Southern Crossings: Where Geography and Photography Meet (Center Books on the American South) by David Zurick, Karl Raitz

All regions of the United States can be viewed by opposites, but perhaps nowhere is this view more prevalent than in our understanding of the American South. It is to this region in particular that we apply such constructs as rural vs. urban, commoner vs. aristocrat, farm vs. factory, old vs. new, rich vs. poor, literate vs. illiterate, black vs. white, insider vs. outsider, and so on. In 1996, David Zurick, a renowned geographer with an artistic eye, began a decade-long series of journeys throughout the region to find out for himself what constitutes “the South.” Living at the fulcrum of North and South near Berea, Kentucky, at the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, Zurick was curious as to why the South is seen by outsiders as a region “apart from the rest of America” and by insiders as a place that is “losing its identity.” What ultimately captured Zurick’s attention was the region’s “southernness,” in which there are many Souths, not just the geographically defined Upland and Lowland South or the culturally defined Old and New South. Thus, we see in Zurick’s photographs and accompanying vignettes geographical excursions into the South’s myriad manifestations. Southern Crossings offers a fresh visual perspective on one of the nation’s most distinct regions. Zurick’s blending of geographical insights and artistic vision is a model for landscape photographers to emulate for years to come.