The South that is triumphant now, concludes Applebome, is one that both Grizzard and neo-Confederates would celebrate, a place of feel-good nostalgia, easy answers, and painless solutions, forever looking backward through a pale mist and seeing only the soft focus outlines of what it wants to see.
The South is nostalgic and triumphant in the outlines of what it wants to see in its past.