"It is not that Russell Baker is funny, his genius is being so true that nothing remains but to laugh." —John Kenneth Galbraith "Baker, like Andy Rooney, looks into things that keep all our lives from being ordinary." —Chattanooga News-Free Press Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Russell Baker has charmed readers with his sharp humor and shrewd commentary. The indelible voice of the bestselling memoir GROWING UP compiles some of his greatest New York Times columns in this collection of honest, witty, and profound essays—reflecting on politics, society, and life in all its absurd glory.

Russell Baker won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for this biography/autobiography about growing up in the backwoods of Virginia, in a New Jersey Commuter town, and in the Depression-shadowed urban landscape of Baltimore, all happening between the world wars. Baker introduces us to the people that impacted his early life, and he also discusses powerful love, awkward sex, and courage in the face of adversity. The Great Depression provided the backdrop against success, and to help his mother and family through it, he delivered papers and hustled subscriptions of The Saturday Evening Post, which introduced him to bullies, mentors, and heroes who faced national disaster with hard work and good cheer.ABOUT THE AUTHORRussell Baker is the winner of the 1979 George Polk Award for Commentary, the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary, and the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book Growing Up (1982). He served as a long-time columnist for The New York Times, writing the...