Rick Bragg

The Most They Ever Had by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg may just be the most powerful work of a stunningly gifted author. It was number one on our list of the Top Ten Non Fiction books of 2009. Rick Bragg bears witness to the lives of good, hard working people who worked the cotton mill in Jacksonville ... (more)Alabama. He allows them their dignity and price, his words honor their hard work and sacrifice, he gives them the respect they are due. He conveys their essence with power; “You need not use foul language to damn a man here. Just say a day’s work would kill him, and you tore him down to the bald nothing.” We used to value hard work in this country. The people in this book are proud people, folk who take pride in working hard to provide for their families. They don’t expect much, just a roof over their heads, a newer car every once in a while, and maybe a night at the movies. They are not anticipating easy lives or great wealth. Is it too much to expect a safe working environment and a living wage? Apparently it is. Rick Bragg has written a eulogy to the time in America where we built things rather than chased ever faster after the next deal, the easy dollar, and the fastest way to chase the money. Now a company’s parts are worth more than its whole, the jobs can be done cheaper overseas, and Wall Street needs to be kept happy. We have become a nation of financiers. A nation obsessed with flashy ball players paid mega dollars, CEO’s bringing home checks with so many zeroes it will make your head hurt, starlets wearing next to nothing, and reality shows illustrating the decline of our culture. In this era of bigger is better, more, more, more, Rick Bragg has written a book about the lives of hard working, everyday people who hold their dignity close. Rick reminds us of a set of values and a way of life that defined our country far better than the lust for the deal, and fast money culture of late. This book is a powerhouse! The Non Fiction Book Club will have a rich abundance of material for discussion.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bragg (All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man) has a wonderful new book, The Most They Ever Had, a powerfully affecting story of a mill community in Alabama and the hardscrabble lives of the people who worked there. Sonny Brewer (The Poet of Tolstoy Park) ... (more)has a terrific new novel, The Widow and the Tree, an Alabama tale of dark deeds based on a true story.

Rick Bragg and Sonny Brewer talk about and sign their new books!

Light refreshments and copies of the book will be available at 5:30 pm. Rick Bragg will speak at 6 pm. The event is free but reservations are required by Monday, July 28, call 251-208-7569.

"Rick Bragg is the author of two best-selling books, Ava’s Man and All Over but the Shoutin’. He divides his time between New Orleans and his native Alabama." (randomhouse.com)

Pulitzer prize-winning Rick Bragg reads from "The Prince of Frogtown." Previous books: "All Over But the Shoutin'" and "Ava's Man." Admission to event requires purchase of "The Prince of Frogtown" at FoxTale Book Shoppe.

Rick Bragg discusses and signs his book Prince Of Frogtown.