“If this is your first look at Southern Cultures, we’re glad you’ve joined us. If you’re paying us a return visit, welcome back.”

What is the “real” South? Is there any such thing? Rival images jostle each other in popular imagery: the tall-columned Big House and the dog-trot cabin, the lynch mob and the civil rights march, the drag strip and the debutante ball. All these images are part of the South, but tossing the opposites into a mixture doesn’t settle the question of how they are related. Our authors in this issue don’t settle that matter for keeps, but they all come to grips with it and share a piece of their answers.