Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South

By Shirley Abbott

A classic that has been in print since its first publication in 1983, Womenfolks is both a personal memoir and a meditation on the often pernicious mythologies of southern cultural history. Shirley Abbott gives us the gritty, independent women of the backwoods, the South’s true heroines, whose hardscrabble world is one of red dirt and hard work—a far cry from the hoopskirts and magnolias of southern lore. As honest, vibrant, and remarkable as the women whose stories illuminate these pages, Womenfolks draws a vivid portrait of a rural culture beset by poverty and sustained by deeply rooted traditions. In her new preface to this edition, Abbott assesses what has changed—and what may never change—about the burdens of southern history and expresses her hope that the better angels of our nature may prevail in our still-new century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Release date: Mar 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781610756051

Shirley Abbott

Shirley Abbott is the author of three memoirs: The Bookmaker's Daughter: A Memory Unbound, which was reviewed on the cover of the New York Times Book Review and was a New York Times Notable Book; Love’s Apprentice: The Romantic Education of a Modern Woman; and Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South. She has taught writing at Smith College and has lectured on memoir writing at many other colleges and universities. She has written numerous magazine articles, as well as books about the Smithsonian Museum and the historic houses of Charleston. The Future of Love is her first novel.

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