Charles Kaiser, The Guardian
An 18-year-old Moochie dons his high school graduation cap and gown in a portrait held by his mother, Elizabeth McDaniel, in 2007. (Janet Blackmon Morgan/The Sun News) Featured Image
An 18-year-old Moochie dons his high school graduation cap and gown in a portrait held by his mother, Elizabeth McDaniel, in 2007. (Janet Blackmon Morgan/The Sun News) Featured Image
This is an extraordinary book about crime, punishment, redemption and the empowerment that can spring from adversity. The author, journalist Issac Bailey, is nuanced, original and remarkably clear-sighted about America and himself.
An undated photo shows Moochie (left) being visited in prison by brothers Willie (front) and Douglas (right) and cousin Sharon Reid with an unidentified friend. Moochie had started to grow dreadlocks at this point, though they ultimately grew much longer. He is also as proud of his achievements as he is brutally honest about his faults.
His oldest brother, Moochie, is his childhood hero, the man-boy who protects his poor working-class mother from their violently abusive father. Then, when the author is only nine, Moochie is arrested for stabbing a white man to death after robbing him. That murder marks the author, his indomitable mother, his seven brothers and his two sisters for the rest of their lives.
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