Top Highlights

• They elevate the pain of the past with forgiveness, arriving at a larger truth about families in various stages of brokenness. There's no self-pity, no whining, no hunger for revenge; the writers are as honest about their own young selves as they are about the sins of their elders.
• The first element is integrity of intention.
• WILLIAM ZINSSER: Introduction RUSSELL BAKER: Life with Mother JILL KER CONWAY: Points of Departure FRANK McCOURT: Learning to Chill Out EILEEN SIMPSON: Poets in My Youth HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.: Lifting the Veil ALFRED KAZIN: The Past Breaks Out ANNIE DILLARD: To Fashion a Text IAN FRAZIER: Looking for My Family
• This is the age of the memoir.
• Memoir is how we try to make sense of who we are, who we once were, and what values and heritage shaped us.