A deep understanding of the South is woven throughout the book, along with an appreciation of this region's poorest people. Rick Bragg was raised in a family led by his mother after she finally broke away from his alcoholic and violent father. Vivid memories crowd the book's pages as Bragg writes of his upbringing: surrounded by an extended family, food, hard work, and racism. There were several different cultures in the South of Bragg's youth. Whites belonged to classes, with corresponding differences in education and expectations. Bragg got only a few glimpses into the lives of the wealthy South. His upbringing was among the poorest of the poor. In his culture, men were expected to fight hard and dirty when insulted. Drinking and getting drunk was part of male gatherings. Salvation was found in religion, which surrounded people on the radio, in church, and when family got together. Women cooked huge meals that took hours to prepare. They were responsible for doing what needed to be done to hold a family together and raise the children.

What Bragg carries from his childhood are a fierce and protective love of the South, an affiliation with those who live in poverty wherever he finds them, and a hatred of those who grew up privileged and feel superior because of it. He also carries into adulthood a fear of fatherhood: a concern that he will become as his father was. This causes the breakup of his marriage and leaves Bragg in mid-life looking for something that he feels is missing. Finally, Bragg carries with him a sense of personal inferiority: that he is unworthy of his career, because of his lack of education. Many of these themes come together in the year that he spends as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He is surprised at his selection for this program. He is angered by ignorance and "petrified opinions" about the South he finds there. Yet, he realizes during this year that "you can't go through life not liking people because they didn't have to work as hard or come as far as you did." Bragg seems to have come to terms with his past and present when he receives the Pulitzer Prize. This confirms his worth as a journalist and his mother's success in raising him.

It was at the funeral of his grandmother that Bragg realized the gradual and inexorable ending of the world he grew up in and determined to write this memoir to his mother, while she is still alive to read it. It is a powerful and haunting tribute to her dignity and hard work.

40 of 40 found the following review helpful:

perfect memorialization of a time and place few experienced  May 25, 1998
By nazz3@aol.com or Leissa Nazzareno
I am yet another transplanted Alabamian left in awe as I finished this book. I wonder if all the reviews by southerners like me, came from our searching for someone to talk to about this perfect account of a time and place - the 60's and 70's in rural Alabama - that was almost like time had stood still. It was so far removed from the hippies and woodstock, and full of Hank Williams, the Florida Boys, George Wallace, Bear Bryant's football and all of the rest of the very specific terms, brands, species, and local color that Rick Bragg uses in his writing. Like his mother said -"People forgets if it aint wrote down". I feel almost relieved that he has done such an excellent job of bringing that time to life. And since I've read the other reviews I see that I'm not the only one that was moved to tears by the story of the tall blonde woman and all she endured for the benefit of her sons. I wonder if you hadn't actually lived all that is described in the book, if you'd be as impressed with it. I've concluded that yes, you would. You just wouldn't be paralayzed by some memory that flies into your mind every time something like purple hull peas, or spitting on your worm for luck was mentioned. Or Red Eye Gravy and lightnin bugs. And the descriptions of the food, whether it's the food on the grounds at the Baptist church, or the Foot Long Hot Dog at PeeWees Dixie Dip, or the Thanksgiving dinner at his momma's new house, they were all incredible! (not the bologna sandwich on the dead mule,though) This book also gives me some new respect for our age (I'm a half-year younger than Bragg) His stories of "the stories" that he's covered made me realize that we've seen some news, too, in our life times, even if there were no wars or giant disasters (Thank God). It's ok to be going on forty. His determination to make good for his momma is very admirable. This story is not just about the most stuborn and different men on the planet (yes, southern men) but about all men. It was refreshing to read such a sensitive and honest account of what one man was thinking when he did the things he did, especially relating to his own mother. I didn't want this book to end. It was like reading a letter from home. I savored every word of it and ordered my sister her own copy, because I don't want to pass this one on. I know that I will re-read it, at then in parts, almost like it was my Bible. See, he's right, God does hang on like a rusty fish hook in those parts. Even when you've been living in Southern California for eighteen years, the religion they taught you just doesn't go away. I always thought we grew up in a special time, that very few got to experience, but it was hard to describe or explain. This book confirmed it for me. Maybe he's right....there's a price to pay for living in the lovliness of rural Alabama.

54 of 60 found the following review helpful:

The second time I wished there was a 6th star.  Jul 07, 2000
By taking a rest
The first time was when I read Mr. Bragg's other book "Somebody Told Me". In that collection of articles he had written I came across the following sentence,

"This is a place where grandmothers hold babies on their laps under the stars and whisper in their ears that the lights in the sky are holes in the floor of heaven."

It is very difficult to say something unique or clever about the way he writes. He would dismiss any suggestion that he "brings" something to a story. Even the professional reviewers have resorted to linking his name with some of the greatest writers who have taken the time to share their craft with us; Melville, Faulkner, and those who brought us "Huck Finn" and "Holden Caulfield", and Mr. Bragg is still a young writer who has scores of books to come.

The only thing this man lacks is pretense, or if you prefer, false pride. Someone said he had "lent dignity" to the people in one of his stories, he felt that comment was wrong and said "All I did was write what was there", and another time, "It wasn't that I had gotten it right-God knows I mess up a lot-but that I had gotten it true".

I believe he writes for the individuals and groups he writes about. We are just the lucky witnesses, the beneficiaries of one man's amazing talent.

Reading cannot get better than this.

20 of 21 found the following review helpful:

A Book for All People  Aug 23, 2004
By Norma McCauley
I was born and raised in California. I feel no affinity for the South. In fact, I find it culturally foreign. This book is rooted in the South, a memoir written by an Alabama native about growing up dirt poor, and the road to becoming an accomplished reporter, finally attending Harvard and later winning the Pulitzer Prize while working for the New York Times. But in his heart, he never left the South, nor did he ever disown his devoted, toothless "mama". A man exposed to religion and respecting it, he never appropriated it for himself. Yet he exemplified the commandment to honor his mother. (His father is another matter!)

From the very first page this book drew me in. Rick Bragg writes in simple, direct sentences, the unobtrusive words revealing, rather than competing with, the impact of the scene. Instead of writing a mere regional book, he writes a universal book, tying us together by our shared emotions and experiences. He sensitively portrays not northern experiences or southern experiences, but human experiences.

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