Issue 1: Spring 1992

“We will not publish pieces about family reunions, or recipes, or beauty contests, or picturesque porches, or local anchormen, or picknicking, or interior decorating, or lovely gardens, or Southern soap opera stars. We abandon these concerns to our narcissistic and stagnant competition. Instead, the Oxford American expects to be distinguished and popular for its adherence to what is outstanding in contemporary American culture—not for publishing articles about, or for, its richest subscribers.” — From the “Declaration of Intent”   Fiction by Barry Hannah. Essays by Louis Nordan, John Grisham, Larry Brown, Dave Southern, and others. Poetry by Roy Blount Jr., X. J. Kennedy, Fred Chappell, John Updike, Jack Butler, Charles Bukowski, and more.