Southern Cross Summary
Patricia Cornwell

Southern Cross Summary

A recurring theme of Southern Cross is regional differences, the differences in mindsets and ways of acting between northerners and southerners and between the citizens of Charlotte, North Carolina, who look to the north for models of propriety and efficiency, and those of Richmond, Virginia, whose southern attitudes are still shaped by the Civil War. From a Richmond point of view, the citizens of Charlotte are "Yankees," "turncoats," and "carpetbaggers." Cornwell mocks Richmonders for their continued devotion to the Lost Cause, the Confederacy, the Southern Cross (the Rebel flag), and Jefferson Davis, the first and last Confederate president. The novel begins with a tongue-in-cheek description of the history of Richmond, from its founding in 1607 by "fortune-hunting English explorers," its "firewater" trade with the Indians, its importation of African slaves, its part in the secession from the Union in 1861, its moment of glory as the capital of the Confederacy...

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