Rick Bragg irreverently discusses the latest mining of his east Alabama family history, this time focusing on the life of his alcoholic father, in *The Prince of Frogtown*. This book, much like his previous *All Over but the Shoutin'*, is lush with narratives about manhood, fathers and sons, families and the changing face of the rural south. This event was co-sponsored by A Cappella Books.
Bragg was born in Alabama, grew up there, and worked at several newspapers before joining the *New York Times* in 1994. He covered the murder and unrest in Haiti while a metro reporter there, then wrote about the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. He later became Miami Bureau Chief for the *Times* just in time for Elian Gonzalez's arrival and the international battle for the little boy. He is now a roving correspondent based in New Orleans. He has twice won the prestigious American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award, and more than 50 writing awards in his 20-year career. In 1992, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. He has taught writing in colleges and in newspaper news rooms. He is also the author of *Somebody Told Me*, a critically acclaimed collection of his newspaper stories.