Starting from home : a writer's beginnings

The author recounts the discoveries, hardships, and triumphs of his early life and the influences that shaped him as a person and writer.

• Roots--or Twigs p. 1
• "Better They Don't End Up in a Sweatshop, Too" p. 13
• The City of Three-Deckers p. 19
• A Hunger for Words p. 31
• The Dump and the Candy Store p. 41
• Fifteen Cents an Hour p. 53
• Becoming Somebody p. 65
• Living in Two Worlds p. 75
• "Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright" p. 89
• A Radical Tradition p. 97
• "What This Country Needs" p. 107
• Tragic Towns p. 117
• A Pair of Stockings p. 125
• Seventeen p. 133
• Afterword p. 145