Plain Folk of the South provides interesting and thought-provoking insights into the yeomen of the Old South. Each essay attacks a different subject with fresh zeal and uncovers new findings. Although one may not agree with the writer's conclusions, one cannot put read this book without learning something new. This collection of essays is a "must-read" for scholars of the Old South.

With impeckable research and a lively style, Sam Hyde's Pistols and Politics examins Southern Plain Folk Culture and the Politics of Class (not Race) in Louisiana History. He provides the clearest treatment of the rival Constitutions of 1845 and 1852 in which, despite the success of both Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy, planters (slave masters) took control of the Louisiana legislature (and hence Louisiana Antebellum politics) by imposing a representative apportionment based on counting total population including slaves. One man one vote was out the window! Hyde's treatment of the utter ruin of southeast Louisiana during a Civil War fought without rules or quarter is grim and graphic. Most appealing is the fair and careful treatment of a regional culture of violence that wracked the Florida Parishes with the fiercest feuds in American History. Those Hatfields and McCoys had nothing on Bloody Tangipahoa! A very good read!

Hyde does a fascinating job of outlining the social history of the piney woods region north of Lake Pontchatrain and east of the Mississippi. From a brief overview of the colonial days of the region to its short-lived Republic of West Florida to its eventual incorporation into the state of Louisiana, the Civil War and through Reconstruction, Hyde explores the social and economic tensions between the wealthy planters nearer to the river and their neighbors to the east.

These economic tensions (and the resulting political manipulations) helped create a culture of violence in the region that lasted well past Reconstruction. As the final chapter of the book outlines, Hyde's own family was involved in a long-running feud that claimed several lives. The personal details interwoven into the history (and the many photos he was able to include) add to the depth of the work.

This is an excellent book for those interested in a factual, no nonsense representation of the Florida Parishes in the Old South thorough the early twentieth century. I believe this book offers the serious student of southern history a significant glimpse into the lives and doings of some of the people who were affected most by the War of Northern Aggression. I highly recommend reading it to broaden your understanding of Southern History.