Once More to the Rodeo

A Memoir

By: Calvin Hennick

Narrated by: Charlie Thurston

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Five years into fatherhood, Calvin Hennick is plagued by self-doubt and full of questions. How can he teach his son to be a man when his own father figures abandoned him? As a white man, what can he possibly teach his biracial son about how to live as a black man in America? And what does it even mean to be a man today, when society's expectations of men seem to change from moment to moment?

In search of answers, Calvin takes his young son on the road, traveling across the country to the annual rodeo in his small Iowa hometown. Along the way, a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame turns into an impromptu lesson about racism and segregation. In Niagara Falls, a day of arcade games and go-karts unexpectedly morphs into a titanic struggle between father and son. A stop in Chicago rips the scars off of old wounds. And back in Iowa, Calvin is forced to confront the most difficult question of all: What if his flaws and family history doom him to repeat the mistakes of the past?

In this unforgettable debut memoir, Calvin Hennick holds a mirror up to both himself and modern America in an urgent and timely story that all parents, and indeed all Americans, need to hear.

©2019 Calvin Hennick (P)2020 Tantor

A Pleasant Reminiscence

A good narrator and a pleasant story of recapturing the feelings of growing up in a small Iowa town. The author's family life was not the typical Iowa bucolic family. In fact it was somewhat dark and the author's language sometimes reflected this. But the story shows how friendship provides a safety net and how perseverance, even when a little neurotic, can change a life.