Fertile Concrete: A Memoir

In his young life, Robert A. Douglas has already sold drugs on the street, preached the gospels in church, faced homelessness and hunger, and buried five members of his family, including his mother. Fertile Concrete is an account of how he has sailed on such "dark waters"-the meaning of his family name-and of his search for a safe port in which to anchor.

The book is conceived and written as an autobiography, but it also functions as social commentary. While Douglas's saga is intensely personal, the challenges he has faced are all-to-common in the inner city: losing his parents to drug addiction,losing his brother to street violence, losing his integrity in self-destructive behaviors. His choices-good and bad, right and wrong-are choices that affect us all, no matter where in America we live.

Happily, Douglas has survived, and this book is a survivor's tale. But it is also a tale of redemption, of a young man's quest to know himself and to make himself whole, despite the damages done in his past. Any reader will find it inspiring. It will even help some to heal their own wounds.