the june 1, 1967, release of "sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band" gave southern pop-culture immortality, thanks to his photograph being included (on the recommendation of ringo starr) on the album's front-cover collage, which was photographed by cooper. soon after, a collection of his short writing "red-dirt marijuana and other tastes", was published in the us. it received favorable reviews from critics, and the cover blurb featured a highly complimentary quote from gore vidal, who described southern as "the most profoundly witty writer of our generation".