Chuck Thompson is a travel writer who has worked on assignment in more than 50 countries. Real countries. The kinds that have recognizable borders and appear on maps.

But for his new book, Mr. Thompson decided to use wishful thinking as his guide. So he took a tour of the Confederate States of America, the country that might be created if the American South seceded from the American North. He imagines a robust tourist industry attracted to the region’s “indigenous society teeming with underappreciated folk wisdom, ancient values and fascinating dialects.” He suggests that “with time, Americans would start thinking of the South as another Mexico, only with an even more corrupt government.”

Is he joking? Not exactly. The historian Michael Lind, who has himself taken a dim view of the South, refused to cooperate with Mr. Thompson’s “Better Off Without ’Em,” telling him: “I disapprove of your project, which seems terribly snobbish, to judge by your nasty title. The last thing we need at this moment is one group of Americans suggesting others belong in a different country. ... Even as a joke, it is not funny.”

James Carville, a Southerner not known for quiet probity, also refused to take part in the Dixie bashing. But Mr. Thompson plowed ahead anyway, because he is serious about his argument and has more than enough ammunition of his own.