“By the time he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1996, New York Times correspondent Rick Bragg had already received nearly every award available to an American journalist, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award and 31 other national, regional, and state writing awards. The Pulitzer committee cited his "elegantly written stories about contemporary America." This is true. Rick Bragg writes with a lyricism rare in journalism. But the quality that truly sets Bragg apart from his colleagues can only be described as heart. In now classic articles about aging prisoners in Alabama, the sheriff who caught Susan Smith, black Indian Carnival enthusiasts, the Oklahoma City bombing, and countless others, Bragg approaches his subjects with compassion and clear-eyed respect. After reading All Over but the Shoutin’ it become clear what prompted this "white trash" boy from the Alabama hills to become such a successful adult: his mother. In this celebrated memoir, Bragg recounts his childhood in the rural South, son of an alcoholic and absent father, and Margaret Bragg, his dedicated and "quietly heroic" mother. While this sounds like a formula for a Frank Capra movie, Bragg tells his story with such frank honesty, All Over but the Shoutin’ transcends sentimentality and approaches that elusive quality, beauty. No one who reads this book will fail to be moved.” powells.com
Book review by Anthony Walton for the NYTimes on the Web
Book review by Tim Taylor for Blog Critics Magazine
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