From Publishers Weekly
A former congressman from Georgia, Jones earlier portrayed grease-covered garage owner Cooter Davenport on the early-1980s TV show
Dukes of Hazzard. Now Jones and his wife, Alma Viator, own the Cooter's Place museums in Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tenn.; they also stage Dukesfest, an annual Nashville gathering of
Dukes fans. Looking back at his hardscrabble childhood, he recalls his barefoot days growing up in a Virginia railroad shack minus electricity and hot water. He studied TV-radio at the University of North Carolina, but graduated as a likker drinkin', hell raisin', dope smokin', fist-fightin', womanizin' jailbird wild man. During the 1960s he participated in civil rights sit-ins, established a theatrical career and kept on drinking. At 36, after three disastrous marriages and countless fractured relationships, he went on the road to recovery. When the
Dukes ratings soared, he became a heartland hero, and Jones's congressional career fills the final chapters. Capturing Southern culture in a burlap bag full of funny anecdotes, Jones covers miles and memories: In the vastness of America, I have never found a road that wasn't interesting. Observing life from his porch in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this modern-day Will Rogers writes with a mix of humor, pathos and passion in a rip-roarin' book with a down-home flavor.
(June 3) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Best known as Cooter, the good ol’ boy mechanic on
The Dukes of Hazzard …. [Jones] engagingly zips through his destitute boyhood in the segregated South and his days as an alcoholic civil rights activist [and] recounts his transformation from boozin’, brawlin’ womanizer to successful actor to two-term Democratic congressman from Georgia.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Growing up in Georgia, 'Cooter' was one of my heroes. I’m not sure, but I think it was required by law. Who would have thought that one day I would actually come to know Ben Jones, and, in knowing him, find that he remains one of my heroes. You’ll understand why when you read this book. Ben Jones is nothing less than a great American.”
—Jeff Foxworthy, author of
Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck Dictionary"Ben Jones and I go way back, before anyone called him "Cooter" or "Congressman". He always told the truth. A little on the slant, maybe, which only made it more interesting. And like the wildboy I knew then, his book,
Redneck Boy in the Promised Land, is gutsy, funny, and good-hearted. And definitely reader-friendly."
—Russell Banks, author of
The Reserve
“This modern-day Will Rogers writes with a mix of humor, pathos, and passion in a rip-roarin’ book with a down-home flavor.”
—
Publishers Weekly “A warm, witty portrait of a quietly extraordinary American life.”
—
Kirkus
