This memoir, published in 2001, reminds me of Willie Morris and "North Toward Home." Curtis Wilkie, a journalist, is a Son of the South. He grew up in Mississippi in the 50's and 60's (about 10 years older than me)during the civil rights struggles, attended Ole Miss, left Mississippi and The South in disgust, but then returned and now lives in New Orleans.
He grew up in the conservative South, but became liberal. This is the kind of person of my time that I most identify with.
Curtis Wilkie was there in Oxford in October of 1962 when James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at Ole Miss. He gives a gripping first-hand account of the riots that resulted in injuries, property damage, and 2 deaths. In retrospect, it is hard to fathom how this came about 49 years ago. Hard to imagine.
He was a reporter in Clarkesdale in the 60's for that town's small newspaper, he went from there to Boston to work for that city's liberal paper, and he covered Jimmy Carter in his presidential run in 1976. He didn't like Carter at first, but grew to respect him later.
The book ends with the funeral of Willie Morris in 1999. Before reading "North Toward Home" last year I did not realize how big a Southern character was Willie Morris. Now I know.
This is my kind of story: the small-town Southern boy who goes to town and earns his liberal stripes.
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