In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

Description

A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories-the beloved, bestselling classics that inspired the movie A Christmas Story Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean Shepherd- a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant-and utterly hilarious-works of comic art. In God We Trust- All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations. In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage "You can never go back." Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth. A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

For many years a cult radio and cabaret personality in New York City,Jean Shepherdwas the creator of the popular filmA Christmas Story, which is based on his novelsIn God We Trust, All Others Pay CashandWanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, and which has become a holiday tradition on the Turner Network. Jean Shepherd passed away in 1999.

"Shepherd has a fine eye for absurdity, for the madness and idiocy in all of us."-Best Sellers