very center of James David Miller’s study.In exploring what planter mobility reveals about planter identity and culture; South by Southwest blends analysis of both public and private responses to emigration and in so doing illuminates the ways in which elite southerners themselves understood the connections between emigration as private conduct and as a public phenomenon. In bringing together these two spheres of inquiry; Miller examines the diverse geographical; cultural; and intellectual meanings that elite southerners gave to their private and public journeys and what those meanings reveal about their broader attitudes regarding the people and places of slaveholding society.
#170076 in Books Rutgers University Press 2009-01-27Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.90 x .80 x 6.90l; 1.70 #File Name: 0813545005320 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Cuba; Then and Now: A Dialogue Between Memoir and Photogrpahy.By Beverly C RosenPart memoir; part travelogue; part anthropological study; and all heart; Ruth Behar returns to Cuba where she was born and left at 5 years old in 1959; after the Revolution. She returns a number of times; between 2002-2006; in search of her roots and the stories of the Jews who remain in Cuba. Her vignettes; coupled with Humberto Mayol's black and white photographs; capture the back stories of a cross-section of those who remain as part of the Jewish community and the reasons why they stay in Cuba; as why so many are still emigrating to the States and Israel. Along the way; Ruth Behar finds a piece of her identity that was missing before she set off on her personal and professional quest. The one draw back is that her stories and observations end in 2006; and the reader would like to know what is happening in and to the Jewish community today; as well as to Cuban society as a whole.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The photographs might have shown better in an actual bookBy CustomerVery engaging; well written; unique photographs to complement the story. I read the book on my Kindle while I was considering a tour to Jewish Cuba. The photographs might have shown better in an actual book. The author engaged us first through her personal perspective; her seeking people and places that she might have known when she was a young child before her family immigrated to the US. She then brought us along as she learned more about the Jewish experience in additional locations and over time; introducing us to diverse and interesting individuals and families; their stories; countries of origin; decisions to leave or stay;; mixed marriages; dedicated converts-- the roles that they came to play in the evolution of the Jewish Community as the political situation and world events changed. As a scholar; an anthropologist; the author provided detailed references for further reading. I felt as though I had made the trip and was motivated to learn more.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Warm and touching!By BerengariaThe way the book is written was quite a surprise. The interviews carried out by Ms. Behar were warm; compassionate; joyful; touching. I come from Cuban descent from a family that apparently originated in the Canary Islands with a Jewish background. After reading this book; I am anxious to explore my background. Ms. Behar has awakened in me a feeling of belonging that is hard to describe. Reading "An Island Called Home" has been a wonderful experience. I will certainly read more books by this great author; and I hope she keeps them coming.
