Focus: New Southern Writers — July-August 2004

Political Books

Volume 25, Number 6
September-October 2004

Focus: New Southern Writing

Introduction: New Southern Writing
Sarah Kennedy

Safe Mischief
Lesley Wheeler reviews The Zones of Paradise by Lynn Powell

We’ll Raise a Fifth of Jack Daniels Yet
Kathryn Stripling Byer reviews New Stories from the South, 2004 edited by Shannon Ravenel

Mystery and Manners
R.T. Smith reviews After O’Connor edited by Hugh Ruppersburg

The Storm’s Eye
Joan H. O’Mara reviews The Art of Walter Anderson edited by Patricia Pinson

Bridge Building
Jake Adam York reviews Invisible Bride by Tony Tost

The Lexicon of Ruin
Lisa Russ Spaar reviews The Dark Takes Aim by Julie Suk

Feature: Aftermath: 9/11

America the Broken
Beau Friedlander reviews The Immensity of the Here and Now by Paul West

Weapons of Mass Distraction
Dave Stevens reviews Al-Qaeda by Jason Burke and I Am a Soldier, Too by Rick Bragg

The Nine Alexandrias of the USA
Daniela Gioseffi reviews Nine Alexandrias by Semezdin Mehmedinović

Feature: Politics Left & Right

Jihadists of the American Way
William O’Rourke reviews Family Circle by Susan Braudy

The Religious Right: Measuring the Threat
Matthew Kopka reviews The Fundamentals of Extremism edited by Kimberly Blaker

The Battle of Seattle
Tom LeClair reviews The Fountain at the Center of the World by Robert Newman

Feature: Women Artists & Technology

Guilty Pleasures
Charles Russell reviews The Complete Untitled Film Stills by Cindy Sherman

Going Where They’re Not Supposed to Be
Dene Grigar reviews Women, Art, and Technology edited by Judy Malloy

Book Reviews

Thinking Big James M. Mellard reviews After Theory by Terry Eagleton

The Wizard of Outré Lance Olsen reviews IN & OZ by Steve Tomasula

Tea Time with the Gods Eric Miles Williamson reviews Is by Wayne Dodd and Cocktails by D.A. Powell

¡En Colombia nunca se sabe! John Lardas reviews Law in a Lawless Land by Michael Taussig

American Shaman Rochelle Owens reviews Selections by María Sabina

Purveying Marx Jim Feast reviews Dance of the Dialectic and Ballbuster? by Bertell Ollman

What Is a Jew? Regina Weinreich reviews Diaspora by Frederic Brenner

The Great Devourer Frank Allen reviews Shooting Script by Bill Tremblay

Catholicity Patrick Madden reviews Leaping by Brian Doyle

Listening Literally Manu Samriti Chander reviews Smoking Lovely by Willie Perdomo

Cartoon Killers Jeffrey R. Di Leo reviews 15 Serial Killers by Harold Jaffe

Escaping Form Kay Murphy reviews Escape Artist by Terry Blackhawk

The Personal Pop Surreal Wayne Miller reviews Creature by Jerry Harp

Fireworks Steve Kistulentz reviews Bibliophilia by Michael Griffith and The Madam by Julianna Baggott

Writers to Watch Michael Hemmingson reviews girls by Nic Kelman and You’re a Bad Man, Aren’t You? by Susannah Breslin

The Original Testament Mark Jay Mirsky reviews The Jewish Study Bible, Tanakh Translation edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler

Departments

Rants and Raves
Letters to and from the editors

Picketing the Zeitgeist
The States’ Poets Laureate by Richard Kostelanetz