Ticket to Exile by Adam David Miller - Review and Giveaway
It was the Great Depression in Orangeburg, South Carolina when A.D. Miller was 19 years old. He handed a note to a white girl, telling her he’d like to know her better. He was caught and thrown in jail for his actions, accused of attempted rape. This is the beginning of Adam David Miller’s book Ticket to Exile. What’s really special about this work? It’s all true.
Adam David Miller grew up in the pre-civil rights South where segregation was a horrific way of life. The black schools had less than half the government funding of white schools. Black pay was a fraction of white. If you were black, you couldn’t go downtown after dark or get a Coke from stores owned by whites. You couldn’t eat in their restaurants or buy their goods. But you could caddy their golf games and shine their shoes. This was Miller’s reality growing up.Ticket to Exile is Miller’s memoir of his childhood up until his arrest. What astounds me is the author’s lack of hatred or resentment in his words. Yet he was deeply affected by the events in his life. At the time he often didn’t realize he was going through life-shaping events. His book is honest and sincere, often revealing things of himself that must have taken great courage to put to paper. His straightforward writing style is quite effective at leading the reader on a journey to his hometown in the Jim Crow South.
Whether you feel you don’t know enough about this important part of American history or you want to learn more, Ticket to Exile is a book you’ll surely want to read. I thought I was well informed about the pre-civil rights South, but I read many passages that gave me “I-had-no-idea” moments. Let’s face it - this is a portion of our history that’s covered little in schools; as adults we can make up for that lack and teach our own children when schools fall short.
I’m honored to have a copy of Ticket to Exile to give to one reader chosen at random. You know the drill - leave a comment telling me what intrigues you about this book. If you subscribe to this blog, you’re already entered into this and all book giveaways here, but feel free to comment as your second entry. (Subscribe in the right hand column if you wish. You can read about the full giveaway rules and another entry option on the Giveaway Rules tab above.) A winner will be chosen at 12noon EST March 20, 2008.
Published by Heyday Books.
Posted in Book Review and Giveaway
March 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
fascinating suubject matter….important to read!
March 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I love that the book is true and the wordds in the book are staright from the main character rather than a outsider reporting on events. I’d love to know more about Mr. Miller’s story.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
please enter me
March 17th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
thank you for this opportunity
March 17th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Wow, that’s really intriguing! I’m blogging this tomorrow at my book review/contest blog - A Book Blogger’s Diary. Thanks!
March 17th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Oh, another great review!! And it looks like another GREAT book as well. Count me in on this one too…I am very interested in Adam’s life and this account of it. It is always more fun when it is an exciting story that is acutally true! thanks for another great giveaway!
PS. I just got the book you sent today!!!(thank you!!!) I am so excited that I can’t decide between finishing my last one fast to get to this one, or forgetting my last one until I devour I’jaam!!! I’ll let you know when I review it though.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
looks like a good read.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
This is a subject matter I am very interested in. My husband and I would love to read it.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The title and cover of the book are very intriguing! We have three mixed children via my husband’s sister. They live between two worlds and I can tell sometime that they are confused because of their young ages. I would love to learn more than I know about the time period and a true story about it. Please enter me in your book drawing. Thanks very much…..Cindi
March 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
sounds interesting pick me
March 17th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
This being realistic from the past, will hold my interest - thank you
March 17th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Looks interesting…
March 17th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I’d love to read this book. The entire time I read your review I was thinking of Black Like Me, about a white reporter who dyed his skin and traveled through the Jim Crow South. They way he was treated astonished me, and I feel like this book would do that all over again.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Very interesting subject matter.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
fascinating story
March 17th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I would love to read more about the great depression era!
March 17th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
my parents survived the great depression. I’d love to know more about it
March 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
what an amazing story! so important to our current times.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I love reading about the past. Great giveaway! Count me in. bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com
March 17th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I would like to know more about American history and straight forward writing style intersts me oo!
Do count me in!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I am a memoir junkie so this book is right up my alley. I have never read a memoir on this subject matter and I think it would be really enlightening to do so. I also love how this cover looks!
Thanks for offering this great giveaway and for sharing your comments on the book.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:11 am
I’d like to read a true story about this part of history. It’s not taught much at all in schools here (I live in Canada) because it’s not our history, but I’d be interested in comparing this to what I’ve heard through popular culture.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I would love to read this book and learn more about the Great Depression.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Wow! That sounds like a powerful read!!!
March 18th, 2008 at 6:03 am
an important part of our history…and am so interested to learn more…thank you
March 18th, 2008 at 8:41 am
My reading addiction needs feeding.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
What I find intriguing is his lack of hate. This is a subject I have always been interested in.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:01 am
would love to have this book to help teach my children what really happened
March 18th, 2008 at 9:07 am
This sounds like a terrific read!
March 18th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I’m interested in pre-civil rights in the south.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
It sounded like an interesting tale and then I see it’s a true story! I can’t wait to read this!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Awesome!
March 18th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Sounds like a great book - sad but true.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
that it’s true
March 18th, 2008 at 11:54 am
this is such a very interesting read. very historical and straight to the point.
please enter me.
I would love to read this book.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
this strikes home, I lived 10 years in NC and now have a beautiful 10 month old grandson. would love to read this
March 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
As an Australian who has lived in the US for 15+ years, I wish I knew more about the pre-civil rights South.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Can’t wait to read this book. It sounds like a great read.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Any story that tells of our history is a gift & should be treasured & read by all.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I work in a middle school, and the kids are all still so clueless as to how recent this sort of “history” can be. Obviously I’d need to read it first to know if it’s a book I could share with the kids, but it sounds good.
nifferjeno at gmail dot com
March 18th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
[...] Where: carp(e) libris [...]
March 18th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
This looks like a unique view of a story we all think we know. Count me in!
March 18th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
interesting subject matter; this is so far removed from my life experiences growing up in canada and the fact that its based on a true story; would love to read the whole book
March 18th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I would love to read this–especially as a resident of SC myself.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
would love to win this
March 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
would love to read this book
March 18th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I love depression era books. such an intriguing time in history. great giveaway, thanks!
March 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
As a white woman married to a black man, and someone who is interested in our country’s racial history, I’m intrigued by this book.
March 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
This is a subject near and dear to me and I would absolutely love to read this book.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
My former book group read a book called Leon’s Story that was about a black man’s experience growing up in a small town in the Jim Crow South. The small town was the town I live in.
It was so interesting. We held the meeting at the beautifully restored old home in town that is now a B&B owned by our mayor. (I know, how quaint!) The mayor talked to us about the history of the town and even knew Leon!
This book would interest me because it is probably better written than Leon’s Story…and just as interesting.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
The review above really makes me want to read the book! Sounds like a winner!
March 18th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Awesome book to read!
March 18th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I’m very intrigued to see the development of the author’s own perspective as he writes… does it evolve? What does he learn? That and the actual subject matter truly interest me.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:28 am
this will be a good book i cam just tell by the little info you gave me i love true stories and also when it invoves history that little is known
March 19th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Sounds like a very interesting read! tWarner419@aol.com
March 19th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Love books about people who overcome the odds.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:15 am
would love to win
March 19th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I’d love to have a copy!
I added you on prizeatron too!
http://www.prizeatron.com
March 19th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
enter me please, thank you for the contest
March 19th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Great title!
March 19th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Sounds great! Count me in!
March 19th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
sounds like a very fascinating story about segregation in this country. I would love to read this
March 19th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I would love to read this book. Sounds like a very interesting, but true, story!
March 20th, 2008 at 1:26 am
i love reading about different experiences in American History
March 20th, 2008 at 1:28 am
i love stories about survival and how people with different life experiences deal with situations
March 20th, 2008 at 2:58 am
I would like to have a copy of this book. I am really interested in history and this is a part of our history that is rarely talked about.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:13 am
I did not grow up in the United States, and so have missed out on a lot of the history that surrounds books like these. I would love to read a true story like this.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:36 am
What intigues me is the first-hand account of historical events.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Your review really makes me want to read this book. I like the fact that the writer seems unbiased.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:19 am
History has brought us to the point we are at right now. The more we learn from it,the better off we are.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I would really love to read this. I have read a lot about post reconstruction south and find African American history fascinating and heart wrenching. The stories of struggle can be absolutely inspiring as well. When I’m done, I’ll pass it on to my stepdaughter. She’s 15 and also fascinated by issues of race and history.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:51 am
What intrigues me about this book is the insight that the author’s own honesty sheds on a factual part of history that isn’t discussed in contemporary history classes in schhool and is and was ignored by a large segment of the population.
March 20th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Sounds like an interesting book
March 20th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
please enter to win this interesting book. thanks in advance if i win & i hope all of your days are blessed.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I love to read.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:01 am
love non-fiction like this… movies and books!
March 29th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
looks like a good book.