Destination Dixie - by Karen L Cox (Paperback)

About the Book

An exploration of tourist locales that have been restored or adapted to preserve some aspect of the history of the American South.

Book Synopsis

"Fascinating narratives that examine challenging intersections of history, heritage, and memory encountered along the road to historic tourism."--Choice

"A thought-provoking, finely wrought collection. . . . that reveals the complexities of telling and selling of southern history."--European Journal of American Studies

"Especially compelling. . . . The wide span of case studies allows an in-depth understanding of the South and highlights an interesting tension between visitor expectations and the actual variety of historical and regional variation."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Leads us to the important conclusion that heritage tourism is about how people put their selves and their histories into the public eye and the conflicts of representation that arise."--Erve Chambers, author of Native Tours: The Anthropology of Travel and Tourism

The contributors to this volume explore the narrative of southern history and how it is often complicated by race, influenced by local politics, and shaped by competing memories.

Review Quotes

"A thought-provoking, finely wrought collection. . . . Reveals the complexities of telling and selling of southern history."--European Journal of American Studies

"Ably explores the challenges of injecting public history informed by modern scholarship into heritage sites where gatekeepers and visitors do not always embrace it."--Reviews in American History

"An especially compelling and valuable contribution. . . . The wide span of case studies allows an in-depth understanding of the South and highlights an interesting tension between visitor expectations and the actual variety of historical and regional variation."--North Carolina Historical Review

"Fascinating narratives that examine challenging intersections of history, heritage, and memory encountered along the road to historic tourism."--Choice

"Reveals how narratives of history told at heritage tourism sites in the American South have been influenced by race, collective memory, economics, and local politics."--Book News

About the Author

Karen L. Cox is professor of history at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and the author of the award-winning Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture and of Dreaming of Dixie: How the South Was Created in American Popular Culture.