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Fancy library havin' former president Bill Clinton isn't the only Arkansan whose reputation is being resurrected. The Oxford American, the most respected magazine you've definitely never read, is back from the dead just in time to prove that there are intelligent writers and editors deep in the heart of the Red States. (The OA's back story, which includes a failed bailout attempt by one-man bestseller factory John Grisham, also proves that whatever color the state they oprate in, small literary magazines are always deep in red ink.)

If you're unfamiliar with the OA and its worldview, just imagine that famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover, "View Of The World From 9th Avenue," but instead of the Hudson, you have the Mississippi. Or something.

The new issue features an essay by culty Charles Portis, a comic strip written by Sammy's Hill author (and Al and Tipper spawn) Kristin Gore, and a music column guest written by former Esquire Literary Editor Will Blythe.