South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation is a work of nonfiction by Imani Perry, a scholar of African American studies and a native of Alabama. Returning to the region she considers home, Perry travels across the American South, visiting cities, small towns and historic places as she explores the region's history, rituals and landscapes. Along the way she meets people from many backgrounds and takes detours into memory, music, politics and her own family's past. Blending travel writing, history, memoir and cultural criticism, the book argues that the meaning of America is bound up with the South, and that understanding the region is essential to understanding the nation as a whole. It won the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction.