The extraordinary gifts for evocation and insight and the stunning talent for storytelling that earned Rick Bragg a pulitzer prize for feature writing in 1996 are here brought to bear on the wrenching story of his own fa...The extraordinary gifts for evocation and insight and the stunning talent for storytelling that earned Rick Bragg a pulitzer prize for feature writing in 1996 are here brought to bear on the wrenching story of his own family's life. It is the story of a violent, war-haunted, alcoholic father and a strong-willed, loving mother who struggled to protect her three sons from the effects of poverty and ignorance that had tainted her own life.