City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy

by Terry Teachout

The Wall Street Journal drama critic and Missouri native remembers growing up in small-town America, paying tribute to the memories he developed and people he met while revealing the reasons he finally left for New York City .

In this collection of anecdotes and memories, Terry Teachout sings of the pride of regional America. City Limits is the story of Teachout’s as he grew up in small town of Silkeston, Missouri, filled with countless adventures and embarrassments.

Beginning with his life as a young boy and progressing to eventual his decision to leave the only place he knew for New York City, Teachout gives readers a glance into the mind of small-town boy that grew into a big-city man.

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Terry Teachout is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the chief culture critic of Commentary. His latest book, "Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong," will be published on December 2 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He blogs about the arts at www.terryteachout.com. His other books include "The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken," "All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine," and "A Terry Teachout Reader." "

Reviews

[Vincent Lombardo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved Terry Teachout and was crestfallen to hear that he died, but this book, although well written, was simply BORING! There was no structure. It was not a memoir but simply a compilation of random memories of his early life, and the stories were uninteresting and pointless! If life in his small town was so wonderful, then why did he leave?

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this again today, after Terry’s death. He also attended St. John’s at the same time I did, but hated it, didn’t make friends, left after one semester. I sometimes hated it, too, but stayed all four years. What he loved was music, and that comes through here, as I reach back into my own memory of Art Tatum and other jazz greats.