Lewis Grizzard got his first newspaper job when he was ten years old. Thirty-odd years later (thirty-very-odd years) he’s still in the newspaper business—and he’s still infuriated by it, still tickled by it, and still very much in love with it.
If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, I’m Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground
is all about that anger, that great humor and that even greater passion for something that affects every single one of us: the daily newspaper. Grizzard begins with his first writing job (covering a Boy’s Church League team in Newman, Georgia), and continues through his college years in Athens, Georgia, where he learned how to do such things as prepare a front-page headline and layout in case Jesus Christ ever returned to earth. (Headline: HE’S BACK!) He examines the great Atlanta years and the cold Chicago winters—as sports editor of the
Sun-Times
, during which Grizzard lost his second wife, his cool, and very nearly his sanity, but also learned an awful lot about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is Grizzard's funniest—and his best—book yet.