I listened to this with my 21 year-old son, a political wonk since he started canvassing with mommy when he was about 2 and for the past two years a passionate worker against voter suppression in Georgia. The short book, about 5 hours on audio, was a great companion on the drive back to school (his final term in college!) Sellers' story is inspirational, he began serving in the SC statehouse at 22, the youngest member in history and is now a thoughtful commentator. Sellers is admirably honest about difficult subjects (his father's imprisonment that grew out of activism, his anxiety, the pain of having a child with serious health issues, etc.) and a good storyteller. I do think the parallels with our lives made it more special. My son grew up knowing quite a few Morehouse men, and the portion of the book about Sellers' Morehouse experience really resonated. Perhaps even more important we listened less than two weeks after seeing Raphael Warnock (one of my son's idols since the first time he preached in our temple when he was 5) elected to the Senate and the day after we attended our Temple's (Zoom) MLK shabbat and heard Pastor Sen. Warnock deliver an extraordinary sermon. He always moves us. (Ebenezer Baptist is our sister congregation and it was Pastor Warnock's guidance and wisdom our family sought on the day after the mass murder at Mother Emanuel, an event also covered in the book.) But even without those things this is a really good read, especially for young people with a passion for public service.

For those interested in the MLK service and in Pastor Warnock's sermon, you can see the Zoom service here. https://youtu.be/I2BEDV-oF94. Pastor Warnock enters about 2/3 in but earlier there is lots of great footage from previous MLK services where we could be together.

I was expecting more of an analysis of Black rural life in America, but this book is more about a politically well connected young man’s early political career. Perhaps he wrote this book a little too early in his life.

There’s so much to say about this memoir that it’s hard to know where to begin. Mr Sellers has accomplished more in his 35 years than most of us will even attempt in our lifetimes. He details the lasting effects of the Orangeburg Massacre on himself and his family, an important event I never learned about as a Southerner living practically right up the road in NC. As a college graduate at age 20, I was fascinated by his decision to successfully unseat a long-standing SC state legislator by the time he turned 21. The book also highlights educational, health, wealth, and political disparities that African Americans continue to face. I look forward to the next book from Mr Sellers, but I also hope he’ll eventually return to the political arena, because we need more leaders like him. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Mr Sellers, which I highly recommend.

So well done, the flow of the story telling is so good and so thoughtful.

This book is not very long but it packs an incredible punch. My current rating is 4.5, it may change.

Did not finish. Anecdotes are just not interesting to me.