Out of the Madness: From the Projects to a Life of Hope

by Jerrold Ladd

Overview

A raw and hopeful autobiography of a young African-American who used self-education and sheer force of will to overcome the battery of drugs, violence, and abject povery of his early life in the Dallas projects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446671057
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/1996
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
1.	Welcome	1
2.	Deadman	13
3.	Cool Brother	29
4.	School Torture	41
5.	Save Me, Lord	55
6.	Do It for Momma	67
7.	Struggle	75
8.	Marriage	85
9.	Forged	93
10.	Mind Wilderness	105
11.	Stay Alive	111
12.	Closed Lore	123
13.	Failures	135
14.	Baby Jacqua	143
15.	The Firm	153
16.	Rebirth	163
17.	Out of the Madness	177
	Epilogue	183
	Afterword	189
	Acknowledgments	193

Editorial Reviews

In his debut book, Ladd, age 23, recounts the frustrating and often depressing tale of growing up in the slums of South Dallas. Raised in a housing project by his drug-dependent mother, he observed a procession of dealers and hapless father figures steal his mother's attention and his family's food. He describes his experiences of busing and attending an all-white school; he details gang shootouts, evictions and becoming the father of a daughter who was born out of wedlock. As a book lover, his bolt-hole was the public library, where he spent entire days reading. Ladd's prose conveys the rawness of his upbringing. While his narrative thread is uneven, he writes in a fresh and animated voice, offering a view into a brutal element of American society. Author tour. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Ladd's gutsy account of how he managed to beat long odds by escaping from the drug-ridden projects of his youth will receive a 75,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal