Born in Louisiana to a soon-to-be absent father and an abusive, alcoholic mother, Clifton Crais spent his childhood perched on a bar stool, living with relatives too old or infirm to care for him. Indeed, it is memory - elusive and essential - that forms the centre of Crais' beautifully rendered memoir History Lessons. In an effort to restore his own, Crais brings the tools of his formal training as a historian to bear on himself and his family. Part memoir, part narrative science, part historical detective story, History Lessons explores what it means to be human.
About the book
Born in Louisiana to a soon-to-be absent father and an abusive, alcoholic mother, Clifton Crais spent his childhood perched on a bar stool, living with relatives too old or infirm to care for him. Indeed, it is memory - elusive and essential - that forms the centre of Crais' beautifully rendered memoir History Lessons. In an effort to restore his own, Crais brings the tools of his formal training as a historian to bear on himself and his family. Part memoir, part narrative science, part historical detective story, History Lessons explores what it means to be human.