The Oxford Book of the American South resonates with the words of black people and white, women and men, the powerless as well as the powerful. The collection presents the most telling fiction and nonfiction produced in the South from the late eighteenth century to the present. Renowned authors such as James Agee, Richard Wright, Maya Angelou, Lee Smith, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor appear in these pages, but so do people whose writing did not immediately reach a large audience. For example, Harriet A. Jacobs' book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, which is now recognized as one of the most illuminating narratives of a former slave, was neglected for generations. And Sarah Morgan's powerful Civil War Diary has only recently come to widespread attention. The Oxford Book of the American South presents compelling autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, and journalism as well as stories and selections from novels, and runs the spectrum from the conservative to the radical, the traditional to the innovative. Editors Edward L. Ayers and Bradley C. Mittendorf have arranged these diverse readings so that they fit together into a rich mosaic of Southern life and history. The sections of the book The Old South, The Civil War and Its Consequences, Hard Times, and The Turning unfold a vivid record of life below the Mason Dixon line. We see the antebellum period both from the perspective of those who experienced it first-hand, such as Thomas Jefferson and former slaves Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass, and then from the perspective of authors looking back on that era, including William Styron and Sherley Anne Williams. Likewise, we see the Civil War through the eyes of witnesses such as Sam Watkins, through the eyes of later writers trying to make sense of the conflict, such as Robert Penn Warren, and through the eyes of those using the war's intense passions to fuel their fiction, such as Margaret Mitchell and Barry Hannah. The classic authors of the Southern Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s appear here in the context of the hard times in which they wrote. The years since World War II are chronicled in the powerful words of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," George Garrett's "Good bye, Good bye, Be Always Kind and True," and Peter Taylor's "The Decline and Fall of the Episcopal Church, in the Year of Our Lord 1952." The editors have selected these readings, their Preface tells us, to convey "the passions that have surfaced time and again in more than two hundred years of Southern writing." Indeed, the struggles, defeats, and triumphs chronicled in The Oxford Book of the American South speak not just to the South, but to all of the American experience. They document and evoke some of the most dramatic episodes in the nation's life

Gathers short stories, journalism, and excerpts from novels, diaries, and memoirs by Southern authors.

Religion in the American South: Protestants and Others in History and Culture

Fiction and non-fiction are mixed in this collection that brings together the most telling literature produced in the South over the last 200 years.

Excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers and other creative writers who lived between 1800 and 1900, from the first published critical appraisals to current evaluations.

Wilson's Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction (13th Edition, 2008) recommends reference and nonfiction books for the general adult audience. It is a guide to over 9,000 books (over 6,500 titles are new to this edition), plus review sources and other professional aids for librarians and media specialists. Acquisitions librarians, reference librarians and cataloguers can all use this reliable guide to building and maintaining a well-rounded collection of the most highly recommended reference and nonfiction books for adults. All titles are selected by librarians, editors, advisors, and nominators-all of them experts in public library services. The collection is a valuable tool for collection development and maintenance, reader's advisory, weeding your collection, and curriculum support. Richly enhanced records provide a wealth of useful information. All entries include complete bibliographic data as well as price, subject headings, annotations, grade level, Dewey classification, cover art, and quotations from reviews. Many entries also list awards, best-book lists, and starred reviews. Save Time: Efficiently organised and includes ""Starred"" titles Save Money: Allocate your resources to the best materials available Stay Relevant: Discover the best in important, contemporary categories Complete Coverage: Includes recommendations on periodicals and electronic resources, too Four-Year Subscription This Core Collection was originally sold as a four-year subscription. The core edition, published in 2008, delivers a library-bound volume with an extensive, selective list of recommended books. From 2009 to 2011 Wilson published extensive paperback supplements to the 2008 edition. A new cycle of materials will begin in 2012. However, the 2008 to 2011 materials are currently available. Buyers of them will receive all these materials immediately. All four years are only $420. Uniquely Valuable There is nothing quite like Wilson Core Collections. The accumulated expertise of our selectors, and the unquestioned reputation of these collections, is invaluable. Wilson Core Collections are universally recognised as impartial and expert aids to collection development that assist and reinforce the judgement of librarians everywhere. Selection to a Wilson Core Collection is strong support to any challenged purchase. Contemporary Relevance This Core Collection includes broad updates in the areas of crafts; terrorism, and international security; environment and global warming; diseases and medicine; and religion, plus other contemporary topics that keep the library's collection as current as today's headlines. Other Key Features Classified Catalogue - A list arranged by Dewey Decimal Classification, with complete cataloguing information for each book. Author, Title, Subject and Analytical Index - An in-depth key to the information in Classified Catalogue-including author and title analytics for works contained in anthologies and collections. Richly enhanced records provide complete bibliographic data, price, subject headings, descriptive annotations, grade level, Dewey classification, evaluative quotations from a review, when available. Listing works published in the United States, or published in Canada or the United Kingdom and distributed in the United States, Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction features extensive revisions in the areas of health, science and technology, personal finance, sports, cooking and gardening, and handicrafts. Biography, poetry and literary criticism continue to receive comprehensive treatment. Reference works in all subject fields are included.