I was disappointed! The foul language and general meaness I found depressing. I had expected much better from the author. Jimmy Carter's "AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT," has a much brighter view of American farm life from the Depression to the present.

I grew up in Fitzgerald about 10 years later than the author, but it was uncanny how similar his boyhood experiences were to mine. We frequented many of the same places and did many of the same things. His account of farm life in the 30's, 40's and 50's was also accurate insofar as I experienced it as a town boy. He even had an anecdote about my father "Doc" Reeves, which was flawless as it described him and his ability to "smell" bream beds. Mr. Hopkins was not only a master's graduate and a farmer, but he became skilled as a naturalist, and even discovered a new species of fish, which was named after him. All in all, I found this book interesting, and believe any male who grew up in Fitzgerald would also.

I'm prejudiced, since (1) I grew up in Fitzgerald, the focus of the book, and (2) Hopkins tells well of my teenaged brother's death. But I think this book is a very fine account of a very interesting and unusual life, with rich human, commercial, and natural connections, in the "one place" of Fitzgerald, in central south Georgia. Hopkins is a life-long naturalist who has published much in ornithology; this book shows his broader life-long study of people and farming (and nature) in the land he knows so well.