Sons on Fathers: A Book of Men's Writing
Books / Hardcover
Books › Social Science › General
ISBN: 0060168676 / Publisher: HarperCollins, July 1992
A collection of writing about fathers by their sons includes pieces from such well-known writers, politicians, comedians, and writers' sons as John Cheever, Lewis Grizzard, Patrick Hemingway, Louis Anderson, and Jimmy Carter
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Most men have intense feelings about their fathers. Yet these feelings seldom get expressed. In Sons on Fathers they do. This collection explores the powerful reactions sons have toward fathers from the time they call him "Daddy," through the "my old man" period, adult reconciliation, and years of reflection following his death.Eighty pieces of prose and poetry in Sons on Fathers portray Lewis Thomas making the rounds with his doctor father at the age of five; Jimmy Carter as a "pickup boy," fetching the birds his dad shot while hunting; Frederick Exley playing a grueling game of basketball against his father in high school; Nicholas Gage confronting his father's unexpected reaction after he wrecked a car; Paul Hemphill realizing that his truck driving dad was no king of the road; Lawrence Wright reconciling with his father after the birth of his own son; Bob Greene seeing his father in a new light at his retirement dinner; Bill Moyers gaining insight into his seventy-year-old father as they tour their native Oklahoma; and Pat Jordan trying one last time to beat his septuagenarian father at pool.Sons on Fathers also includes John Cheever's story about a son meeting the father he hasn't seen for several years, Robert Bly's poignant poem "My Father at Eighty-Five," and Larry King's classic essay "The Old Man."Sons on Fathers is essential reading for anyone who would like to understand how sons come to terms with their fathers. "Reconciliation may not always be possible," concludes Ralph Keyes in his moving introduction. "Understanding is."
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