Reading List (Update):  Growing Up

[June 15, 2023]  Growing up in the Deep South during segregation, I was largely unaware of the racial divisions separating us as a nation.  I went to an all-white public elementary and junior high school in a small town in Northeast Louisiana.  The only blacks I saw were those living in poverty on the outskirts of town or working in the cotton fields that were so plentiful.  Blacks were simply not in my world.  Later, after moving to Texas and attending a High School, I was finally introduced to other races, primarily Hispanic with a few Blacks and American Indians.  There was no great awakening like so many think today.  It was just what it was.  Life went on.  There were no fights between racial groups, no violence, no segregation, and no police walking the hallways.  We were expected to get along, and heaven forbid anyone was a troublemaker, or you were expelled, outright and rightly so.  Our families included both a mother and a father, who were generally good to us.  Military veterans were many and part of the pillars of our community.  But that is not how many saw the world.  Larry Elder tells us in his book that growing up with an authoritarian father had a significant influence upon him that he would have admitted.

Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives … Eight Hours, Larry Elder, 2012

New York Times best-selling author Larry Elder gives us a page-turner book describing his confrontation with his father after leaving home and attending college.  All boys are heavily influenced by their fathers, even when we don’t know them.  Elder was fortunate to have a father despite the bitter and fearful relationship.  According to Elder, he hated his father with passion.  He was scared of his father and challenged himself to stand up to his dad.  When he was 15, he did, and they did not speak for ten years.  Larry Elder decided to return to his hometown and meet up with his father to tell him how much he hated him and how badly he was treated as a boy.

The book is about the day of that experience.  It’s a conversation between Larry Elder and his estranged father.  This conversation transformed their relationship; if you decide to read it, it will also transform you.  Some describe the book as a handbook for life.  Sammy Davis, Jr. said, “Above all, it is a wonderful read.  I am tempted to call it a page-turner, but in my case I hated to turn every page because that meant I was getting closer to the end, and I did not want it to end…”  The book is about a son finding what his father is about and a father finally connecting with his son.

Highly recommended.

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).

To go to the complete Professional Reading list, click on this direct link: www.theleadermaker.com/reading-list/

Side Note: Please remember and take a look at Tom Copeland’s reading blog.  His website, which I highly recommend, can be found here: https://militaryreadinglists.com/map