This volume is an effort to introduce O'Connor to a new generation of readers by including previously published essays that clarify her religious ideas, her narrative technique, her use of humor, and the regional and social context of her fiction. Original essays commissioned especially for this volume make significant new contributions to the understanding and appreciation of her work. Essays discuss the religious context of such stories as "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People". Other essays explore O'Connor's use of humor in the story "Temple of the Holy Ghost" as well as her two short novels Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away.