Salvation South

Next month, the bestselling novelist Percival Everett, who was born in Fort Gordon, Ga., could take home one of the most prestigious prizes in publishing, the National Book Award, for his novel James. The National Book Awards are Salvation South editor — and avid reader — Chuck Reece’s favorite awards show. Here’s how he gets ready to watch.

The birthday of legendary New Orleans trumpeter and champion of traditional jazz, Wynton Marsalis, is this week. The prospect of the occasion reminded Salvation South editor Chuck Reece of a long-ago night, when a sound from a New York City basement and changed the way he heard the music of his home.

The American South is quire familiar with hurricanes. But none has ever wreaked the widespread destruction we’ve seen over the last two weeks from Florida up into the Appalachian Mountains. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with a few stories he’s gathered in calls with friends and contributors.

All throughout this sweltering Georgia summer, people across our state have bravely gone into their yards with dangerous implements—mowers, shears, weed whackers, and other weapons of lawn maintenance. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece did the same, until he learned this painful lesson.

In this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece details the United States's brutal program of forcibly assimilating Native American children through boarding schools in the late 19th and early 20th century. He learns the historical context of this act of warfare; the lasting trauma it created; and the Native-led efforts to heal its generational wounds. 

This weekend, DeKalb County officials will gather on the courthouse square in Decatur to dedicate a statute of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis. The statue replaces a monument installed in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with some memories of his conversations with John Lewis.

Martin Luther—not Atlanta’s own Dr. King, but the sixteenth century priest who was his namesake—once wrote, “Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” Salvation South editor Chuck Reece believes the music we take to heart when we're young can change us forever. Here’s Chuck with some thoughts on that.

Young boys have been worried about what it means to become a man since the beginning of time. And for years, they have tried to prove they are men by imitating the so-called “manly” behaviors modeled by earlier generations. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece thinks that perhaps the time has come to rethink that method.