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Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg
With his bestselling All Over but the Shoutin' , Rick Bragg gave us memorable stories of his own childhood. Here he offers the best of his work as a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist writing the remarkable stories of others.
For twenty years, Bragg has focused his efforts on the common man. So while some of these stories are about people whose names we know—such as Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons—most are people whose names we've never heard, people who have survived tornadoes and swamps, racism and bombs. In incisive, unadorned prose that is nonetheless strikingly beautiful, these pieces rise above journalism to become literature and show the triumph of the human spirit.
For twenty years, Bragg has focused his efforts on the common man. So while some of these stories are about people whose names we know—such as Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons—most are people whose names we've never heard, people who have survived tornadoes and swamps, racism and bombs. In incisive, unadorned prose that is nonetheless strikingly beautiful, these pieces rise above journalism to become literature and show the triumph of the human spirit.
277 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2000
25 people are currently reading
1115 people want to read
About the author
Rick Bragg
47 books1,274 followersRick Bragg is the Pulitzer Prize winning writer of best-selling and critically acclaimed books on the people of the foothills of the Appalachians, All Over but the Shoutin, Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown.
Bragg, a native of Calhoun County, Alabama, calls these books the proudest examples of his writing life, what historians and critics have described as heart-breaking anthems of people usually written about only in fiction or cliches. They chronicle the lives of his family cotton pickers, mill workers, whiskey makers, long sufferers, and fist fighters. Bragg, who has written for the numerous magazines, ranging from Sports Illustrated to Food & Wine, was a newspaper writer for two decades, covering high school football for the Jacksonville News, and militant Islamic fundamentalism for The New York Times.
He has won more than 50 significant writing awards, in books and journalism, including, twice, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1993, and is, truthfully, still a freshman at Jacksonville State University. Bragg is currently Professor of Writing in the Journalism Department at the University of Alabama, and lives in Tuscaloosa with his wife, Dianne, a doctoral student there, and his stepson, Jake. His only real hobby is fishing, but he is the worst fisherman in his family line.
Bragg, a native of Calhoun County, Alabama, calls these books the proudest examples of his writing life, what historians and critics have described as heart-breaking anthems of people usually written about only in fiction or cliches. They chronicle the lives of his family cotton pickers, mill workers, whiskey makers, long sufferers, and fist fighters. Bragg, who has written for the numerous magazines, ranging from Sports Illustrated to Food & Wine, was a newspaper writer for two decades, covering high school football for the Jacksonville News, and militant Islamic fundamentalism for The New York Times.
He has won more than 50 significant writing awards, in books and journalism, including, twice, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1993, and is, truthfully, still a freshman at Jacksonville State University. Bragg is currently Professor of Writing in the Journalism Department at the University of Alabama, and lives in Tuscaloosa with his wife, Dianne, a doctoral student there, and his stepson, Jake. His only real hobby is fishing, but he is the worst fisherman in his family line.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
October 26, 2011
Rating Clarification: 2.5 Stars
I would easily say that Rick Bragg's trilogy of his hardscrabble life was some of the best non-fiction I've ever read:
This compilation of his newspaper articles-- not so much. I think Bragg writes best when he writes about those things closest to his heart. There were some notable exceptions, of course. I cried buckets over his article regarding Florida State troopers doing double duty as suicide counselors as they try and coax jumpers on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to choose life and hope over despair and the finality of death. Likewise, his story of Oseola McCarty, (an 87 year old black washerwoman who amassed over $150,000 in savings and donated it to the University of Southern Mississippi to fund scholarships for young blacks), was a testiment to the greatness of people who too often go unnoticed and unvalued in our materialistic and self-centered society.
However, his bleeding-heart articles over the plight of geriatric death row inmates left me cold. Sorry, but I can't drum up a nickle's worth of sympathy over 70+ year old murderers who will die in prison. I imagine their victims would have liked to have lived so long themselves.
A decent read, but it doesn't have the heart and soul of his trilogy, IMO.
I would easily say that Rick Bragg's trilogy of his hardscrabble life was some of the best non-fiction I've ever read:
This compilation of his newspaper articles-- not so much. I think Bragg writes best when he writes about those things closest to his heart. There were some notable exceptions, of course. I cried buckets over his article regarding Florida State troopers doing double duty as suicide counselors as they try and coax jumpers on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to choose life and hope over despair and the finality of death. Likewise, his story of Oseola McCarty, (an 87 year old black washerwoman who amassed over $150,000 in savings and donated it to the University of Southern Mississippi to fund scholarships for young blacks), was a testiment to the greatness of people who too often go unnoticed and unvalued in our materialistic and self-centered society.
However, his bleeding-heart articles over the plight of geriatric death row inmates left me cold. Sorry, but I can't drum up a nickle's worth of sympathy over 70+ year old murderers who will die in prison. I imagine their victims would have liked to have lived so long themselves.
A decent read, but it doesn't have the heart and soul of his trilogy, IMO.
December 25, 2011
Bragg is actually friends with some of the other professors in UF's journalism department. My reporting professor is his old editor from the St. Petersburg Times. They are really really awesome guys. Super hilarious, passionate, razor sharp. I love the journalism department here.
But, anyway, I watched a video of Bragg telling old stories to an auditorium of UF alums. He is so fucking funny. Because I knew he wrote for the NYT, I always imagined him having a New York accent. His real accent is so, so much better. Deep southern drawl, full of ya'lls and ain'ts. It's beautiful. He is a wonderful story teller with perfect comedic timing. I really love him.
I also admire his writing style. It's what I consider perfect journalism. It tells stories that matter; it tells them well. It gives the information but it makes you feel something too. Journalism should be about people. Bragg understands that. His style is simplistic but powerful. He coves both astonishingly sad and uplifting topics. My favorite part of his writing, actually, is his ability to write really, really good endings to pieces. They're always dramatic and haunting and wonderful.
UF makes me love the field of journalism. So does this book.
But, anyway, I watched a video of Bragg telling old stories to an auditorium of UF alums. He is so fucking funny. Because I knew he wrote for the NYT, I always imagined him having a New York accent. His real accent is so, so much better. Deep southern drawl, full of ya'lls and ain'ts. It's beautiful. He is a wonderful story teller with perfect comedic timing. I really love him.
I also admire his writing style. It's what I consider perfect journalism. It tells stories that matter; it tells them well. It gives the information but it makes you feel something too. Journalism should be about people. Bragg understands that. His style is simplistic but powerful. He coves both astonishingly sad and uplifting topics. My favorite part of his writing, actually, is his ability to write really, really good endings to pieces. They're always dramatic and haunting and wonderful.
UF makes me love the field of journalism. So does this book.
September 29, 2008
I'll read anything by Rick Bragg, but I like his 3 memoir books the best. He's a great columnist too--the collection of columns in this book were very interesting to read. Can't wait for whatever he writes next.
April 6, 2015
I really believe Bragg is one of the greatest writers of our time. His raw talent + polished skill with words makes nearly any subject compelling. He has this way of telling a story that is understated instead of melodramatic, which serves to pierce the reader with the drama of the tale. The chapter epigraphs in this volume are a perfect example--one or two elegant, startling sentences that say so much, so simply. And he makes the most diverse characters come to life.
If you haven't read anything of his, I'd probably start with his first memoir, All Over But the Shoutin'. But this collection of feature articles from The New York Times is wonderful too--nice to dip in and out of, savor just a small piece at a time.
If you haven't read anything of his, I'd probably start with his first memoir, All Over But the Shoutin'. But this collection of feature articles from The New York Times is wonderful too--nice to dip in and out of, savor just a small piece at a time.
January 19, 2012
"Somebody Told Me," suggested by a managing editor at a sister paper of mine, taught me that journalists can let their words flow like poetry. Rick Bragg exhibits his passion of writing and captures the emotions of what he covers. I loved his accounts of covering tragedy near his hometown and his stories about the horrors that prison inmates face, both within and outside of the prison's walls. He simply brings stories to life as only a true Southern storyteller can.
May 27, 2008
This book is very well written, but at the same time kind of depressing. I like Bragg's style alot however, this particular book was a little too dark for me.
July 29, 2023
Everything Bragg writes I will read. These newspaper articles from his career are enlightening and so telling. His style shines in every article snd he embodies the people he writes about in a touching style.
July 5, 2021
If America needs more proof that killing is easier now, that life has less value, the evidence is here between rows of candy and cigarettes.
I didn't really know what this book was when I picked it off the shelf in one of the buildings in college. Some of the English professors were giving away books and I couldn't say no to free books! Now, over 10 years later, I'm finally getting around to reading them. This book is a collection of newspaper stories written by Rick Bragg for The New York Times and for other papers. Published between 1989-2001 (before 9/11), these stories show both how much and how little has changed in America in those years. I was fascinated by some of the stories that seemed to be time capsules--the stories about the Oklahoma City bombing, the stories of school shootings (before Columbine and before they became a regular occurrence). Bragg brings you into the story and I really enjoyed that. For a book that I had zero expectations for, this one definitely exceeded them.
I didn't really know what this book was when I picked it off the shelf in one of the buildings in college. Some of the English professors were giving away books and I couldn't say no to free books! Now, over 10 years later, I'm finally getting around to reading them. This book is a collection of newspaper stories written by Rick Bragg for The New York Times and for other papers. Published between 1989-2001 (before 9/11), these stories show both how much and how little has changed in America in those years. I was fascinated by some of the stories that seemed to be time capsules--the stories about the Oklahoma City bombing, the stories of school shootings (before Columbine and before they became a regular occurrence). Bragg brings you into the story and I really enjoyed that. For a book that I had zero expectations for, this one definitely exceeded them.
July 29, 2016
A compilation of newspaper articles written about events in the South, all written by Rick Bragg. Not really the type of book I would pick to read on my own but since it was for book club, and I had an extra hour and a half stuck on the runway at LaGuardia, I managed to finish it. Lots of stories on strained race relations, shootings, and deaths, many senseless. So, not a warm and happy book by any means...but the author does a good job describing the emotions and circumstances of the people involved in each event. The last part of the book had a few stories on each event, which I enjoyed more than the stand alone articles at the beginning. On some of the stories, I wish there was a follow up on how the people are doing now... Like what are the young boys from Jonesboro, Arkansas that shot and killed some classmates doing now? Is Susan Smith still in jail? How are the Oklahoma City bombing survivors doing now? Etc...
December 28, 2010
"The difference between rich people and poor people is that poor people still wear the clothes they were wearing when they were shot. They save them from the emergency-room floor."
October 16, 2024
5✨ Rick Bragg is an extraordinary storyteller and journalist. I could read his articles all day.
July 24, 2023
While some of these stories are humorous and/or heart-warming (prisoners performing in a rodeo, an old woman giving her lifetime savings for college scholarships, the intense rivalry between Gator and Seminole fans) most of them deal with more serious subjects. As a journalist, Bragg was drawn to tragic places and events: Oklahoma City after the bombing, small town Alabama after a deadly tornado, Haiti in the midst of political violence, South Carolina during the Susan Smith child murder trial and the inner cities of New York, Miami and New Orleans. In the hands of a lesser writer, these kinds of stories could be maudlin, sentimental or lurid. Bragg never falls into those traps. He writes with sympathy and respect and the necessary journalistic distance. This collection shows why Bragg's Pulitzer Prize for feature writing was well-deserved.
May 15, 2020
Somebody Told Me by Rick Bragg features the best of his newspaper stories. This book is 20 years old and I had forgotten some of these news stories. A lot of the stories were very disturbing – the bombing in Oklahoma City, school shootings, deadly tornadoes and Susan Smith the woman who drowned her 2 small children in South Carolina. (Can you believe she is up for parole in 4 years?) Rick Bragg knows how to tell of people’s heartache and hurt, but I prefer his books about family. They are happier, more upbeat books about life in the south. They usually include lots of humor and food. I’m still glad I read Somebody Told Me. I’ve now read everything he’s written and can hope his next book will feature more of his family.
July 5, 2019
This book contains newspaper stories that he wrote in the 90’s, so some of the material is dated at 20 or more years later, but I still enjoyed his writing. There are 14 sections that contain 3-6 stories each, all dealing with actual events and people. Some events are well-known such as the Oklahoma City bombing, and others are somewhat lesser known or by now forgotten situations. His writing draws you into the lives of those he writes about.
February 26, 2011
Rick Bragg has the gift of story telling. It's as if he's sitting beside you as you read.
January 1, 2016
Some wonderfully-written stories inside that I loved studying. He's a master of beginning and ending his stories with a bang.
February 3, 2019
I love Rick Bragg’s writing!
June 29, 2019
I would read this man's grocery lists. Rick Bragg makes everything he writes about relatable to the reader. I would go so far as to say that he is my favorite writer.
August 24, 2024
A compilation of Rick Bragg's articles from The New York Times and other major newspapers, Bragg puts a very human face on the sad, happy, and tragic news stories of the 1990's. Stories of events like the Oklahoma City bombing, Susan Smith's murder of her children, and the deaths of school children by school children left me weeping. These are not the dry recitation of facts and the quick videos from the evening news that I remember but the real behind-the-scenes stories of the victims, their families, and those who brought forth justice. There are happier tales too of southern sweet tea, a joyful 5oth year class reunion, and the joyful jazz funeral for Chicken Man in New Orleans. Over 60 stories are divided into 14 themed chapters, all told with Bragg's powerful use of language and wit. I did not give it a 5-star review because I do not like weeping!
January 13, 2021
Not nearly as light hearted on the whole as Where I Come From. Quality writing on some dark subject matter. It opens with stories of bodega shootings in New York and the fears of a man released from prison after serving decades for a crime he didn’t commit.
The middle has some more upbeat stories like the laundress who worked hard and lived simply then gave her accumulated savings of $150,000 to fund scholarships at a local black college
Then Bragg gets back into the heavy material - the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the Susan Smith child murder case, and a series of school shootings perpetrated by juveniles
It’s worthwhile reading but you have to be in the right frame of mind to handle the concentrated gloom.
The middle has some more upbeat stories like the laundress who worked hard and lived simply then gave her accumulated savings of $150,000 to fund scholarships at a local black college
Then Bragg gets back into the heavy material - the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the Susan Smith child murder case, and a series of school shootings perpetrated by juveniles
It’s worthwhile reading but you have to be in the right frame of mind to handle the concentrated gloom.
February 13, 2022
With his bestselling All Over but the Shoutin', Rick Bragg gave us memorable stories of his own childhood. In Somebody Told Me, he offers the best of his work as a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist writing the remarkable stories of others.
For twenty years, Bragg has focused his efforts on the common man. So while some of these stories are about people whose names we know-such as Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons-most are people whose names we've never heard, people who have survived tornadoes and swamps, racism and bombs. In incisive, unadorned prose that is nonetheless strikingly beautiful, these pieces rise above journalism to become literature and show the triumph of the human spirit.
For twenty years, Bragg has focused his efforts on the common man. So while some of these stories are about people whose names we know-such as Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two sons-most are people whose names we've never heard, people who have survived tornadoes and swamps, racism and bombs. In incisive, unadorned prose that is nonetheless strikingly beautiful, these pieces rise above journalism to become literature and show the triumph of the human spirit.
September 13, 2018
One of the best collection of reporting stories from any era.
Rick Bragg's reporting can be considered to be one of the best gauges of what '90s were like to live through. Though he may not focus on the dot.com boom/bust, his reporting touches on such key issues and events as the Oklahoma City Bombing, and the rise of school shootings.
Bragg's simple prose, and empathetic tone make him one of the most distinct writers for The New York Times. For any aspiring reporter, I would highly recommend this collection.
Rick Bragg's reporting can be considered to be one of the best gauges of what '90s were like to live through. Though he may not focus on the dot.com boom/bust, his reporting touches on such key issues and events as the Oklahoma City Bombing, and the rise of school shootings.
Bragg's simple prose, and empathetic tone make him one of the most distinct writers for The New York Times. For any aspiring reporter, I would highly recommend this collection.
November 29, 2022
For those who are familiar with Bragg’s family books or his more recent collections, Somebody is a definite outlier, without the personal intimacy that makes his books as a whole so compelling. It’s a collection of his newspaper articles from the 1980s and 1990s, and tends toward the depressing – particularly the series on the Oklahoma City bombing, in which the peace of a wholly anodyne midwestern town was destroyed by a man whose hatred for an abusive government turned him into the very monster he hated. This is followed by a series of articles about a woman who killed her own children, and a series of pre-Columbine school shootings. There are some articles in here that warm the soul, though, like a tribute to New Orleans’ last ‘voodoo priest’ (gotta love genuine Characters in an age of consumerized homogeneity) , and some amusing pieces on football. The most interesting pieces to me were those on the late George C. Wallace, for whom getting shot was something of a come-to-Jesus moment. Although not as compelling as his family stories, Bragg’s gift for connecting people’s lives to readers’ hearts and minds is no less strong when it’s strangers’ stories he is sharing.
September 26, 2019
Love this writer. Could tell that the content was from an earlier time in his career. After reading his novels and A Southern Journey, he has refined his content and style and become a treasure. Would really love to meet him or see an interview with him.
April 19, 2022
Bragg is a great storyteller. I enjoy his writing and his style. I think he has a heavy emphasis on crime stories and racism, and this book both started and ended with several depressing stories of that nature.
June 5, 2025
A collection of gritty, funny, and relatable pieces about growing up and life in the American South.
Reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver’s southern novels, Harry Crews’ biography, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver’s southern novels, Harry Crews’ biography, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
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March 7, 2020I wasn't feeling this book.
May 22, 2023
Nobody puts a sentence together like Rick Bragg. This is a wonderful read. Tough stories for sure.
January 16, 2024
This series of newspaper articles was copyrighted in 2000 so to some the stories might seem dated. All that said, all are beautifully written and the heart of the writer can be seen in each.
April 23, 2020
This is how people’s stories should be told.
Rick Bragg just nails every aspect of good journalism – the right moments, the right questions, the right words to tell it all back to his readers. This book collects some of his best work from the ’80s and ’90s, mostly for the New York Times. It’s not just a fine bunch of journalism; it’s also a fascinating overview of contemporary Southern history.
The stories are organized by topic – Survivors, Secrets, Icons, for example. Bragg wrote about household names (Susan Smith, Tim McVeigh, George C. Wallace) but more often he went into homes of the most average folks and came out to tell their remarkable unknown stories.
You will be sad, because there’s a lot of sadness and pain in this world. And journalism is often one tool that, by its uncovering, can help to make things right. But you will also be moved and amazed – and you will laugh.
I loved that I even found a few repetitions or sloppy words – they reminded me that while I was reading these pieces in a book, they were originally created in a day, as Bragg talked to people and then wrote their stories for the next day’s paper, the magic journalists do day in and out.
“The thing that makes this business so remarkable, that every day we get a new canvas to paint on, is also what makes it so unsatisfying,” Bragg writes in the introduction. “The story, almost always, dies with the day, the pages of the day-old paper turning yellow in the sun. Books, even if they are just newspaper stories bound tight, last a little bit longer.”
Bragg has a such a vivid voice that it comes through, in a good way, even as he tells other people’s stories.
He wrote about the town of Piedmont, “population 5,200, depending on who is home” and the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, awaiting McVeigh’s verdict: “Their hatred is like a laser, glowing, steady, narrow.”
One story was about a Navajo tribe in New Mexico whose men were dying at alarming rates after working in uranium mines during the Cold War. Little Joe died of lung cancer 13 years before Bragg met his wife Mary Ann. She remembered vividly the last time she felt safe and warm, when her husband was still alive. Mary Ann had just received $100,000 from the United States government in settlement for Little Joe’s wrongful death.
“She is 68 years old. She has been cold for 13 years. The money brings no more joy than digging a nickel from the dust,” Bragg wrote.
He doesn’t miss a detail.
“The difference between rich people and poor people is that poor people still wear the clothes they were wearing when they were shot. They save them from the emergency-room floor,” he wrote in a story about New York bodega owners. He had noticed the bullet hole in the arm of Domingo Leon’s leather jacket.
Or this, from a story about a maid who quietly saved a fortune and then gave it away: “She spent almost nothing, living in her old family home, cutting the toes out of shoes if they did not fit right and binding her ragged Bible with Scotch tape to keep Corinthians from falling out.”
You just can’t go wrong with reading like this, getting to know people like this.
Rick Bragg just nails every aspect of good journalism – the right moments, the right questions, the right words to tell it all back to his readers. This book collects some of his best work from the ’80s and ’90s, mostly for the New York Times. It’s not just a fine bunch of journalism; it’s also a fascinating overview of contemporary Southern history.
The stories are organized by topic – Survivors, Secrets, Icons, for example. Bragg wrote about household names (Susan Smith, Tim McVeigh, George C. Wallace) but more often he went into homes of the most average folks and came out to tell their remarkable unknown stories.
You will be sad, because there’s a lot of sadness and pain in this world. And journalism is often one tool that, by its uncovering, can help to make things right. But you will also be moved and amazed – and you will laugh.
I loved that I even found a few repetitions or sloppy words – they reminded me that while I was reading these pieces in a book, they were originally created in a day, as Bragg talked to people and then wrote their stories for the next day’s paper, the magic journalists do day in and out.
“The thing that makes this business so remarkable, that every day we get a new canvas to paint on, is also what makes it so unsatisfying,” Bragg writes in the introduction. “The story, almost always, dies with the day, the pages of the day-old paper turning yellow in the sun. Books, even if they are just newspaper stories bound tight, last a little bit longer.”
Bragg has a such a vivid voice that it comes through, in a good way, even as he tells other people’s stories.
He wrote about the town of Piedmont, “population 5,200, depending on who is home” and the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, awaiting McVeigh’s verdict: “Their hatred is like a laser, glowing, steady, narrow.”
One story was about a Navajo tribe in New Mexico whose men were dying at alarming rates after working in uranium mines during the Cold War. Little Joe died of lung cancer 13 years before Bragg met his wife Mary Ann. She remembered vividly the last time she felt safe and warm, when her husband was still alive. Mary Ann had just received $100,000 from the United States government in settlement for Little Joe’s wrongful death.
“She is 68 years old. She has been cold for 13 years. The money brings no more joy than digging a nickel from the dust,” Bragg wrote.
He doesn’t miss a detail.
“The difference between rich people and poor people is that poor people still wear the clothes they were wearing when they were shot. They save them from the emergency-room floor,” he wrote in a story about New York bodega owners. He had noticed the bullet hole in the arm of Domingo Leon’s leather jacket.
Or this, from a story about a maid who quietly saved a fortune and then gave it away: “She spent almost nothing, living in her old family home, cutting the toes out of shoes if they did not fit right and binding her ragged Bible with Scotch tape to keep Corinthians from falling out.”
You just can’t go wrong with reading like this, getting to know people like this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews