Up South in the Ozarks: Dispatches from the Margins

The Ozarks is a place that defies easy categorization. Sprawling across much of Missouri and Arkansas and smaller parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, it is caught on the margins of America's larger cultural regions: part southern, part midwestern, and maybe even a little bit western. For generations Ozarkers have been more likely than most other Americans to live near or below the poverty line-a situation that has often subjected them to unflattering stereotypes. In short, the Ozarks has been a m...