I Was Looking For a Street

Description

I Was Looking For a Street tells the story of Charles Willeford's childhood and adolescence as, orphaned, he moved from railroad yard to hobo tent city to soup kitchen and desert around Los Angeles, and across the United States. The tale is at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the writer as a young man of apparently little promise but great spirit. Written late in Willeford's career, this memoir is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and forceful prose the great American adventure of his youth.

Charles Willeford was a professional horse trainer, boxer, radio announcer and painter. He was also a highly decorated tank commander (Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Luxembourg Croix de Guerre) with the Third Army in the Second World War. Willeford, the author of twenty novels, created the Miami detective series featuring Hoke Moseley, which includes MIAMI BLUES, SIDESWIPE, THE WAY WE DIE NOW, and NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD.

One of the best books ever written about the Depression - GQ One of our most skilled, interesting, accomplished and productive writers - Washington Post