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acknowledgments 127 Acknowledgments There are many people to whom I owe a great deal of thanks: Ted Genoways, editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, without whose ideas and encouragement this book would never have been written; Erika Stevens, editor at the University of Georgia Press, whose vision, compassion, and empathy guided me through to the final word; my agent, Rob McQuilkin, whose advice is always just right; Aesha Qawiy, Tamara Jones, Susan Glisson, Tayari Jones, and D. Allen Mitchell—a congregation of supporters whose knowledge and generosity kept me going and who were always willing to talk through anything I asked; all the folks in Mississippi, some named in these pages and some not, who answered graciously my many questions; my husband, Brett, whose ongoing support is immeasurable; and finally, my brother Joe—whose story was always the story. Thanks also to the Virginia Quarterly Review, in whose pages some of this work first appeared, and to Professor Talbot Brewer and the Page-Barbour Lecture Series at the University of Virginia where, in 2007, I presented some sections of this book. ...

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