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Some of the most insightful and widely read depictions of Georgia were written by men and women who were neither native to nor residents of the state. Their work, both fictional and nonfictional, includes several of the most popular books in Georgia literature. Yet in other cases their treatments have been harsh and unflattering, and Georgians have resented the negative portrayals of themselves, their communities, or the state itself. The controversy generated by such reactions often served to make these works more influential than they otherwise would have been in shaping perceptions of Georgia and the South. Books that have inspired controversy range from first-person critiques of slavery (by Fanny Kemble) and of convict-lease labor (by Robert Burns and John Spivak) to recent best-selling exposés of contemporary urban life in Savannah (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) and Atlanta (A Man in Full). Both Jean Toomer and Margaret Walker were inspired to write about the lives of their African American ancestors from Georgia in major works of fiction, Cane and Jubilee respectively, and Alice Randall generated considerable news when she satirized the preeminent work in Georgia literature by telling its story from a black perspective (The Wind Done Gone).
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