Studies of the Irish presence in America have tended to look to the main corridors of emigration, and hence outside the American South. Yet the Irish constituted a significant minority in the region. Indeed, the Irish fascination expresses itself in Southern context in powerful, but disparate, registers: music, literature, and often, a sense of shared heritage. Rethinking the Irish in the South aims to create a readable, thorough introduction to the subject, establishing new ground for areas of inquiry.

These essays offer a revisionist critique of the Irish in the South, calling...