by Barry Hannah
First published 1979
Hannah presents a collection of short fiction set primarily in the contemporary and Civil War-era South. His characters include Vietnam veterans struggling with trauma, aging Southern men confronting mortality, and Civil War soldiers caught in brutal combat. The stories move between different time periods and locations, from modern Mississippi towns to nineteenth-century battlefields. Hannah writes in a distinctive voice that blends dark humor with violence and loss. His narrators often speak directly to readers with raw honesty about death, war, and disappointment. The collection explores how violence shapes men across different generations and conflicts. At its center lies an examination of masculine identity under pressure, whether from war, aging, or the weight of Southern history.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, american-fiction, 20th-century, american, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, non-linear-narrative, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Mississippi, South, United States
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, Civil War, Contemporary
209 pages · Paperback · Dell Publishing
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, war