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.
The review above really makes me want to read the book! Sounds like a winner!
Awesome book to read!
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.
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
Sounds like a very interesting read! [email protected]
Love books about people who overcome the odds.
would love to win
I’d love to have a copy!
I added you on prizeatron too!
http://www.prizeatron.com
enter me please, thank you for the contest
Great title!
Sounds great! Count me in!
sounds like a very fascinating story about segregation in this country. I would love to read this
I would love to read this book. Sounds like a very interesting, but true, story!
i love reading about different experiences in American History
i love stories about survival and how people with different life experiences deal with situations
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.
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.
What intigues me is the first-hand account of historical events.
Your review really makes me want to read this book. I like the fact that the writer seems unbiased.
History has brought us to the point we are at right now. The more we learn from it,the better off we are.
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.
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.
Sounds like an interesting book
please enter to win this interesting book. thanks in advance if i win & i hope all of your days are blessed.
I love to read.
love non-fiction like this… movies and books!
looks like a good book.
I have read part of the book because somebody lend it to me. But I am intrigued to read the rest. I couldnt believe that things like that were happening even when i have read and seen many documents pertaining the segregattion and appartheid. I am impressed with this man his intelligence and how he; a free spirit, managed to survive in a hostile society where people were discriminated agaisnt only for the color of their skin.
I have read part of the book because somebody lend it to me. But I am intrigued to read the rest. I couldnt believe that things like that were happening even when i have read and seen many documents pertaining the segregattion and appartheid. I am impressed with this man his intelligence and how he; a free spirit, managed to survive in a hostile society where people were discriminated agaisnt only for the color of their skin. I like to have a copy of this book please!