Reddit reviews Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South

For another view on this I recommend this book. Large pockets of the South were essentially Pagan (Celtic) and traveling preachers were often run out of town with shotguns

I consider people thugs who behave in a thuggish way regardless of skin color. Much of the thuggish behavior in the black ghetto culture can be traced to "cracker culture" in the antebellum South which in turn can be traced to immigrants from the Scottish Highlands in Ulster and from early eras in Wales ie "borderers" "North Britons" aka "the Celtic fringe." Thuggishness is not restricted to a particular skin color, it tends to be culturally based.

http://www.amazon.com/Cracker-Culture-Celtic-Ways-South/dp/0817304584

"crackin' wise" originally meant talking shit and still does to some extent. Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South.