Beggars of life / by Jim Tully ; edited by Paul J. Bauer and Mark Dawidziak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tully, Jim, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tully, Jim.

Tramps--United States--Biography.

Tramps.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Black Squirrel Books, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Jim Tully left his hometown of St. Marys, Ohio, in 1901, spending most of his teenage years in the company of hoboes. Drifting across the country as a "road kid," he spent those years scrambling into boxcars, sleeping in hobo jungles, avoiding railroad cops, begging meals from back doors, and haunting public libraries. Tully crafted these memories into a dark and astonishing chronicle of the American underclass--especially in his second book, Beggars of Life, an autobiographical novel published in 1924. Tully saw it all, from a church baptism in the Mississippi River to election day in Chicago. And in Beggars of Life, he captures an America largely hidden from view. This novelistic memoir impressed readers and reviewers with its remarkable vitality and honesty. Tully's devotion to Mark Twain and Jack London taught him the importance of giving the reader a sense of place, and this he does brilliantly, again and again, throughout Beggars of Life. From the opening conversation on a railroad trestle, Beggars of Life rattles along like the Fast Flyer Virginia that Tully boards midway through the book. This is the book that defined Tully's hard-boiled style and set the pattern for the twelve books that followed over the next two decades. Startling in its originality and intensity, Beggars of Life is a breakneck journey made while clinging to the lowest rungs of the social ladder.

Contents:

Cover

Copyright

Dedication

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter I: St. Marys

Chapter II: Initiation

Chapter III: Amy, the Beautiful Fat Girl

Chapter IV: Adventure Again

Chapter V: A Tale of the Philippines

Chapter VI: A River Baptism

Chapter VII: Further Escapade

Chapter VIII: Bill's Story

Chapter IX: A Mix-Up

Chapter X: The Roads Diverge

Chapter XI: A Woman and a Man

Chapter XII: A Turn in the Road

Chapter XIII: A Long Rest

Chapter XIV: An Election Victory

Chapter XV: The Victory Ball

Chapter XVI: The Road Again

Chapter XVII: A Samaritan'sFate

Chapter XVIII: A World's Record

Chapter XIX: The Kangaroo Court

Chapter XX: A Wild Ride

Chapter XXI: A Switch is Thrown

Chapter XXII: Burned Out

Chapter XXIII: The Jungle

Chapter XXIV: Oklahoma Red

Chapter XXV: An Easy Ride

Chapter XXVI: The Man of Visions

Chapter XXVII: A Woman Remembered

Chapter XXVIII: Happenings

Chapter XXIX: A Train Passes

Chapter XXX: Steel Trail's End

Chapter XXXI: Words.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-61277-940-9

1-61277-941-7