The Prince of Frogtown - by Rick Bragg (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In the final volume of the Pulitzer Prize-winner's bestselling and beloved American saga that began with All Over but the Shoutin' and continued with Ava's Man, this "evocative family memoir" (Boston Globe) delivers an unforgettable rumination about fathers and sons.

Bragg documents a mesmerizing journey back in time to the lush Alabama landscape of his youth, to Jacksonville's one-hundred-year-old mill and to his father, the troubled, charismatic hustler coming of age in its shadow.

Inspired by Rick Bragg's love for his stepson, The Prince of Frogtown also chronicles his own journey into fatherhood, as he learns to avoid the pitfalls of his forebearers. With candor, insight, and tremendous humor, Bragg seamlessly weaves these luminous narrative threads together.

Review Quotes

"Nothing less than a triumph." --The Tennessean

"Powerful.... [Bragg is] a storyteller on a par with Pat Conroy." --Denver Post

"Rick Bragg has made of the dark shadow in his life a figure of flesh and blood, passion and tragedy, and a father, at last, whose memory he can live with. And that is no small thing for any man to do." --The New York Times Book Review

"Bragg writes in that sumptuous, multilayered, image-rich Southern yarn-spinning manner that seduces as fast as you can read it. It unwinds beautifully." --The Providence Journal

"With The Prince of Frogtown, Bragg finds a heartening truth: He is not doomed to take up the defects of his forebears but learns instead to use them as a compass.... Readers will relish the journey." --Rocky Mountain News

"Vivid.... An evocative family memoir." --Boston Globe

"By turns gut-wrenching, hilarious and heartbreaking.... A way of looking hard at the past in order to break free of it." --St. Petersburg Times

"Bragg crafts flowing sentences that vividly describe the southern Appalachian landscape and ways of life both old and new. . . . His father's story walks the line between humorous and heartbreaking . . . This book, much like his previous two memoirs, is lush with narratives about manhood, fathers and sons, families and the changing face of the rural South." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Smooth and rich as bourbon." --Kirkus

"Bragg continues in the vein of his legendary storytelling, breathing life into a father he barely knew while learning to love a son." --Library Journal

About the Author