student loans are almost a form of voluntary servitude now. but that's an issue. i don't think it's unbeatable. i think there is a growing interest. one of the places pushing certification, for example, is the manufacturing industry. i would like to see that. it would be good. you learn a lot. it's valuable to them. thank you very much. [applause] thank you for coming.

[inaudible conversations] we would like to hear from you. tweet us your feedback at twitter.com/booktv. hardly as a history of my own journey coming here to the south, but also for others who were making that same journey whether they're international or transplants from elsewhere in the united states. the south has a particular culture. t not always ease to navigate. in the first chapter, why take this journey going southern.

i talk about why i made the journey. i felt it would be comfortable for me to come to the south after having lived in bermuda which is a combination of british colonial island and the south. also i felt the south was coming to the own. there are at lough international companies here and opportunity venders. new businesses being started up in the south. one of the thing we see sometimes in the international who are used to traveling and different culture and end up here for a few years. they say to me, could you train

the americans coming to the south. i think they have expectations that of what they're going it see in experience that are unrealistic. some are based on the fact that serve friendly and will smile. an say you must get together. people don't understand in the south it's part of etiquette. it doesn't mean they actually want you to come to their house. t a little confusing for people when they arrive. when i asked the question when i give the presentation. how many generations so you to be here to be considered a real southerner.

occasionally five. i had a few people explain it needs to be ten. they have chosen to stay and be a part of the culture for a long time. there is and is of real southerners. unlike anything i've seen in the rest of the country. this list is a strategy for following some of our well-known southern talent. i put if this the book because in many ways these people are particularly musicians are some of the best well-known southerners worldwide. for example, i asked people to pick a southern musician or two

to follow. personalities are key scftion pieces in the south. and a good tool for making friends. if you find you love the music of the band leonard skynard. you will find company in the fan base, for sure. we come to the southern music genre to follow. and get familiar with the musicians in that genre. there's so many. gospel, rock billy, rhythm and blues, country, something for everybody. there's plenty of performances and festivals. attend the festival where the genres are featured. festivals and concerts can be found in lost indications in the south particularly in the warm

weather months. any day of the week. if you sing or play an instrument, learn some southern songs. the experience will give you a feel for southern culture, and give you something to share with others. can i tell you a story about this? a few weeks ago, i was in huntsville, alabama, at the university there. asked to do a workshop for group of scholars. because i have an investment in the art as a way to get used to culture, i brought along some video. i showed a video of leonard sk this, y in the room, were the full bright scholars and the

professors and local leader working with them. you could tell who was -- the scholars thought, wow, that's interesting. and the locals singing along. then you show the flip side. i showed a video of "sweet home alabama" being sung by the cowboys with the red army in uniform as the backup singers. ♪

that was, like, stunning to everybody in the room. "sweet home alabama" would be sung to a russian audience. when russian version of punk rockers. i can only describe them as that. to understand the power of southern music as an export. and with great fun. it was also a teaching moment. you could see what is happening to southern culture. in the south, words have a life of their own. they're colorful. they are abundant. they can be exaggeration and metaphor abound. it's a wonderful experience. it may not translate well if you

you're not from around here. that's one of the southern thaifm is the same. down the road a piece. >> how far of a piece? nobody needs to know. [laughter] if you really want to ask that question, you might get the old southern response yonder. [laughter] or they could give you directions. as you codo in small towns. it it seem to be more colorful. you go down three blocks past the light, and then you turn where the old house with the shutters used to be. then you go past the building, you know, where that it is. before it burned down. and then you are going to go down a couple of miles and you

-- you'll see it on the right-hand side. and the phrase i like. you can't miss it. there are two kind of big picture people coming to the south. one interest any enough, are southerners. real southerners who have best weather for work or study. and have returned to their hometown and families only to find it's considerably different as they too have changed. they bring something very special a perspective on both sides. the newer editions including myself we come from elsewhere in the state and many from overseas

usually for our jobs. and add a different set of skills to the south. if people look at the south, i urge that, historically after the civil war, there was a lack of investment in the south. thrchesz more of removal of resources. timber, other, mining, coal. you didn't have major corporations building headquarter and creating the class here. that's changing. that's what people are bringing. and doing an amazing job. it's -- it's like taking an isolated culture here is the cultural

anthropologist speaking again. and introducing it to that changes virtually overnight. it is a bit messy. it's very creative and innovative. it's an experience i wouldn't miss for the world. of tennessee. if you know anything about the civil war, one of the most famous confederate from tennessee was nathan bedford. he supposedly said that harris not only a war governor but a fighting governor. he was born as in franklin county, tennessee which is a couple of counties to the west here of chattanooga in 1818. he was the son of fairly

prosperous farmer in the last of a big family. he had a brother who was an attorney who moved to west tennessee. they were just opening up west tennessee that the time period. became politician and jackson democrat. certainly west tennessee was slave territory became a slave owner himself. quite a successful lawyer in his time and became involved in democratic politic. was elected as state senator. and his initial -- as a politician was to dispute the proviso which was a suggestion by an congressman in 1847 that the territories acquired as a result of the mexican war should be organized as free state as opposed to slave states.

he spoke out clearly on that at that time. he later became a congressman from his district in west tennessee. and then later became the governor of tennessee. was elected in 1857. ironically succeeding andrew johnson who was tennessee's most prominent unionist. he became tennessee's most prominent successionist. he invoted that power to have tennessee declared in the independence in may of 1861. tennessee never succeeded. as a matter of fact, the declaration of independence as it were tennessee enacted said we're not expressing tennessee on the abstract doctrine of succession. we're invoking or mor ancient right to revolution.

ironically he felt like he was vindicating -- by doing so -- in a policy of stance tennessee was bound up in a terrible controversy in the late 1870 and the early 18 80. the state ran up he was a moving

force that removed that as a source of controversy. that really was a service to the state. in a positive sense as opposed to the negative sense. i believe he represented the state pretty well in the senate. as far as patronage which is what senators then did and not senators, i guess, now too. he never lost an election on a couple of indications he bowed out before he an opportunity to lose an election.

he was elected governor. he fore went a run at governor in the 1850s because andrew was a stronger politically than he was. but slowly the conservative element in tennessee is the true across the south in that time period regained the senate seat, and he hadn't connections and had influence and he had press teeing as having been ultimate conservative governor because he had lead tennessee out of the union. in those days, the united states senators were elect bit state legislature. there weren't directly elected

as they are today. he had his politics in order and was elected by the state legislature as united states senator in 1876 to take office in 1877. the thing he's most known for in tennessee history now is very famous quote that he issued or famous response that he issued to a call for federal troops. after fort sumter. the federal government called on tennessee for two religion men of volunteers to suppress the rebellion in the south. and governor harris replied tennessee will not land any troops for the purposes of coerce but 50,000 if necessary to vindicate rights and those in the southern. he saw the federal constitution a certain way, and he was willing to -- on the battle field put his life on the line vindicate it. in receipt --

receipt to spect he was wrong. they would have been better off staying in the union. he was -- he fold what he thought was the right thing. even though in receipt throw spect it turned out not to be right. go to c-span.org/localcontent. here is a look at book being published this week.

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