Ouch, Now I Remember: Reflecting on an Earlier Time

The author picks up where he left off in a witty memoir of his academic and policy careers in “Browsing through My Candy Store.” In this equally hilarious book, Tom Corbett brings us back to the post–World War II period, where he came of age in a rough and tumble ethnic, working-class neighborhood. From a kid who showed no promise whatsoever, he underwent a series of transformative experiences from Catholic seminary training to the leader of a left-wing college group through Peace Corps service in India. His journey of self-discovery takes us through several early endeavors, such as guarding city sewers, tending hospital patients during the graveyard shift, reaching out to desperately poor kids in a distressed neighborhood, and faking it as an agricultural guru in the deserts of Rajasthan. Somehow, despite much incompetence and self-doubt, the author used grit and charm and serendipity to fall into a fulfilling career as a respected academic and policy wonk. “Ouch, Now I Remember” is a story that brings you back in time, helps you laugh a bit, and recalls a lost era. The reader might even shed a tear or two.