“The South has seen its share of revolutions before.”

Welcome to Left/Right, the third of four special issues to mark the twenty-fifth year of Southern Cultures. Backward/Forward and Inside/Outside are now behind us; Here/Away will cap the series. This time, our good friend Joseph Crespino, distinguished historian at Emory University, has come forward as our guest editor and we are deeply grateful for his wisdom and vision. Our chosen themes were deliberately open-ended but pointed to the changes and continuities that have swept the South since Southern Cultures first began. I was not sure what we would receive, but I expected a flood of essays about politics and policy, the environment, gender, and economic controversy. Instead, several writers brought us back to the ancient polarities of race and faith.