Its strength consists in the picture that it gives of the so-called "Southern problem," and especially of the devastating influence of slavery.

From this standpoint the book is an autobiography, for the ideas and convictions it presents had formed the mental life of Page from his earliest days.
And these were the things that hurt.

Yet the stories of the anger caused by "The Southerner" have been much exaggerated.

It is said that a certain distinguished Southern senator declared that, had he known that Page was the author of "The Southerner," he would have blocked his nomination as Ambassador to Great Britain; certain Southern newspapers also severely denounced the volume; even some of Page's friends thought that it was a little unkind in spots; yet as a whole the Southern people accepted it as a fair, and certainly as an honest, treatment of a very difficult subject.

Possibly Page was a little hard upon the Confederate veteran, and did not sufficiently portray the really pathetic aspects of his character; any shortcomings of this sort are due, not to any failing in sympathy, but to the fact that Page's zeal was absorbingly concentrated upon certain glaring abuses.