The literature on snakes is manifold but overwhelmingly centered on the natural sciences. Little has been published about them in the fields of popular culture or the history of medicine. Focusing primarily on American culture and history from the 1800s, this study draws on a wide range of sources--including newspaper archives, medical journals, and archives from the Smithsonian Institute--to examine the complex relationship between snakes and humans.

Studying the changing strategies used by the nineteenth-century southern leaders to justify their direction of the South's economy and politics, Shore shows how leaders before, during, and after the Civil War attempted to set standards of success in southern society and to clarify the relations between those standards and national prosperity. Shore offers a new perspective on southern leaders' worldview and helps clarify the enduring question of what is new about the "new South." Originally published in 1986. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.