South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation | Imani Perry

Yes, exceptionally so. South to America achieved the absolute pinnacle of contemporary non-fiction success by officially winning the prestigious 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction. It was also an instant New York Times bestseller and was named a highly recommended read by major media outlets including The New Yorker, TIME, and Oprah Daily.

This work uniquely defies a single genre, operating as an elegant blend of travelogue, personal memoir, and archival history. Rather than reciting dry academic timelines, the author chronicles a physical journey to over a dozen Southern cities and towns to observe how private family memories and systemic structural politics shape the modern landscape.

Imani Perry forcefully challenges the common narrative that treats the American South as a backward, isolated exception to the rest of the country. Instead, she argues that the identity of America is permanently bound to the South and that the region's historic building blocks—such as slavery, institutional racism, and economic extraction—established the foundational blueprints for how the entire United States operates today.

The book explicitly patterns its structure and travel framework as a modern homage to Albert Murray’s landmark 1971 travelogue memoir, South to a Very Old Place. Like Murray, Perry steps past standard tourist destinations to hold authentic, face-to-face conversations with local residents from all walks of life.

The book is written by Dr. Imani Perry, a highly distinguished Black intellectual, native Alabaman, and recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. Her background as a Professor of African American Studies and Gender Studies at Harvard University enables her to analyze complex historical data while maintaining a deeply emotional, soulful voice.

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