Explaining what fed the vitality of the Southern literary renaissance between the two world wars and why it is over, Young analyzes six writers and their views of the nature and function of tradition. He discusses the collision of the past and present in Faulkner's "The Unvanquished," Tate's "The Fathers," Warren's "All the King's Men," Welty's "The Optimist's Daughter," Percy's "The Moviegoer," Barth's "The End of the Road" and contrasts their views with those of O'Connor, who finds value in religion as dogma as well as in ritual.