Prodigal Son: One Familys Struggle presents the saga of four generations of one black family. Emerging from World War I in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, they were part of a huge migration northward, to Chicago, in the depths of the Great Depression. Their hardships and struggles with extreme poverty, drugs, domestic violence, war, and slow but inexorable societal changes are fully and dramatically chronicled. Generation succeeded generation, but the struggle went on. Not until the fifth generation did they ultimately overcome and finally reach comfort, status, and respect, in the America of 1993. The pages of Prodigal Son teem with unforgettable characters: the strong black women who do whatever is necessary to maintain their families; the all-too-often-weak black men who are unable to find good jobs and who dissolve in drugs, alcohol, and unfocused violence; the emotionally tattered white farmer who offers the family survival in a strange kind of religious semicommunist farm cooperative; and above all the children, growing up and taking their places in a world of privation, violence and hope.

"Loved the book! I can tell the author put quite a lot of time into crafting the prose. In fact, the author taught me the word "philosophical" when we were both boys -- me about 11 or 12, Alex about 15 or 16. Wonderful guy. Quite impressive to see the amount of careful introspection required to produce a gem such as this book. Honest -- raw -- very compelling." (Brian Riley, PhD candidate, UC Davis.)