Uhry's second play, The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997) tackles the unexplored aspects of southern anti-Semitism. Uhry again returns to the affluent Jewish community in Atlanta.

Carson McCuller' s novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) draws on the Southern gothic tradition of American literature. The novel's protagonists including a man who is deaf and mute, an African-American doctor, and a widower all live in a Georgia mill town and are drawn together by their outsider status.

Lorraine Hansberry's three-act play A Raisin in the Sun (1959) explores what happens in 1940s Chicago when an African-American family attempts to move into an all-white neighborhood. This drama reflects Hansberry's own experiences of racial harassment.

Evan O'Connell's novel Mrs. Bridge (1959) chronicles the adult life of Mrs. Bridge, a welloff Midwestern matron. Though she enjoys life's comforts, Mrs. Bridge feels isolated from her husband and...