An American Story

This is a great book. Dickerson is one of those rare people who truly thinks for themselves, and allows you to see their thought processes in the context of their life experiences. She starts out from very poor circumstances, becomes an Ayn Rand-type of right wing individualist (everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps!), gets the leftwing gospel (the system stacks the deck against some people pulling on their bootstraps!), and I'm not sure where she ends up, but it will always be as a free thinker. She writes beautifully.

If you enjoy excellent writing combined with an absorbing story, I urge you to read this memoir. It's the tale of a contemporary woman in search of herself. The daughter of a former share-cropper, she carved out a stellar career in the Air Force, then cut it short to go to Harvard Law School. "An American Story" is hardly a Horatio Alger cliche, though. It's much more; Dickerson describes her experiences of gender, race, and class distinctions in present-day American life, and she depicts her massive struggles to make sense of those experiences. Along the way she shatters some stereotypes held dear by both liberals and conservatives. Dickerson is a born writer, and her quest for personal autonomy and fulfillment makes up the heart of this compelling book.

Dickerson has written a searing story of struggle and success. Her narrative voice is engrossing, appealing and emminently readable. Her journey from sharecropper's daughter to Harvard Law School graduate kept me marveling at her continued accomplishments. But she doesn't stop there...Dickerson also offers extraordinary perspective into her own behavior and the behavoir of those around her. At every turn she analyzes her motivations and separates out issues of race and personal identity. With sparkling insight, she digs right to the core of human behavior.Book groups and other readers will find themselves mulling over such topics as obstacles to maximizing personal potential and to what degree our race/religion/ethnic identity affects our life choices.By the time I finished this book, I felt as if I had just completed a soul-searching conversation with an old friend.

This is a compelling memoir of a remarkable woman's personal odyssey from a hard childhood in St. Louis to a brilliant career of a dozen years in the US Air Force, a college education garnered on the side, civilian reentry at Harvard Law School, and the choice of journalism and writing over law as a second career. Ms. Dickerson's story is compelling and well written, and thus it is hard to put down once you start. It offers original and insightful "takes" on racism, on segregation and integration, on the American military (including its successes in becoming a race-blind meritocracy and its failures in areas of sexual harassment and assault), on personal growth and self-knowledge, on being black as well as being female in modern America, and on where our society stands today in a variety of sectors. There is much that is painful here, but much that is funny and more that is uplifting and deeply thoughtful. The writing is crisp and the pace is rapid. A good read in every way.

In the cacaphony of viewpoints that assault us everyday there is precious little to remind us of the essential humanity of our fellow citizens. Dickerson shows us how complex and varied a single person's story can be, from her ghetto background, through her remarkable and laudable service in the military, through her eventual recognition after college as an accomplished writer. I'm always taken aback by the forthrightness and honesty of her point of view, and each time I end up thinking it would be a nicer world if more people could see it as she does.