The true story of an African-American man who found, through faith and the self-assurance it provided, the strength to break free of the cycle of poverty and despair that had once characterized his life. . John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him--his faith, his own true vine. True Vine is John Fountain's remarkable story--of his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life. Today John Fountain is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times , based in his hometown. His return to Chicago marks how his story has come full circle, this time in triumph. True Vine is an inspiring, moving, gripping story of one man's American dream--a dream that all of us can share.
JOHN W. FOUNTAIN is an award-winning journalist, professor and author of the memoir, True Vine: A Young Black Man's Journey of Faith Hope and Clarity (Public Affairs, 2003). He has been a national correspondent for the New York Times. He was previously a staff writer at the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a Michigan Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. He is a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University in Chicago and a weekly columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him--his faith, his own true vine.
True Vine is his remarkable story--of his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life.
Dear Dad captures a compelling story--of Fountain's journey and his reflections on fatherlessness as well as his own insights as a father today. But as an anthology, Dear Dad also provides a wider look at the impact of fatherlessness, and fatherhood, through the tales of fifteen other writers. Collectively, theirs is a story of paternal loss, and love; the story of men who sought to be good fathers and to nurture big dreams in their children, but also the story of men who by their absence, abuse, or neglect might have all but extinguished their children's dreams, were it not for mothers, male mentors, the spirit of community, and hope. Dear Dad is a story of remarkable human spirit; of forgiveness, fortitude, faith, and fatherhood.
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