My Southern Journey: True Stories from the Heart of the South

by Rick Bragg

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the celebrated bestselling author of All Over but the Shoutin' and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Rick Bragg, comes a poignant and wryly funny collection of essays on life in the south.

Keenly observed and written with his insightful and deadpan sense of humor, he explores enduring Southern truths about home, place, spirit, table, and the regions' varied geographies, including his native Alabama, Cajun country, and the Gulf Coast. Everything is explored, from regional obsessions from college football and fishing, to mayonnaise and spoonbread, to the simple beauty of a fish on the hook.

Collected from over a decade of his writing, with many never-before-published essays written specifically for this edition, My Southern Journey is an entertaining and engaging read, especially for Southerners (or feel Southern at heart) and anyone who appreciates great writing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780848757465
Publisher:	Time Inc. Books
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	57,712
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.12(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rick Bragg is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of All Over but the Shoutin,' Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown. Bragg, who has written for numerous magazines, including Sports Illustrated and Food & Wine, was a newspaper reporter for two decades, covering high school football for the Jacksonville News, and, among other topics, Islamic fundamentalism for The New York Times. He has won more than 50 significant writing awards, in books and journalism, including, twice, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award. A graduate of Jacksonville State University, Bragg was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Bragg is currently Professor of Writing in the Journalism Department at the University of Alabama, and lives in Tuscaloosa.

Hometown:

New Orleans, Louisiana

Date of Birth:

July 26, 1959

Place of Birth:

Possum Trot, Alabama

Education:

Attended Jacksonville State University for six months in 1970; attended Harvard University, 1992-1993

Editorial Reviews

09/14/2015
Full of homespun philosophy and reflection, the 72 short essays in this collection from Pulitzer-winner Bragg (All Over But the Shoutin') present a paean to his Southern roots. Grouped under "Home," "Table," "Place," "Craft," and "Spirit," the pieces explore a range of themes, including Alabama red dirt, rednecks, football, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, gospel singing, All Saints Day in New Orleans, and in the best section, Southern homestyle cooking. Each essay is steeped in personal memories and experiences and most are infectiously funny; for example, "For a Vegetable, I'll Have White Gravy," a celebration of Southern comfort food, asserts that a bagel is "a biscuit without sin or indulgence." They are also full of down-to-earth insights, such as an observation prompted by neighbors working together after a ferocious storm: "As Southerners, we know that a man with a chainsaw is worth 10 with a clipboard, that there is no hurt in this world, even in the storm of the century, that cannot be comforted with a casserole, and that faith, in the hereafter or in neighbors who help you through the here and now, cannot be knocked down." Even confirmed Northerners will find the genial charm of these essays hard to resist. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

''[Bragg has] a true gift for great storytelling, the kind . . . that makes you think it's just a plain old story, until he gets to the end and you're either weeping or covered with goosebumps.'' --New Orleans Times-Picayune, praise for the author

''Bragg tells about the South with such power and bone-naked love . . . he will make you cry.'' --Atlanta Journal-Constitution, praise for the author --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
 

From the Publisher