FROM THE AUTHORS of the Southern classic The South was Right!, comes one of the most important and original histories of the Southern people. The South was destined to be a prosperous land with a self-governing people and its own culture. Instead, it is the most impoverished and powerless part of the U.S. From the beginning of the U.S. government in 1789, most egregiously in the calculated and malicious destruction by the invader during 1861-1865 and the looting of Reconstruction, and by government action ever since, Southerners, both black and white, have been the poorest and most abused Americans. The over-arching theme of Southern history is not Race, as is conventionally stated, but Poverty-poverty not due to the South's shortcomings but imposed on them by the system under which they live. The Civil War did not end slavery but it did put over 8 million black & white Southerners into the bondage of poverty. The people of the South were intentionally reduced from the wealthiest in the nation to the poorest people in the Union. The Kennedy Twins' important history, however, is only a prelude to what they have to say about the present and the future of the Southern people, in every way distinct enough to be self-governing. Southerners, they maintain, must right now get over their good-natured allegiance to an Empire which holds their well-being and culture in contempt. They must understand their true situation and take steps, beyond routine political party activities, to restore a government recognizing the rights of State nullification and secession. Our Southern ancestors knew that these were the only real defense of liberty and self-government. ​The new edition includes redesigned cover and interior, 5 new addenda, and 100+ photos and illustrations!

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"If enough Southerners would read and take to heart Punished with Poverty, it would bring about a revolution in American politics." - Dr. Clyde N. Wilson, author, publisher, and "Godfather" of Southern History

"Long known for their intellectual fearlessness, the best-selling authors of The South Was Right! examine the roots of Southern poverty and the continuing struggle between the Southern culture-Bible believing, conservative and pro-Constitution-and the Federal Empire, which seeks to expand its power and stifle and restrict individual liberty at every opportunity. This eye-opening book focuses on the economic aspects of that struggle (but not exclusively) and should be required reading in every American history course in this country. . ." - Dr. Samuel Mitcham, author of It Wasn't About Slavery: Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War and The Greatest Lynching in American History: New York 1863 "As the Kennedy's have explained in this impressive book, the Confederate dead were not the only Southerners buried by the War. Lincoln's 'New America' foisted years of poverty on the South and her people, which is why for generations more Southerners considered Reconstruction a greater calamity than the War itself. This book will certainly open your eyes." - Brion McClanahan, Ph.D, author of Southern Scribblings and 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America