Stories about class conflicts between white Southerners where poor whites are not the villains

[Grumbacher_Red]

@Stana_Claus

Not really about class conflicts, but certainly showing an atypical view of a rural southern boy’s life from the 1930’s through WWII - Run With the Horsemen, The Whisper of the River, and When All the World was Young, plus several collections of short stories by Ferrol Sams. There are lots of interactions between different classes and races that don’t follow the stereotypical patterns, plus they are very enjoyable reads. I highly recommend them to anyone who isn’t familiar with Mr. Sams’ work.

These look very promising! Thank you for the suggestions!

[Grumbacher_Red]

@Chronos

So, you want stories about class conflict in the South, but where race isn’t the central theme? I’m not sure where that leaves you.

Well evidently that leaves me with a pretty good field of options, as all these wonderful suggestions indicate.

I said upthread I realize it is unrealistic to expect that race won’t be an angle at all, just that it doesn’t have to be the centerpiece of the story. That’s the problem with so many people’s perception of the South, that it is ALL of the white people against ALL of the black people ALL of the time, and that just isn’t the case. There are huge class divides among Southern white people, and there’s lots of cases where the black people are allied to one side of that or another.

The real stories of the South are about class conflicts among white people with the black people caught in the middle. There are good and bad people found in all these groups, and when you find a story teller who lays it out like that, it is praiseworthy indeed!

[Chronos]

I’m not saying that there aren’t other class struggles in the South. I’m saying that the biggest one is race, and any accurate portrayal can’t just ignore that.

[jkirkman]

@Grumbacher_Red

Yeah, I have some contempt for Erskine Caldwell. I think I may go back and look Tobacco Road over again just to be sure I still hate it. I remember being really put off by this scene where a young girl just walks around the side of the house in the yard masturbating. :dubious:

Oh, I don’t know.

It wouldn’t surprise me much to see that when I am in the Tobacco Road Walmart every week or so…

[CurrlyD]

@Stana_Claus

Not really about class conflicts, but certainly showing an atypical view of a rural southern boy’s life from the 1930’s through WWII - Run With the Horsemen, The Whisper of the River, and When All the World was Young, plus several collections of short stories by Ferrol Sams. There are lots of interactions between different classes and races that don’t follow the stereotypical patterns, plus they are very enjoyable reads. I highly recommend them to anyone who isn’t familiar with Mr. Sams’ work.

I couldn’t agree more! Mr. Sams grew up a cracker, like us, and his writing is wonderful. S. Claus nailed it.

[Skywatcher]

I’ve never read I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! but I’ve seen the HBO version. Should be what you’re after.

[cornflakes]

Oh why not? Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy. The father and Callanwolde are monsters, but they’re flat figures. They don’t seem to be aware of their evil as much as they seem trapped on the only path that they know. The only real villains, who deliberately choose to gain at the expense of others, are Reese Newbury and Lila, who starts poor but is rich by the end of the story.