Dead South

These stories explore a set of lives and events in the white American south -- the desegregation of a school, the insecurity of a divorced worker, the generation gap in a Vietnam-era family, the loss of maternal dreams as her children grow, the search for truth behind an old family tale, and a son’s strained loyalty to his estranged parents — all of which reflect the country's surly, growing cultural restlessness.

“These are skillfully rendered tales of troubled souls—young and old, innocent...