About the South: An Aging Southerner Recalls Life Tragic and Triumphant in a 1900s-Era Rural Farm Family (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798990021198)

Within the pages of this book are a collection of events and experiences "About the South" which, once perused, will be difficult for the reader to put down. These collective memories include tragic and heart-rending life on one hand, and adventure and absolute hilarity on the other, all of which took place within the Jackson family of northwest Georgia in the 1950s and '60s. On the surface, this brood appears to be a typical rural farming family of that era, but in reality, things often were not quite what they seemed to be. These events - for the most part - are all true and represent a semi-autobiographical account of the author's life.

In the early years of this household, there are countless comedic moments. In one instance for example, the author, as a child of five years in age, exercised a small tyke's vengeance to "imprison" his grandfather in the family's dairy farm milk-house for some five hours where the elder Jackson was forced to angrily "cool his heels" after having chastised the fearful tiny youngster for a perceived innocent activity. On another occasion, the two oldest brothers conspire to convince their younger sibling that he can safely jump off the roof of the family home and supposedly float gently and unharmed down to the ground beneath a tiny surplus Army military supplies parachute. On yet another day, the dynamiting of a troublesome beaver dam on the Jackson farm property almost eliminates more than the dam. And on separate days of reckoning, the youngest brother finally wreaks vengeance upon his elder sibling in dramatic fashion in episodes which will leave the reader reeling in laughter.

Beneath this veneer of humorous life, however, were also many sad and heart-rending experiences. When "the chips were down" financially, alcoholism (not to mention a fire in the middle of the night) almost destroys the family completely. After the forces of this evil and subsequent divorce have taken their toll upon the family, the youngest son is tragically accused - at age 16 - of a "crime" which actually was no crime at all, and then later accidentally poisoned to death at age 23; the youngest sister is beaten, robbed - and worse - by thieves; and the family home is a whisker away from being repossessed when bankruptcy comes knocking on the door.

Along the way, however, are many interspersed inspirational moments as well. Learn about a devoted elderly Black farm worker who meticulously and lovingly cared for the Jackson youngsters during their formative years, earning for him their undying love and respect. Enjoy the details of a highly-decorated World War II veteran who took his young charges - as members of Troop #14 of the Boy Scouts of America - on many high adventures in the 1960s and taught them how to survive in a world which was fast-becoming a very confusing place. These and some 20 additional episodes of unusual comedy, high adventure and heart-breaking tragedy await the readers of this account of the author's rise to manhood where even then, he continued to experience oft-hilarious incidents "About the South" which defy description.