The Zombie Memes of Dixie

This book traces the origin and development of several propositions, tropes, types, clichés, and ideas commonly associated with the U.S. South—for example, that it has been shaped by a warm climate; that its people are hospitable and enjoy a slower pace of life; that it is characterized by localist tendencies and possesses a distinctive sense of place. Approaching these propositions as memes—that is, group-forming replicators—Scott Romine argues that many of them developed in defense of slavery