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Cover of Alabama Village: Faith, Hope, and Survival in a Southern Town

Alabama Village: Faith, Hope, and Survival in a Southern Town

by J. Malcolm Garcia

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From the celebrated writer J. Malcolm Garcia, a narrative nonfiction account of a forgotten Alabama neighborhood through intimate, tender, and gritty profiles of its people as they navigate immense loss and an unassailable determination to overcome their circumstances. "J. Malcolm Garcia [channels] the empathetic ear of Studs Terkel and the investigative skills of the best literary journalists." —Beth Taylor, author of The Plain Language of Love and Loss In Alabama Village, an impoverished and often violent neighborhood south of Mobile, the children no longer flinch at the eruption of gunshots. To them, it’s just another day. In this community, few things last—the loss of life is relentless, and relief efforts come and go.…

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NPR Books We Love
"J. Malcolm Garcia’s intimate portraits of young people struggling to survive in a rough neighborhood outside Mobile, Ala., are heartbreaking and, yet, somehow hopeful at the same time. We meet them through their connection to a church established by a Christian couple who see the good at the core of people whom society has largely written off. The community is plagued by gun violence, blight, generational poverty and addiction. Too many people don’t live to be 30. The storytelling is powerful: “Death has as much of a presence in the Village as the people living here, attaches to them like a second shadow.”"
NPR Books We Love — 2025 · apps.npr.org