The Redneck Review of Literature (1975-1995). an amazingly serious small press magazine of contemporary western American fiction, poetry, essays, drama and book reviews, began as the brainchild of writer Penelope Reedy and was called by other names in the 1970s. At an Idaho Commission on the Arts meeting in Coeur d'Alene, the name came to Reedy in a "flash of inspiration" and stuck. The magazine was entirely self-supporting, receiving only one grant from the Idaho Humanities Council to pay scholars for articles relating to Idaho's literary heritage. Reedy eventually purchased a used off-set press with which she printed the 80-100 page semi-annual publication. Her children, Patricia, Katherine, James and Edward as well as various volunteers (particularly Florence Blanchard and Charlotte Wright) assisted with editing, inspiring, collating and mailing over the years. Artist Judy Widener, of Buhl, Idaho, was the principle illustrator for the last half of the magazine's life. Reedy took the magazine with her to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for three years while she attended Marquette University, bringing it back home to Idaho in 1994. She disbanded publication in 1995 while attending graduate school at Idaho State University. Personal stress, the technological changes in publishing (Internet, etc.), and an increased awareness of western American literature by the publishing establishment at large contributed to "Redneck's" gentle demise.
A complete set of the magazine as well as papers and correspondence is archived at the library at Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.