Judy Goldman relishes memories of a loving relationship in her memoir "Child" while also struggling to reconcile herself to the systemic racism of the Jim Crow South. In... Read More

Rob Simbeck’s poetic nature book "The Southern Wildlife Watcher" includes three dozen examples of regional wildlife. Simbeck, whose awe toward nature compels him to engender... Read More

"My Ghost Has a Name" is a true-crime work that digs deeper, exploring the human psyche with appealing, resonant results. Haunted by the tragic and horrific 1999 murder of her... Read More

Of a mortal painter in an unfamiliar setting, it is enough to ask for technically sound, representational landscapes, and only from a master, in the haunts and stomping grounds... Read More

There are versions of the South that sell glossy magazines. And then there’s the South itself: a little bit grittier, a little less polite. More fighting and less showering,... Read More

While Charles Gibbs waited in the “living grave” of a death-row jail cell in a New York prison in 1831, he made a shocking confession. Consigned to the gallows for his role... Read More

It was an unjust law that begged to be broken. The Fugitive Slave Law, passed in 1850, was an act of desperation on the part of Southern slave holders. They increasingly saw... Read More

“Very well then—he would travel. Not all that far, not quite to where the tigers were.” This quote from Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice might describe Meredith, except... Read More

Rubin is a beloved figure in the publishing world. As founder of Algonquin Books, he provided a launching pad for Southern writers such as Jill McCorkle, Clyde Edgerton, and Lee... Read More

An often quoted and accepted belief in both musical and cultural studies is that African culture places a great importance upon rhythm. Unfortunately, all too often this... Read More