If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, I'm Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground

The titles of Grizzard's books are the most funny part of them. He talks in this book how he always concentrated on having a zippy title for his content so that the reader would want to read on. This book is his life story in the newspapers and when he was growing up. I get the impression he is a anti-intellectual common man who loved his sports, tabloid people stories, pretty ladies, beer, cigarettes, and the Elvis diet. And he especially loved newspapers. His story is not all comedy and he has many stories of his news buddies dying an untimely death. I will say that's probably due to the long hours, low pay, divorces, newsroom stress, beer, cigarettes, traditional southern diet, and lack of sleep. But no matter, these quirky characters loved the newspapers also, so they lived a good short life. Grizzard even went up north to Chicago in a management position for one of its papers. It was folly though. He should have remembered that southerners don't like the north and vice-versa. He didn't like the two seasons of weather, "winter and the fourth of July", as he puts it. And he couldn't get any grits or pork barbeque. He alsos had trouble with an affirmative action hire that played the race card when he got fired for being a terrible writer and columnist who wouldn't listen to advice. There was a lawsuit and Grizzard was tarred as a racist from the south. The plaintiff won and was back in the newsroom again, although Grizzard appears to be a fair-minded, but naïve man who just wants a quality paper put out. He does make a lot of sarcastic comments about political correctness. Ironically, it was political correctness that helped win the suit against him. Grizzard enjoyed the first part of his career most when he worked for a new newspaper that was competing with a really bad local one in Athens, Georgia. He liked the competition of getting a scoop before the other paper did and the tabloid people stories, such as a woman getting her pet chicken stuck up in a tree. Grizzard loved the local news and didn't really care about "riots in South Yemen", as he put it. He also did a story on a police chief who threaten him with violence when he asked him about speed traps in a small community. The extent of the story was that one question and reaction, but it got the chief fired--mission accomplished. To be a good newsman, it helps if you like making a nuisance of yourself. But that paper got bought out by the rival, and it was on to the Atlanta Journal and then the Constitution. He met one of his heroes and then after getting to know him, found out that he was the tyrant of news room, always ready to blame others for supposed mistakes in the sports section. Grizzard also had trouble with the printer's union that often gave some workers an uncooperative attitude towards getting things done before the dead line. He even had someone called the Reverend, a printer who started speaking in tongues right before a deadline. This event made the paper go

I love Lewis Grizzard's humor, but most of the time, I found him more heartwarming when he wasn't trying to be funny. That is why I have read this book many more times than any other Grizzard novel. Don't overlook this jem just because it wasn't labeled as funny as say 'Elvis is dead...'. This book is all about the newspaper trade. It tells us of Lewis growing up trying to break into the newspaper game, all the way to his life as a humorist weekly writer in Georgia. It's a quick, funny, informative book I have re-read many times. I go back and forth on which is a better book about growing up in the news business, this one or Charles Kuralt's book 'A life on the road'.

IMO, this is one of Lewis's best works. It is not a collection of columns as many of his books were, but an autobiographical account of his career as a journalist, spanning from his days at the University of Georgia and working for the Athens newspaper to his brief career in Chicago to his eventual, grateful return to Atlanta. Inspiring, thoughtful, and downright funny at the same time (the scene with one of Lewis's editors planning coverage of the Second Coming is a riot), If I Ever Get Back to Georgia would make a great gift for any college student aspiring to break into newspapers. What better way to be inspired than to read one of the great Southern humorists!

This book was spectacular. Not only did you get to see how he adjusted from college to the workforce in journalism, but you also got to see some of the shortcomings in his life. I read this book while I was in high school and it was one of the things that prompted me to study communications in college. Thanks for the encouragement, Lewis. Rest in peace.

Especially enjoyable for those in the newspaper business