Southern reading: Richness and illiteracy

A holiday-weekend series by the Associated Press highlights a paradox of the South: it has one of the country's richest literary traditions and best writers, but some of the highest illiteracy.

This clash of literature and illiteracy is one of the great contradictions in a region filled with them. And it's particularly stark in Mississippi, where studies have found 30 percent of adults can't read well enough to fill out a job application, the dropout rate is 40 percent and public schools rank near the bottom in nearly every category.

According to a sidebar story on illiteracy, the South has the highest rate based on a 1992 survey (the latest info available). Top states include:

--Mississippi: 30 %.
--Louisiana: 28 %.
--Alabama: 25 %.
--Florida: 25 %.
--South Carolina: 25 %.
--California: 24 %.
--New York: 24 %.
--Texas: 24 %.
--Georgia: 23 %.
--Arkansas: 22 %.
--North Carolina: 22 %.
--New Jersey: 21 %.
--Tennessee: 21 %.
--Illinois: 20 %.
--Maryland: 20 %.
--New Mexico: 20 %.
--West Virginia: 20 %.
--Kentucky: 19 %.
--Pennsylvania: 19 %.
--Rhode Island: 19 %.
--Virginia: 19 %.