{"product_id":"back-home-roy-hoffman-9780817354312","title":"Back Home: Journeys Through Mobile","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAfter twenty years in New York City, a prize-winning writer takes a \"long look back\" at his hometown of Mobile, Alabama.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eBack Home: Journeys through Mobile\u003c\/i\u003e, Roy Hoffman tells stories--through essays, feature articles, and memoir--of one of the South's oldest and most colorful port cities. Many of the pieces here grew out of Hoffman's work as Writer-in-Residence for his hometown newspaper, the \u003ci\u003eMobile Register\u003c\/i\u003e, a position he took after working in New York City for twenty years as a journalist, fiction writer, book critic, teacher, and speech writer. Other pieces were first published in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSouthern Living\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePreservation\u003c\/i\u003e, and other publications. Together, this collection comprises a long, second look at the Mobile of Hoffman's childhood and the city it has since become. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Like a photo album, \u003ci\u003eBack Home\u003c\/i\u003e presents close-up portraits of everyday places and ordinary people. There are meditations on downtown Mobile, where Hoffman's grandparents arrived as immigrants a century ago; the waterfront where longshoremen labor and shrimpers work their nets; the back roads leading to obscure but intriguing destinations. Hoffman records local people telling their own tales of race relations, sports, agriculture, and Mardi Gras celebrations. Fishermen, baseball players, bakers, authors, political figures--a strikingly diverse population walks across the stage of \u003ci\u003eBack Home\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Throughout, Hoffman is concerned with stories and their enduring nature. As he writes, \"When buildings are leveled, when land is developed, when money is spent, when our loved ones pass on, when we take our places a little farther back every year on the historical time-line, what we have still are stories.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Roy Hoffman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 081735431X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817354312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Fire Ant Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/15\/2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 394\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.29lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.65h x 6.50w x 1.12d","brand":"Roy Hoffman","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46094101905663,"sku":"9780817354312","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0da8283c-d36f-4783-b90d-b210fb65bc5c.jpg?v=1724843690","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/back-home-roy-hoffman-9780817354312","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}