Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South

In this riveting political and social history of the American South during the second half of the twentieth century, acclaimed journalist Curtis Wilkie tells the story of a region and a man -- himself -- intimately transformed by racial and political upheavals. In 1969, in the wake of the violence surrounding the civil rights movement, Wilkie left the South and vowed never to live there again. But after traveling the world as a reporter, he returned in 1993, drawn by a deep-rooted affinity with the territory of his youth. Here, he endeavors to make sense of the enormous changes that have convulsed the South for more than four decades. Through vivid recollections of landmark events, Dixie becomes both a striking eyewitness account of history and an unconventional tale of redemption full of beauty, humor, and pathos.

Curtis Wilkie was a national and foreign correspondent for The Boston Globe for twenty-six years. He has also written for publications including Newsweek and The New Republic, and is coauthor, with Jim McDougal, of Arkansas Mischief. A native Mississippian, he lives in New Orleans.