Forty Acres and a Goat: A Memoir

Author of Brother to a Dragonfly, Campbell recounts in this free-flowing, allusive memoir a quarter-century of activism as a committed Christian and ""preacher without a church.'' Emerging from his Tennessee farm, this Southern Baptist became a prominent figure in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. His recollections are enlivened by expressive language, a blend of allegory and humor, made colorful by anecdotes about important people he engaged in earthy, often confrontational dialogue, and then befriended. While the social revolutionary aspect of Campbell's humanitarian mission is featured, it is undergirded by his depiction of his warm family life, his closeness to the land and to a menagerie headed by a knowing goat, which make his Tennessee homestead a place of retreat, both physical and spiritual, for his many visitors. (October 20)