{"id":573899168,"date":"2026-07-07T20:09:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T00:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573899168"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:04:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:04:59","slug":"a-read-to-chew-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2026\/07\/07\/a-read-to-chew-on\/","title":{"rendered":"A read to chew on"},"content":{"rendered":"

I bought this book online last summer and finally got around to reading it. By the time I finished the foreword I was already thinking of who I could get to read this with me. I got one taker. The rest, frankly, were missing out. Carry Me Home<\/a> is a book about home, and every page is about a place I know. Sometimes it’s about a person I’ve heard about, or a person I reported on. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m learning all over the place. I think I also said that right from the beginning, and I’ve said it throughout. Also, I’m still reading.<\/p>\n

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Diane McWhorter grew up during the Civil Rights Movement era in Birmingham, which is to say she was a child and it was above her head at that moment in her life. She grew up over the mountain, which is to further say about six miles and a whole culture away. None of this is a criticism. We are from where we are from, and she would later spend 20 y ears on this book trying to understand her place, her people, and her father. Some of that she gets to better than others in this book, which won (and deservedly so) the Pulitzer Prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit clunky sometimes, a bit dense sometimes, but it is a terrific and eye-opening read. I can’t recommend it enough.<\/p>\n

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Currently reading \u201cCarry Me Home Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution,\u201d by Diane McWhorter <\/p>\n

www.simonandschuster.com\/books\/Carry-…<\/p>\n

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— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith.org<\/a>) July 2, 2026 at 9:32 PM<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n