This books gives some serious perspective to what it's like growing up in the U.S. inside a black male body. I was so angered and repulsed by the first 50 pages that I called the person who gave me this book and basically told him off. He said, "just keep reading, you'll thank me later." I am very glad I did and he has been duly thanked. It is an excellent personal narrative that sensitives the white reader to pervasive racism in the United States, and gives inspiration to anyone. Once I got past the brutality against women in the beginning, I couldn't put it down. It is an excellent companion to Tom Wicker's Tragic Failure: Racial Integration in America. ( )

Man oh man! This book kicks, punches, and rocks you gently at the end. Should be required reading in high school; there's so much happening in McCall's up from crappy living to productive living; it's brutal (the description of running a train still makes me shudder) and McCall doesn't pull any punchs--very real and not for the weak hearted. I love the ending: it's all about choices, and when you finally recognize you have them. ( )

A must read for any kid and their parent who feels as if there cound not possibly be any future after the live they have lead. I introduced this book to my son when he was seventeen, at twenty-two, this continues to be his favorite book. A mirroring memior for so many youth of today.

I discovered this book by accident in the airport one day, and it really gripped me. I wished my son and all his friends would read it. It was great that someone actually articulated the life that so many young men are living, the heartless things they do to their fellow humans, especially women, and why. McCall isn't sentimental, but tells his story with a lot of honesty. ( )

Wide-ranging autobiography, from his street life as a youth, to prison, to battling his way into the white economic mainstream, eventually becoming a journalist with the Washington Post. Insightful; clear; rich in both the social context and the emotional logic of his choices.

However, not an easy read, especially in the opening sections. As another reviewer said, McCall does not pull any punches. There are first-person accounts of gang-rapes in here, told from the POV of one of the rapists, as well as graphic documentation of other acts of violence. If you can bull your way through that the book IS worth your while -- I shall be digesting it for quite a bit longer.