All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg

When I was in college, we had Rick Bragg as a guest speaker in my English Literature class. I was unable to attend that night, and I was very upset. "He was very entertaining and enlightening," the other students told me. While he told them stories about his life as a journalist, his main goal, of course, was to seel his book.

I recently read that book, "All Over But the Shoutin." I was amazed by it. It's the story about growing up dirt poor in Alabama. It wasn't just another rags to riches story. He tells about his mother's struggles to care for three children without the help of her husband.

In this story, Rick is able to pay homage to his mother's sacrifices without making her seem, unnecessarily, like a saint. He tells of her silent dignity and how she went for more than two decades without a new dress. He also tells of her secret embarrassment about that and how she refused to step foot in a church because of it.

He tells about his brothers and how one of them never got over his troubled childhood and how the other never left his hometown, content to live just as he had always lived. He explains his teenaged years and talks about how he was a trouble maker, but he makes excuses or asks for apologies.

He tells about his life in journalism. He chronicles his start at a small Alabama paper and his rise through the ranks eventually landing a job at the New York Times. He makes you feel like you're on assignment right there with him. He vents his jealously and resentment of those who grew up with money. Every chapter tells another tale of growing, dealing, and learning to be the man that not only desired the Pulitzer prize, but who also won it.

This book is a great read. I couldn't put it down until I was finished. It is a great inspiration for anyone struggling to overcome their past. Coming from Alabama and having a meager start much like his, it was a very inspiring story for me. I realized that there are many of us who have come from squalor to make our mark upon the world.