“I think history, more than any other subject, takes the starch out of people. Southerners have had history, they have had place, because again for Southerners people are always unique and they belong somewhere. Now everyone knows that wonderful story about Flannery O’Connor going to a literary party and being bored out of her mind and later she observed to several people, of whom I was fortunately one: ‘You know what’s the matter with all those kinds of folks? They ain’t frum anywhere.’ For Southerners, I think people usually are from somewhere, and if they aren’t from somewhere, then something is wrong because Southerners historically have dealt with a stable culture or stable world.”