Before I Forget

Burton Rascoe's autobiography on growing up in post-Civil War America. "The excuse for anyone's writing an autobiography is in Dr Samuel Johnson's pronouncement that every man has at least one great book in him if he should tell the truth about himself. The man's station in life matters not at all, according to the good Doctor. He may be humble, undistinguished, lacking in glamor or conspicuous ability; he may have never strayed beyond the confines of his own village, fought no battles, witnessed no great events. But if he should know the truth about himself and have the courage and the words to tell it, then will he produce a masterpiece which all will acclaim, for he will have told a universal truth about the life of man, and he will have awakened the emotion of recognition in the breast of every man; for the truth about any man is in a large measure the truth about every man." (ix)