Editors Ben Forkner and Patrick Samway look back at the writing the South has produced during the twentieth century and conclude that “there seems to be a good chance that Southern literature of the twentieth century will be remembered and read as one of the permanent gifts of modern times.”

In A Modern Southern Reader, they bring together representative work of many writers who are not only the best of their region but who are also among the very best our country has produced. From the Fugitives who led the Southern Renaissance in the twenties through Faulkner and O’Connor up to such contemporary talents as Barry Hannah and Dave Smith, Forkner and Samway have assembled a collection that demonstrates the enormous depth and variety of modern Southern literature.

This important and comprehensive collection of fiction, poetry, drama, essays, interviews, and reminiscences is a treat for all lovers of fine literature. It is also an invaluable addition to the libraries of students and scholars alike.

The literary canon of the old South is redefined in this remarkable companion to the highly acclaimed A Modern Southern Reader. Editors Ben Forkner and Patrick Samway, S. J. have selected from the most original and lasting works of nineteenth-century Southern writing (1820-1920) to reflect the full range of the Southern experience.

The thorough introduction illuminates the individual pieces, providing insight into the culture of the Old South, from which rose a new generation of prominent, American writers. Features the work of Kate Chopin, Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ellen Glasgow, Henry Grady, Joel Chandler Harris, Thomas Jefferson, James Weldon Johnson, Sidney Lanier, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, and many others.

“…Georgia writers in the short story have produced an unusual number of original voices in an outspoken, independent tradition which somehow, against the odds, continues to kick and curse and sing and thrive.”