Southern Exposure was an award-winning print journal published by the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South, from 1973 until 2011. Southern Exposure earned a national reputation for its writing on a broad range of political and cultural issues in the South, with a special emphasis on investigative journalism and oral history.

On the 50th anniversary of Southern Exposure’s birth, Facing South and the Institute will be publishing a full digital archive of the journal over the course of the year. The initial installment of the archives available in March 2023 includes issues from the magazine’s launch in 1973 through 1981.

Vol. 16 No. 4 - Winter 1988
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Magazine cover with small child holding yellow flowers, reading "Flowers in the Desert Die"

Flowers in the Desert Die

  • Dateline: The South

    Compiled by Tatia Davis

    2

  • Southern News Roundup

    4

  • The Golden Circle

    From slaves to bananas, the South has sought to build a tropical empire in Central America. By Karl Bermann.

    10

  • Valley So Low

    The Border Patrol has turned South Texas into a vast prison camp for refugees. By Jane Juffer.

    18

  • Invisible City

    More than 100,000 Salvadorans live in Houston, but you might miss them unless you know where to look. By Louis Dubose.

    24

  • La Victoria en Virginia

    How Central American women organized low-income tenants of all races to fight suburban developers. By Dee Reid.

    27

  • The Dictator's Tomb

    Somoza is buried in Miami, but his followers live on. The first English translation of a series from the Nicaraguan newspaper Barricada. By Guillermo Cortes Dominguez.

    29

  • The Death Squads in Houston

    The Salvadoran death squads are now operating inside the United States—with a little help from the FBI. By Ross Gelbspan.

    32

  • The War at Home

    A behind-the-scenes investigation of how the White House waged a secret psychological war in the South. By Peter Kornbluh.

    36

  • Fiction: White Baby

    by Jill McCorkle

    40

  • Southern Voices: A Long Way to Walk

    by Susan Tucker

    46

  • Winning at Any Cost

    How money is poisoning Kentucky's elections. By R. G. Dunlop and Richard Whitt.

    50

  • Clashing Philosophies

    Behind the rhetoric in the West Virginia Supreme Court race. By Norman Oder.

    53

  • The Color of Money

    Race—not property value—determines who gets home loans in Atlanta. By Bill Dedman.

    56

  • The Big Thirst

    El Paso could run out of water by the year 2032. Here's why. By Peter Brock.

    59

  • A Death in the Family

    Alabama has the highest infant death rate in the nation. Is Medicaid making it worse? By Peggy Roberts.

    61

  • The Last Word

    64
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