{"product_id":"blessings-and-disasters-a-story-of-alabama-9781250206220","title":"Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom a \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003estaff writer and PEN award winner, a blend of memoir, history, and reportage on one of the most complex and least understood states in America.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In Alabama, we exist at the border of blessing and disaster....\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlexis Okeowo grew up in Montgomery--the former seat of the Confederacy--as the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. Here, she weaves her family's story with Alabama's, defying stereotypes about her endlessly complex, often-pigeonholed home state. She immerses us in a landscape dominated today not by cotton fields but by Amazon warehouses, encountering high-powered Christian business leaders lobbying for tribal sovereignty and small-town women coming out against conservative politics. Okeowo shows how people can love their home while still acknowledging its sins. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this perspective-shifting work that is both an intimate memoir and a journalistic triumph, Okeowo investigates her life, other Alabamians' lives, and the state's lesser-known histories to examine why Alabama has been the stage for the most extreme results of the American experiment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlexis Okeowo\u003c\/b\u003e has reported on conflict, human rights, and culture across Africa, Mexico, Europe, and the American South for the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003eand other publications. Okeowo is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa\u003c\/i\u003e, which received the 2018 PEN Open Book Award. Her work has also been anthologized in \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Sports Writing \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Travel Writing\u003c\/i\u003e. Okeowo was named journalist of the year by the Newswomen's Club of New York in 2020 and received the Reed Environmental Writing Award in 2022.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Henry Holt \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51552940720402,"sku":"9781250206220","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8e32cdf4-0c22-4312-9243-057ce26870d6.jpg?v=1754914123","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/blessings-and-disasters-a-story-of-alabama-9781250206220","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}