Babs Evers

The more I read, the less I believed. There were many contractions by the author that, to me, pointed out that he was writing to make an effect, perhaps pushing the agenda that he was a superhero to overcome the failures of other people in his life. The fact that he uses the term “hillbilly” is the first clue. His mediocre high school grades and lack of college getting him into the press corps of the Marines seems a little suspect, too, so there is more to that story than he wants to reveal, perhaps because it takes away from his one-man beat the odds agenda. He never acknowledges to himself that his adored MawMAw and PawPaw were at the heart of his mother’s problems, nor does he seem to realize that his superior IQ gave him insights and opportunities that other parts of his family did not have. I admit to being entertained by the book as I was reading it, but, as I reflected on it afterward, it left me feeling manipulated.