Published in 1981, Why the South Will Survive is an intense self-examination of the South at a critical moment in its history. All of the contributors take pride in being southerners and regard their region as a national asset. While agreeing that the South has changed, they do not agree that it has become more like the rest of America or that it has lost its essential distinctiveness. Examining many aspects of the South—religion, manners, family life, localism, literature, politics, rural life, and urbanization—these essays acknowledge the power and relevance of the Agrarian tradition and argue that the South can still provide a model and touchstone for the nation.

Contributors: Don Anderson, M. E. Bradford, Cleanth Brooks, Thomas Fleming, Samuel T. Francis, George Garrett, William C. Havard, Hamilton C. Horton Jr., Thomas H. Landess, Andrew Lytle, Marion Montgomery, John Shelton Reed, George C. Rogers Jr., David B. Sentelle, Clyde N. Wilson.