Includes index

Danielle Brooks -- Sissy Spacek -- Tig Notaro -- Connie Britton -- Dixie Carter & Delta Burke -- Sutton Foster -- Brooke Baldwin -- Carol Burnett -- Alfre Woodard -- Leah Nanako Winkler -- Holly Hunter -- Oprah Winfrey -- Amy Sedaris -- Ashley Fliehr -- Margo Martindale -- Octaviea Spencer -- Reese Witherspoon -- Mashama Bailey -- Carla Hall -- Nina Compton -- Vivian Howard -- Veramae Smart-Grosvenor -- Von Diaz -- Lucille Bishop Smith -- Marianne Eaves -- Leah Chase -- Carnelia Bailey -- Leah Wong Ashburn -- Edna Lewis -- Ashley Christensen -- Kelly Fields -- Pardis Stitt -- Alba Huerta -- Nathalie Dupree -- Nikki Haley -- Rosalynn Carter -- Ida B. Wells -- Simons Welter -- Dr. Valerie Montgomer Rice -- Mary McLeod Bethune -- Queen Quet -- Madeline Jordan -- Madam C. J. Walker -- Darla Moore -- Michelle Dorrance -- Simone Biles -- Laura Bush -- Elizabeth Lanier Fennell -- Minnie Lou Bradley -- Euneika Rogers-Sipp -- Fannie Lou Hamer -- Vicki Smith -- Melinda Gates -- Danica Roem -- Maya Freelon -- Clementine Hunter -- Amanda Matthews -- Willie Anne Wright -- Mary Margaret Pettway -- Linda Anderson -- Gogo Ferguson -- Temple St. Clair -- Mary Jackson -- Lauren Haynes -- Sally Mann -- Amanda Crowe -- Natalie Chanin -- Dorothy Shain -- Marie T. Cochran -- Quiana Parler -- Alison Krauss -- Loretta Lynn -- Mahalia Jackson -- Gina Chavez -- Amanda Shires -- Marshall Chapman -- Amy Ray & Emily Saliers -- Tammy Wynette -- Margo Price -- Rhiannon Giddons -- Beyonce Knowles-Carter -- Candi Staton -- Mavis Staples -- Dolly Parton -- Holly Williams -- Lucinda Williams -- Natash Trethewey -- Dorothea Benton Frank -- Flannery O'Connor -- Molly Ivins -- Lee Smith -- Ada Limon -- Zora Neale Hurston -- Laura Lippman -- Carla Hayden -- Tayari Jones -- Nikky Finney -- Jesmyn Ward -- Daliyah Arana -- Fannie Flagg -- Eudor Welty -- Dorothy Allison -- Margo Lee Shetterly -- Lela Rose -- Peggy Martin -- Cristina Lynch -- Katharine Graham -- Bunny Williams -- Sara Blakely -- Mimi McMakin & Celeri Kemble -- Liz Lambert -- Janie Bryant -- Mary Celeste Beall -- Charlotte Moss -- Barrie Benson -- Cindy Chapman -- Elaine Griffin -- Bunny Mellon -- Mary Ella Gabler -- Laura Vinroot Poole -- Acknowledgements -- Contributors

Through interviews, essays, photos, and illustrations these remarkable chefs, musicians, actors, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, and public servants will offer a dynamic portrait of who the Southern woman is now. The voices of bona fide icons such as Sissy Spacek, Leah Chase, and Loretta Lynn join those whose stories for too long have been overlooked or underestimated, from the pioneering Texas rancher Minnie Lou Bradley to the Gee's Bend, Alabama, quilter Mary Margaret Pettway--all visionaries who have left their indelible mark not just on Southern culture, but on America itself