Cash, Wilbur J. The Mind of the South. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1941).

Of course, this is a pioneer work in the field of Southern history; no one book has had such a major impact and lasting influence on the field. Cash embraces the generally held notion that the South is a different land than the rest of the country, not just geographically but ideally. All of the differences within Southern life essentially disappear when comparing the region to the rest of the country. Internally, Cash describes the Old South as having a quite rigid dichotomy between aristocratic whites and the white mass. Seen as "poor white trash," this broad element of white society was deprived of a hand in shaping Southern culture.

Cash also sees the New South emerging from the ashes of military defeat, one with an eye toward industrial development and modernity. In the course of this, Southern ideology has also been reshaped. It is Cash's argument, though, that the new thinking is continuous with that of the past. He characterizes the progress of the twentieth century to little more than marching in place, as the South has remained agricultural in basic form. Progress in his eye has been as legendary as that of the plantation South, more talked about than real. One main contribution of this book is Cash's explanation of race relations. He is perhaps the first man to voice the opinion that the two races are different forms of the same whole. The Negro is part of the white man, and vice versa. It is this argument that serves as a source for a new interpretation of race and culture in America in the second half of the twentieth century.