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Brother to a Dragonfly
Will CampbellÆs award-winning book shares two interrelated stories. One is of his youth in rural Mississippi and his devotion to his brother whose life ended in seeming tragedy. The other tells of his ordination at age 17 and gradual realization that civil rightsùfor blacks, for women, for gays ùwas an essential part of a ministry that has not yet ended.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
Will D. Campbell
32 books19 followersWill Davis Campbell was a Baptist minister, lecturer, and activist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
April 21, 2015
"We're all bastards, but God loves us anyway." This was Will Campbell's response to an avowed atheist who asked him to define Christianity in 10 words.
This is a memoir of two brothers who grew up poor in rural Mississippi in the 30's. They idolized each other, but took different paths. Our author became a Baptist minister, highly educated, and very active in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. His older brother Joe became a pharmacist who abused and became dependent on the pills he was handing out. The brothers helped and defended each other all their lives. It's an honest story of love and family devotion.
But what makes this book special is that it's also the story of the South that the author knows and loves, and the questioning of things he had always believed, including and especially his evolving views on what he believed and how best to minister to people while leaving the church behind. At one point, he became friends with a member of the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to understand what they wanted to accomplish. In a particularly moving scene he comes to understand - "Suddenly I knew that we are a nation of Klansmen. I knew that as a nation we stood for peace, harmony and freedom, but that the means we employed to accomplish those ends were the complete opposite."
This book is guaranteed to make you think, about family and relationships, about religion, about race, about human nature itself.
And it is sure to offend almost everyone who reads it at one point or another because of it's honesty. That's why I like it so much.
This is a memoir of two brothers who grew up poor in rural Mississippi in the 30's. They idolized each other, but took different paths. Our author became a Baptist minister, highly educated, and very active in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. His older brother Joe became a pharmacist who abused and became dependent on the pills he was handing out. The brothers helped and defended each other all their lives. It's an honest story of love and family devotion.
But what makes this book special is that it's also the story of the South that the author knows and loves, and the questioning of things he had always believed, including and especially his evolving views on what he believed and how best to minister to people while leaving the church behind. At one point, he became friends with a member of the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to understand what they wanted to accomplish. In a particularly moving scene he comes to understand - "Suddenly I knew that we are a nation of Klansmen. I knew that as a nation we stood for peace, harmony and freedom, but that the means we employed to accomplish those ends were the complete opposite."
This book is guaranteed to make you think, about family and relationships, about religion, about race, about human nature itself.
And it is sure to offend almost everyone who reads it at one point or another because of it's honesty. That's why I like it so much.
July 30, 2015
This memoir narrated by Will, tells the story of he and his older brother Joe Campbell, who grew up similarly in a very close knit but impoverished family in Mississippi , who grew up to become very different men. As young men , Will becomes a leader as a Baptist Minister, while Joe struggles as a pharmacy worker who loses his way , in an America which is deeply embroiled in the civil rights movement. A story for those who love Southern Lit ( me ) and are interested in the underpinnings of the early civil rights movement ( where I felt the book got a touch bogged down) . It is still an interesting and endearing tale of the almost mythical power of brotherly love. 3.5 stars
July 30, 2015
This gave me the best insider's view of activities of the civil rights movement that I have ever had. A pleasant mixture of Mississippi grit and ethical development for an admirable and humble man that was right in the middle of it. Will Campbell,as a minister and leader, is on moral and ethical high ground consistently. His confidence is strong and assuring,he has an absolute lack of vanity, and his humble nature is a pleasure. A great man all around, he doesn't suffer the all too common "feet of clay" plaguing too many stories of spiritual leaders.*** The structure is such that there are two stories going on throughout. I believe Will's love and dedication for his brother to be the primary story, with his own history and accomplishments taking back seat throughout. Will's brother Joseph is of course "troubled". Profane and profound, this teaches that rewards of lasting value require patient and persistent toil.
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May 28, 2022One of my all-time favorites. Will Campbell was at the forefront of civil rights in Mississippi, and this new edition has forewords by Jimmy Carter and John Lewis. Campbell taught me about grace, because he spent his later years as an "apostle to the rednecks." He presented the Gospel both to the politically correct and the politically incorrect.
April 26, 2015
"Suddenly I knew that we were a nation of Klansmen."
Will Campbell grew up in rural Mississippi during the Depression, in what they called the "Hills" where the land had long been played out and eroded. All the money had left for the Delta a long time ago. Will's people were people who rarely expected personal happiness or individual fulfillment. These were people who were known as much by "Sister," "Brother," or "Uncle" as by their given names. They grew up in isolation and were fiercely loyal to family and distrustful of outsiders.
Will Campbell grew up poor, a redneck. He became a Baptist preacher. He also became one of the most influential and active whites in the Civil Rights era.
Will Campbell's memoir, "Brother to a Dragonfly," touches on some of his activities on behalf of the Freedom Movement. But he leaves out much of what he'd done. Instead, he tells the story of his older brother, Joseph, and of their relationship from their childhood to Joe's untimely death.
Along the way you meet some of the most iconoclastic characters you could hope to meet -- men of faith and of unbelief, many of both. The Freedom Movement posed one of the most black and white moral issues in American politics (sorry for the pun), but the Rev. Will found many, many shades of gray. His journey took him to the unmistakable conclusion that heads this review. Back in the mid-sixties, Northerners didn't want to be told that racism was an All-American problem, and that the chief architects of White Supremacy were to be found among our nation's most respectable and powerful elites. That was a bitter lesson that the Freedom Movement as a whole learned by the fall of 1964, and the Rev. Will learned it too.
And he came to believe that his activism and ministry would best be used in ministering to the Klan. So that is what he did. Because they were victims too. "[T]he same social forces which produced the Klan's violence also produced the violence of Watts, Rochester and Harlem, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Nashville, Atlanta and Dayton [all black riots], because they are all pieces of the same garment -- social isolation, deprivation, economic conditions, rejections, working mothers, poor schools, bad diets, and all the rest." They were his people, the poor and reviled, the rednecks of the rural South.
Meanwhile, we see the evolution of his relationship with his brother as Joseph, ever supportive of Will's activism, falls prey to addiction and paranoia, triggered -- in part -- by the tragic death of one of their nephews just outside the boy's home. Joe blamed himself, because he had bought the house as a gift for his sister's family so they could live in a better house and still be close to her parents. "Healing for Joe had to be different.... It is difficult to treat a wound if you don't acknowledge its existence."
Will's sister (she was always "Sister," they never called her by her name; she was the sibling who never left their postage-stamp of rural Mississippi, and who cared for her parents) asked Will to stand vigil over her dead boy's body.
"I sat in the funeral room with the glow of one remaining light casting a huge silhouette on the bank of flowers upon the wall....
"'Believe it's cooled off a bit.' 'Yea, I believe it has.' Slowly the realization encompassed me that someone from out of the darkness, six or eight rows behind, had spoken to me. And I had answered. I did not need to turn around to ask the identity of the speaker. I had not heard that voice in a long time. But I knew it was that of a favorite uncle of our childhood days. In recent years he had been one of the most critical and vocal ones concerning my activities in the civil rights and desegregation controversy, expressing bitter disappointment and displeasure that his own nephew had turned out to be a nigger lover and renegade preacher. I had ceased to visit him when I came because I loved him too much to risk rejection....
"He moved quietly out of the darkness and sat down beside me. I glanced at my watch. 'It's three o'clock,' he said. I assumed that he knew of the promise I had made my sister, and had been sitting in the shadows since the last mourner had left, deciding in his own time and in his own mind when I had been alone -- though not alone -- long enough.
"He poured coffee from a lunch box thermos and handed it to me. Until the dawn I sat in the redemptive company of a racist Jesus."
Friend of blacks, and friend of the Klan -- if Brother Will offends or astounds, it is because the grace of God offends and astounds.
Will Campbell grew up in rural Mississippi during the Depression, in what they called the "Hills" where the land had long been played out and eroded. All the money had left for the Delta a long time ago. Will's people were people who rarely expected personal happiness or individual fulfillment. These were people who were known as much by "Sister," "Brother," or "Uncle" as by their given names. They grew up in isolation and were fiercely loyal to family and distrustful of outsiders.
Will Campbell grew up poor, a redneck. He became a Baptist preacher. He also became one of the most influential and active whites in the Civil Rights era.
Will Campbell's memoir, "Brother to a Dragonfly," touches on some of his activities on behalf of the Freedom Movement. But he leaves out much of what he'd done. Instead, he tells the story of his older brother, Joseph, and of their relationship from their childhood to Joe's untimely death.
Along the way you meet some of the most iconoclastic characters you could hope to meet -- men of faith and of unbelief, many of both. The Freedom Movement posed one of the most black and white moral issues in American politics (sorry for the pun), but the Rev. Will found many, many shades of gray. His journey took him to the unmistakable conclusion that heads this review. Back in the mid-sixties, Northerners didn't want to be told that racism was an All-American problem, and that the chief architects of White Supremacy were to be found among our nation's most respectable and powerful elites. That was a bitter lesson that the Freedom Movement as a whole learned by the fall of 1964, and the Rev. Will learned it too.
And he came to believe that his activism and ministry would best be used in ministering to the Klan. So that is what he did. Because they were victims too. "[T]he same social forces which produced the Klan's violence also produced the violence of Watts, Rochester and Harlem, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Nashville, Atlanta and Dayton [all black riots], because they are all pieces of the same garment -- social isolation, deprivation, economic conditions, rejections, working mothers, poor schools, bad diets, and all the rest." They were his people, the poor and reviled, the rednecks of the rural South.
Meanwhile, we see the evolution of his relationship with his brother as Joseph, ever supportive of Will's activism, falls prey to addiction and paranoia, triggered -- in part -- by the tragic death of one of their nephews just outside the boy's home. Joe blamed himself, because he had bought the house as a gift for his sister's family so they could live in a better house and still be close to her parents. "Healing for Joe had to be different.... It is difficult to treat a wound if you don't acknowledge its existence."
Will's sister (she was always "Sister," they never called her by her name; she was the sibling who never left their postage-stamp of rural Mississippi, and who cared for her parents) asked Will to stand vigil over her dead boy's body.
"I sat in the funeral room with the glow of one remaining light casting a huge silhouette on the bank of flowers upon the wall....
"'Believe it's cooled off a bit.' 'Yea, I believe it has.' Slowly the realization encompassed me that someone from out of the darkness, six or eight rows behind, had spoken to me. And I had answered. I did not need to turn around to ask the identity of the speaker. I had not heard that voice in a long time. But I knew it was that of a favorite uncle of our childhood days. In recent years he had been one of the most critical and vocal ones concerning my activities in the civil rights and desegregation controversy, expressing bitter disappointment and displeasure that his own nephew had turned out to be a nigger lover and renegade preacher. I had ceased to visit him when I came because I loved him too much to risk rejection....
"He moved quietly out of the darkness and sat down beside me. I glanced at my watch. 'It's three o'clock,' he said. I assumed that he knew of the promise I had made my sister, and had been sitting in the shadows since the last mourner had left, deciding in his own time and in his own mind when I had been alone -- though not alone -- long enough.
"He poured coffee from a lunch box thermos and handed it to me. Until the dawn I sat in the redemptive company of a racist Jesus."
Friend of blacks, and friend of the Klan -- if Brother Will offends or astounds, it is because the grace of God offends and astounds.
April 20, 2015
Raw, revealing, and steeped in love of all kinds. This memoir approaches several topics about as head on as possible. Careful not to dull any sharp points which might soften the ugliness of several personal struggles, Campbell did a masterful job in both honoring and examining the lovely, tragic, and inspiring tale of his brother's life. Ultimately, the demons were too strong, but along the way we gain perspectives on so many more topics than simply a brotherly bond.
Campbell also exposes his own perspectives, failures, and rooted beliefs. Some of which he later explained as ill fated; you get to watch the beliefs grow through a lifetime of experiences.
When's the last time you read a book written by a whisky drinking Baptist preacher who was a key leader in the civil rights movement? Not only that, he was protested by those you might expect from his bold leadership in desegregation (some actions of which he brings up as "should I have done this differently" in the book), but also controversially developed a relationship with some of the key leaders in the Klu Klux Klan- angering his friends in the civil rights movement. His belief being that Christ's love was available for all- and his mission being to help others find it (but not in the contemporary evangelical method). His thought was that "we are all Bastards, but God loves us anyway".
Just as his actions at that time didn't find fertile soil with everyone- I can almost guarantee you (regardless of your beliefs or opinions) will not be aligned to his exact way of thinking on a host of issues. That's what makes it so great to me. In his differences, his positions are laid out so beautifully, and in such raw strokes that you can't hardly do anything but be drawn to his way of thinking. Really though, in the end, this is a story about love- not romance- love. It left me rethinking a few things, and made me wish that our world today had a few things more similar to the past. Certainly some of the issues for which Campbell fought for have progressed greatly, but other parts of modern life leave me wishing for the nostalgic parts of the story Campbell describes so beautifully- mainly an ability for people of all backgrounds to get along despite the differences.
Worth your time to read.
Campbell also exposes his own perspectives, failures, and rooted beliefs. Some of which he later explained as ill fated; you get to watch the beliefs grow through a lifetime of experiences.
When's the last time you read a book written by a whisky drinking Baptist preacher who was a key leader in the civil rights movement? Not only that, he was protested by those you might expect from his bold leadership in desegregation (some actions of which he brings up as "should I have done this differently" in the book), but also controversially developed a relationship with some of the key leaders in the Klu Klux Klan- angering his friends in the civil rights movement. His belief being that Christ's love was available for all- and his mission being to help others find it (but not in the contemporary evangelical method). His thought was that "we are all Bastards, but God loves us anyway".
Just as his actions at that time didn't find fertile soil with everyone- I can almost guarantee you (regardless of your beliefs or opinions) will not be aligned to his exact way of thinking on a host of issues. That's what makes it so great to me. In his differences, his positions are laid out so beautifully, and in such raw strokes that you can't hardly do anything but be drawn to his way of thinking. Really though, in the end, this is a story about love- not romance- love. It left me rethinking a few things, and made me wish that our world today had a few things more similar to the past. Certainly some of the issues for which Campbell fought for have progressed greatly, but other parts of modern life leave me wishing for the nostalgic parts of the story Campbell describes so beautifully- mainly an ability for people of all backgrounds to get along despite the differences.
Worth your time to read.
March 23, 2021
A compelling read that focuses on Will Campbell, Methodist preacher and civil rights activist and his brother, Joe. A true conversion occurs when Will sees the civil rights movement from a Gospel perspective, not right and wrong or liberal and conservative. “We are all bastards and God loves us anyway”.
June 29, 2011
I read this once before, many years ago. And I had the author sign my book about 10 years ago. He is a legend in southern civil rights work. It was time to read it again. And as with other books I've reread, I remembered hardly anything except a certain feeling. But this one I was glad I reread. The story of Will and his brother Joe (the dragonfly) holds the reader's attention, but the theological moral comes near the end. Campbell learns/decides that everyone is a bastard, and God loves everyone, even the KKK. This makes his civil rights work extend to white racists as well--understanding how they are children of God too. This is a significant challenge to each of us, regardless of where we are--to love our enemy, or to stop thinking of them as our enemy. For example, the fundamentalist minister, the narcissistic co-worker. It's easy enough to agree with in the abstract, but an actual and ongoing challenge in the flesh. Well...what are we waiting for?
May 3, 2014
I have waited months to review this book, mostly because I wanted to write with the experience of having taught Campbell's memoir two semester in a row. As the academic year comes to a close, I feel ready to review. I assigned the book for a first year seminar entitled "memoir, history, and culture." Some students struggled with the writing, but beyond that it was popular among most of them. I absolutely loved this book from the first page and the thoughtful genesis poem of Campbell's family. The book is important to study as a memoir, a window into the twentieth-century South, and as a treatise on civil rights.
As a memoir, Brother to a Dragonfly is full of beautiful southern storytelling language that's at once polite and blunt. Few memoirs today (if you can even call the recent spate of autobiographical prose memoir), contain such literary beauty as this book. The story of Will and Joe's relationship is real--easy to feel and imagine--because of the prose.
As a window into the twentieth-century South, the book is invaluable and easily could be paired with other coming-of-age memoirs of the period, including Lillian Smith's Killers of the Dream. In fact, I assigned the first chapter of Smith's book to get students to think about how we learn about race and come to identify injustice. The closest book published recently is Tim Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name. I therefore highly recommend this book for any student of southern history.
Finally, as a treatise on civil rights, this book is timeless. Campbell challenges us to love as Christ loves--universally and without condition--and does so in our uniquely American context of racial injustice. In the end, the book leaves me wondering: where are the New "New South's" prophetic voices? From which pulpits do they resonate? When will the religious left embrace with gusto the activism it once had? I see this happening in my own church and throughout North Carolina with moral mondays, and public protest. Opportunities to live and lead as Campbell did are all around.
As a memoir, Brother to a Dragonfly is full of beautiful southern storytelling language that's at once polite and blunt. Few memoirs today (if you can even call the recent spate of autobiographical prose memoir), contain such literary beauty as this book. The story of Will and Joe's relationship is real--easy to feel and imagine--because of the prose.
As a window into the twentieth-century South, the book is invaluable and easily could be paired with other coming-of-age memoirs of the period, including Lillian Smith's Killers of the Dream. In fact, I assigned the first chapter of Smith's book to get students to think about how we learn about race and come to identify injustice. The closest book published recently is Tim Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name. I therefore highly recommend this book for any student of southern history.
Finally, as a treatise on civil rights, this book is timeless. Campbell challenges us to love as Christ loves--universally and without condition--and does so in our uniquely American context of racial injustice. In the end, the book leaves me wondering: where are the New "New South's" prophetic voices? From which pulpits do they resonate? When will the religious left embrace with gusto the activism it once had? I see this happening in my own church and throughout North Carolina with moral mondays, and public protest. Opportunities to live and lead as Campbell did are all around.
January 17, 2008
I found this book in a "Friends of the East Atlanta Book Sale" cart for $1. I grabbed it because the forward by Jimmy Carter promised a poignant look at the south from the depression through the Civil Rights era. Those of you who know me will note that this is one of my favorite topics.
I am working my way through and it has proven to be a raw and very sad look at life during a time of extreme turmoil and confusion for southern people. The authors stories even sound somewhat familiar to me having grown up in Georgia WELL after the 1960s. Coming to the realization one day that your grandma not only makes the best lemon cake in the land, but also tells nigger jokes. A sad day.
His writing style is rambling giving the book a nostalgic feel but is sometimes so rambling that it becomes hard to follow. He takes you inside his memories and when they jump subjects, be prepared to follow.
Overall I am enjoying the story. It is a fine example of the difference between history books and the memoirs of people who were actually there.
I am working my way through and it has proven to be a raw and very sad look at life during a time of extreme turmoil and confusion for southern people. The authors stories even sound somewhat familiar to me having grown up in Georgia WELL after the 1960s. Coming to the realization one day that your grandma not only makes the best lemon cake in the land, but also tells nigger jokes. A sad day.
His writing style is rambling giving the book a nostalgic feel but is sometimes so rambling that it becomes hard to follow. He takes you inside his memories and when they jump subjects, be prepared to follow.
Overall I am enjoying the story. It is a fine example of the difference between history books and the memoirs of people who were actually there.
July 20, 2020
Affecting and evocative, Brother to a Dragonfly describes the author's childhood in rural Mississippi during the 1930s, moving into his adult life when, as a highly unconventional Baptist minister, he came to be deeply involved in the civil rights movement, playing a much more important and prominent role than he acknowledges here.
Will Campbell's early commitment to racial justice was framed in social/legal terms, but over time he adopted a rather unique religious perspective, which he took to be at odds with his earlier views. From his new standpoint, he befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he came to equate the worth of a murderous white constable with that of his innocent Black murder victim (Campbell saw all of them as victims of their history). Will's brother Joe was aghast at this, but their difference of opinion did not lessen their brotherly love.
Ultimately, the book is less of an autobiography than it is an account of Will's complicated relationship with Joe. The boys were exceptionally close as children; Joe, two years older, served as the protector. The closeness remained, but as the years went by, the protective roles were reversed. Will graduated from Yale Divinity School, and found various employments as a clergyman. Joe became a pharmacist, an occupation that unfortunately provided him with unlimited access to the pills to which he gradually became addicted. Although Joe could be warm and generous, and was unfailingly kind to Will, he was also an abusive and irresponsible husband in his two marriages. Sadly, Will's many attempts to get Joe into effective treatment proved fruitless. Even as Joe deteriorated, however, he continued to connect with his brother, occasionally dishing up startling insights that Will took to heart.
There are moments of both humor and pathos in this humble memoir, but the tragedy is inescapable. Campbell is an excellent writer, and his book evokes emotion while inviting reflection.
Will Campbell's early commitment to racial justice was framed in social/legal terms, but over time he adopted a rather unique religious perspective, which he took to be at odds with his earlier views. From his new standpoint, he befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he came to equate the worth of a murderous white constable with that of his innocent Black murder victim (Campbell saw all of them as victims of their history). Will's brother Joe was aghast at this, but their difference of opinion did not lessen their brotherly love.
Ultimately, the book is less of an autobiography than it is an account of Will's complicated relationship with Joe. The boys were exceptionally close as children; Joe, two years older, served as the protector. The closeness remained, but as the years went by, the protective roles were reversed. Will graduated from Yale Divinity School, and found various employments as a clergyman. Joe became a pharmacist, an occupation that unfortunately provided him with unlimited access to the pills to which he gradually became addicted. Although Joe could be warm and generous, and was unfailingly kind to Will, he was also an abusive and irresponsible husband in his two marriages. Sadly, Will's many attempts to get Joe into effective treatment proved fruitless. Even as Joe deteriorated, however, he continued to connect with his brother, occasionally dishing up startling insights that Will took to heart.
There are moments of both humor and pathos in this humble memoir, but the tragedy is inescapable. Campbell is an excellent writer, and his book evokes emotion while inviting reflection.
January 31, 2023
Oddly enough, I have been asked several times what this book is about and each time I was asked, I have been at a loss for how to answer. Every description I have come up with to summarize sounds lame.
But I couldn’t stop reading it.
It wasn’t until after I finished that I went back and read the foreword (whoops, lol) by John Lewis. And his words finally gave credence to my struggle - so I will borrow them here.
“Brother to a Dragonfly is a story of one brother’s love for another through many a tragic turning. It is a testament to the breadth and depth of heart that will lead us through the tragedies of our context toward the land we are called to become. It’s the Spirit of History.”
-John Lewis
But I couldn’t stop reading it.
It wasn’t until after I finished that I went back and read the foreword (whoops, lol) by John Lewis. And his words finally gave credence to my struggle - so I will borrow them here.
“Brother to a Dragonfly is a story of one brother’s love for another through many a tragic turning. It is a testament to the breadth and depth of heart that will lead us through the tragedies of our context toward the land we are called to become. It’s the Spirit of History.”
-John Lewis
April 12, 2024
What a pleasure to re-read this book which I finished the first time back in April of 1981, a month before I graduated from college at Ole Miss. This book had a huge impact on me 43 years ago and still speaks to me today.
Written as a tribute to his brother Joe, Will Campbell, a humble preacher, weaves a beautiful story of brotherhood in a fraught time in the South. Will Campbell took a courageous stand for the downtrodden during the civil rights movement in the South. Not only did he stand up for the rights of blacks but also did the hard work of trying to understand the Klansmen. He preached that “we are all bastards but God loves us anyway.”
Written as a tribute to his brother Joe, Will Campbell, a humble preacher, weaves a beautiful story of brotherhood in a fraught time in the South. Will Campbell took a courageous stand for the downtrodden during the civil rights movement in the South. Not only did he stand up for the rights of blacks but also did the hard work of trying to understand the Klansmen. He preached that “we are all bastards but God loves us anyway.”
July 1, 2010
Honest portraiture of close brothers evolving as human beings (and as poor white Southerners) during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement; as a poor white and a Baptist, Campbell occupies a different space than that of more prominent Southern writers "of faith" (Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy), or writers faith in general -- but he's more a straight-up preacher, remarkable in his life and thought, and not as a literary light(I admit, some of the writing and use of metaphor here is belabored--but he's a golden storyteller, even when his stories are embedded in homilies).
Robert Coles says in his blurb on the back that the brothers become mythic, and that's true, and when reading I could graft my own grown-sibling story into Will & Joe's -- how we tend one another as we get older, losing each other in some ways and getting much closer in other ways, and how we negotiate our home ties -- all that's very moving in the narrative.
Like Stringfellow, Campbell balks at easy camps (liberal, conservative) and conventional definitions (Christian, decent, enemy, human); he's radically inclusive and relentlessly (unsophisticatedly) justice-minded -- eventually going so far as to pastor members of the KKK.
There's something here, I think, for those of us who inhabit an atmosphere of "liberal churchgoers" who say everything right and who maybe even carry a self-congratulatory air -- the Bush-bashers, the loathers of the Christian Right and its Fundies; this book at least bears witness to a more human way of gauging those we disagree with and of looking at what makes each of us the sort of person we are.
Robert Coles says in his blurb on the back that the brothers become mythic, and that's true, and when reading I could graft my own grown-sibling story into Will & Joe's -- how we tend one another as we get older, losing each other in some ways and getting much closer in other ways, and how we negotiate our home ties -- all that's very moving in the narrative.
Like Stringfellow, Campbell balks at easy camps (liberal, conservative) and conventional definitions (Christian, decent, enemy, human); he's radically inclusive and relentlessly (unsophisticatedly) justice-minded -- eventually going so far as to pastor members of the KKK.
There's something here, I think, for those of us who inhabit an atmosphere of "liberal churchgoers" who say everything right and who maybe even carry a self-congratulatory air -- the Bush-bashers, the loathers of the Christian Right and its Fundies; this book at least bears witness to a more human way of gauging those we disagree with and of looking at what makes each of us the sort of person we are.
July 21, 2013
I gave this book five stars not only because it gives an engaging insight into the tumultuous civil rights era of America's history, but primarily for the deeper insights that came to Will Campbell as he lived amidst the reality of the darker side of humanity. He does not mince words or gloss over the raw and painful realities of life. From his realization of his own self righteousness and mistaken dependence on human systems to the ever present reality of his beloved brother's drug dependence, to the ongoing deep divide that segregation and discrimination brought to real people, Campbell learns the deeper meaning of grace that extended beyond traditional boundaries. I have great respect for this man who was able to see below the surface to the real heart of the matter. Highly recommended for those willing to see things a little differently!
November 1, 2013
A wonderful read, especially revealing the lives of a poor southern Mississippi family focusing on 2 brothers and their relationship with one another as they grew up and each traveled much different roads, one a preacher without a church and the other a pharmacist who became dependent on drugs. Captures a close-up view of what deep southern life is all about. Will D Campbell was a special man who defended the civil rights of blacks in the South while all the while trying to understand just why his fellow southerners believed what they did. I can't praise this book enough.
Be sure and look him up on Youtube, fascinating videos about just what and who Will was all about.
Be sure and look him up on Youtube, fascinating videos about just what and who Will was all about.
October 24, 2008
A captivating, heartwarming (and heartbreaking) autobiographical reflection on the early life of the bootleg preacher Will Campbell, who grew up poor in Amite County, Mississippi, and became a notable, vocal supporter of civil rights when it was dangerous for him. A fine reflection on growing up in the rural south, this book was a finalist for the 1978 National Book Award.
August 5, 2009
I accidentally picked this book up in 1981 on a sale table at a bookstore. I started reading it an could not put it down. Will Campbell visited me in my home several years ago. I live close to Amite County and he had read an article I had written on the Iraq War. He just wanted to come by and meet me. How honored I was. He was so down to earth.
June 18, 2009
I wonder what Baptist would take seriously Campbell's stance re: separation of church and state as it relates to marriage? Further, what if that same argument was applied to the current hot topic of civil unions? Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's . . . hmmm.
April 23, 2016
"We are all bastards, but God loves us anyway". Wonderful story of struggles during the Civil Rights period and who and when you learn of God's teachings is not always clear cut. The love of family throughout.
June 3, 2015
The story was wonderful, as was the structure of the writing; however, the language was so realistic at times it was distracting. Will keep this one on my shelf for a long, long time.
February 6, 2018
“Brother to a Dragonfly” is a marvelous book written in two parts. Part one is Joe Campbell the older brother who led the group of two brothers as they were growing from boys to men. He was the first to leave home and earn money, a portion of it going back home to feed the family in the depression. Will was the brother who went to church with his mother listening to the prayers that were lifted up to the Lord and he listened well and he began being asked to pray at dinner time or during prayer meetings or church school classes and he was good at it. So good that he became an ordained minister at the age of seventeen. Then they went to war, World War II they called it and for men all over the world it was a terrible war. Joe was wounded and hospitalized for a time where he learned of the temporary relief from pain of pain killer pills and shots. When he came home he went back to school and became a pharmacist.
Part two is the growth of the preacher Will going to four colleges in six years and earning a divinity degree from the Yale College of Divinity, one of the best in the country. He tried preaching and being the minister of a small Baptist Church in Louisiana like the one he was raised up in southern Mississippi. But it was too confining for Will. He went next to the University of Mississippi where he was the chaplain and director of religious life. The two parts are cleverly woven into one story as Joe goes from taking one pain pill a week to give him some extra energy and Will taught the University of Mississippi that there was more than one race who lived in Mississippi while make enemies of the President of the College and the governor of the state.
As for the depth of the written word for the story as it is told to keep our attention and to make out the moral of the story if there is one that we turn to next. What were the critics of the literary world saying about Will Campbell. From The Times (England) on his obituary they described him as an unconventional Baptist preacher. “He took on the University when he invited some slightly more liberal pastors to speak at the Religious Week of the University and when the university president found out that one invitee would donate money to the NAACP Legal Fund, the president and a majority of deans saw the “NAACP” written in red on the front page of the newspaper they called Will to a meeting at midnight at the president’s house. They wanted Will to write to the pastor and tell him that UM would have to revoke his invitation. Will, said no, he would not do that.” In the Christian Century magazine of September 5, 2012, David Heim talking about Will says ”In his Autobiography ‘Bother to a Dragonfly’, Will Campbell recalls how his friend P.D. East had badgered him for a succinct definition of Christianity. East did not want a long fancy explanation. ‘I’m not too bright,’ he told Campbell. ‘Keep it simple. In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?’ Campbell obliged his friend: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,’ he said. To which East replied, ‘If you want to try again, you have two words left.’ Heim adds that ‘Campbell clearly thought that a pithy version of the good news needed to begin with some account of the bad news. It’s the bad news, after all, that occasions a longing for the good news.’ Time magazine in November, 1979 published a poll of the twelve most meaningful religious books over the last ten years (12 books of about 15,000 published). Ten of the twelve are written by theologians or priests or ministers. Number seven on the list is “The Habit of Being” by Flannery O’Connor (1979). The summary is: ’Letters of one of America’s finest writers, who died in 1964, at age 39; the text is firm about Roman Catholicism, refreshingly short on self-pity about the disease that crippled her—and characteristically precise of mind and heart. Number ten is “Brother to a Dragonfly” by Will Campbell (1977). The summary is: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,” Campbell says, and his memoir is a beguiling personal sermon on the same topic.’ Joe’s story is a familiar story of addiction, he goes from one a week at work to three or four a day and swallows them with alcohol. Will stays true to his binding love for his brother by going to see him every time Joe calls. Many times he believes Joe when he says he is going to stop and go back to work, but there comes a time when it is obvious to Will that Joe’s health is fading quickly and Will’s plea to save his life is futile. Joe dies at the age of 45. One story ends and the other goes on to be one of the few white men to be close to Martin Luther King Jr. and aides him in resolving conflicts that appear ready to erupt. Josh, of the “Brother to a Dragonfly” is a marvelous book written in two parts. Part one is Joe Campbell the older brother who led the group of two brothers as they were growing from boys to men. He was the first to leave home and earn money, a portion of it going back home to feed the family in the depression. Will was the brother who went to church with his mother listening to the prayers that were lifted up to the Lord and he listened well and he began being asked to pray at dinner time or during prayer meetings or church school classes and he was good at it. So good that he became an ordained minister at the age of seventeen. Then they went to war, World War II they called it and for men all over the world it was a terrible war. Joe was wounded and hospitalized for a time where he learned of the temporary relief from pain of pain killer pills and shots. When he came home he went back to school and became a pharmacist.
Part two is the growth of the preacher Will going to four colleges in six years and earning a divinity degree from the Yale College of Divinity, one of the best in the country. He tried preaching and being the minister of a small Baptist Church in Louisiana like the one he was raised up in southern Mississippi. But it was too confining for Will. He went next to the University of Mississippi where he was the chaplain and director of religious life. The two parts are cleverly woven into one story as Joe goes from taking one pain pill a week to give him some extra energy and Will taught the University of Mississippi that there was more than one race who lived in Mississippi while make enemies of the President of the College and the governor of the state.
As for the depth of the written word for the story as it is told to keep our attention and to make out the moral of the story if there is one that we turn to next. What were the critics of the literary world saying about Will Campbell. From The Times (England) on his obituary they described him as an unconventional Baptist preacher. “He took on the University when he invited some slightly more liberal pastors to speak at the Religious Week of the University and when the university president found out that one invitee would donate money to the NAACP Legal Fund, the president and a majority of deans saw the “NAACP” written in red on the front page of the newspaper they called Will to a meeting at midnight at the president’s house. They wanted Will to write to the pastor and tell him that UM would have to revoke his invitation. Will, said no, he would not do that.” In the Christian Century magazine of September 5, 2012, David Heim talking about Will says ”In his Autobiography ‘Bother to a Dragonfly’, Will Campbell recalls how his friend P.D. East had badgered him for a succinct definition of Christianity. East did not want a long fancy explanation. ‘I’m not too bright,’ he told Campbell. ‘Keep it simple. In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?’ Campbell obliged his friend: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,’ he said. To which East replied, ‘If you want to try again, you have two words left.’ Heim adds that ‘Campbell clearly thought that a pithy version of the good news needed to begin with some account of the bad news. It’s the bad news, after all, that occasions a longing for the good news.’ Time magazine in November, 1979 published a poll of the twelve most meaningful religious books over the last ten years (12 books of about 15,000 published). Ten of the twelve are written by theologians or priests or ministers. Number seven on the list is “The Habit of Being” by Flannery O’Connor (1979). The summary is: ’Letters of one of America’s finest writers, who died in 1964, at age 39; the text is firm about Roman Catholicism, refreshingly short on self-pity about the disease that crippled her—and characteristically precise of mind and heart. Number ten is “Brother to a Dragonfly” by Will Campbell (1977). The summary is: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,” Campbell says, and his memoir is a beguiling personal sermon on the same topic.’ Joe’s story is a familiar story of addiction, he goes from one a week at work to three or four a day and swallows them with alcohol. Will stays true to his binding love for his brother by going to see him every time Joe calls. Many times he believes Joe when he says he is going to stop and go back to work, but there comes a time when it is obvious to Will that Joe’s health is fading quickly and Will’s plea to save his life is futile. Joe dies at the age of 45. One story ends and the other goes on to be one of the few white men to be close to Martin Luther King Jr. and aides him in resolving conflicts that appear ready to erupt. Josh, of the Southern Literary Trail, has written one great review of "Brother to a Dragonfly.
Part two is the growth of the preacher Will going to four colleges in six years and earning a divinity degree from the Yale College of Divinity, one of the best in the country. He tried preaching and being the minister of a small Baptist Church in Louisiana like the one he was raised up in southern Mississippi. But it was too confining for Will. He went next to the University of Mississippi where he was the chaplain and director of religious life. The two parts are cleverly woven into one story as Joe goes from taking one pain pill a week to give him some extra energy and Will taught the University of Mississippi that there was more than one race who lived in Mississippi while make enemies of the President of the College and the governor of the state.
As for the depth of the written word for the story as it is told to keep our attention and to make out the moral of the story if there is one that we turn to next. What were the critics of the literary world saying about Will Campbell. From The Times (England) on his obituary they described him as an unconventional Baptist preacher. “He took on the University when he invited some slightly more liberal pastors to speak at the Religious Week of the University and when the university president found out that one invitee would donate money to the NAACP Legal Fund, the president and a majority of deans saw the “NAACP” written in red on the front page of the newspaper they called Will to a meeting at midnight at the president’s house. They wanted Will to write to the pastor and tell him that UM would have to revoke his invitation. Will, said no, he would not do that.” In the Christian Century magazine of September 5, 2012, David Heim talking about Will says ”In his Autobiography ‘Bother to a Dragonfly’, Will Campbell recalls how his friend P.D. East had badgered him for a succinct definition of Christianity. East did not want a long fancy explanation. ‘I’m not too bright,’ he told Campbell. ‘Keep it simple. In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?’ Campbell obliged his friend: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,’ he said. To which East replied, ‘If you want to try again, you have two words left.’ Heim adds that ‘Campbell clearly thought that a pithy version of the good news needed to begin with some account of the bad news. It’s the bad news, after all, that occasions a longing for the good news.’ Time magazine in November, 1979 published a poll of the twelve most meaningful religious books over the last ten years (12 books of about 15,000 published). Ten of the twelve are written by theologians or priests or ministers. Number seven on the list is “The Habit of Being” by Flannery O’Connor (1979). The summary is: ’Letters of one of America’s finest writers, who died in 1964, at age 39; the text is firm about Roman Catholicism, refreshingly short on self-pity about the disease that crippled her—and characteristically precise of mind and heart. Number ten is “Brother to a Dragonfly” by Will Campbell (1977). The summary is: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,” Campbell says, and his memoir is a beguiling personal sermon on the same topic.’ Joe’s story is a familiar story of addiction, he goes from one a week at work to three or four a day and swallows them with alcohol. Will stays true to his binding love for his brother by going to see him every time Joe calls. Many times he believes Joe when he says he is going to stop and go back to work, but there comes a time when it is obvious to Will that Joe’s health is fading quickly and Will’s plea to save his life is futile. Joe dies at the age of 45. One story ends and the other goes on to be one of the few white men to be close to Martin Luther King Jr. and aides him in resolving conflicts that appear ready to erupt. Josh, of the “Brother to a Dragonfly” is a marvelous book written in two parts. Part one is Joe Campbell the older brother who led the group of two brothers as they were growing from boys to men. He was the first to leave home and earn money, a portion of it going back home to feed the family in the depression. Will was the brother who went to church with his mother listening to the prayers that were lifted up to the Lord and he listened well and he began being asked to pray at dinner time or during prayer meetings or church school classes and he was good at it. So good that he became an ordained minister at the age of seventeen. Then they went to war, World War II they called it and for men all over the world it was a terrible war. Joe was wounded and hospitalized for a time where he learned of the temporary relief from pain of pain killer pills and shots. When he came home he went back to school and became a pharmacist.
Part two is the growth of the preacher Will going to four colleges in six years and earning a divinity degree from the Yale College of Divinity, one of the best in the country. He tried preaching and being the minister of a small Baptist Church in Louisiana like the one he was raised up in southern Mississippi. But it was too confining for Will. He went next to the University of Mississippi where he was the chaplain and director of religious life. The two parts are cleverly woven into one story as Joe goes from taking one pain pill a week to give him some extra energy and Will taught the University of Mississippi that there was more than one race who lived in Mississippi while make enemies of the President of the College and the governor of the state.
As for the depth of the written word for the story as it is told to keep our attention and to make out the moral of the story if there is one that we turn to next. What were the critics of the literary world saying about Will Campbell. From The Times (England) on his obituary they described him as an unconventional Baptist preacher. “He took on the University when he invited some slightly more liberal pastors to speak at the Religious Week of the University and when the university president found out that one invitee would donate money to the NAACP Legal Fund, the president and a majority of deans saw the “NAACP” written in red on the front page of the newspaper they called Will to a meeting at midnight at the president’s house. They wanted Will to write to the pastor and tell him that UM would have to revoke his invitation. Will, said no, he would not do that.” In the Christian Century magazine of September 5, 2012, David Heim talking about Will says ”In his Autobiography ‘Bother to a Dragonfly’, Will Campbell recalls how his friend P.D. East had badgered him for a succinct definition of Christianity. East did not want a long fancy explanation. ‘I’m not too bright,’ he told Campbell. ‘Keep it simple. In ten words or less, what’s the Christian message?’ Campbell obliged his friend: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,’ he said. To which East replied, ‘If you want to try again, you have two words left.’ Heim adds that ‘Campbell clearly thought that a pithy version of the good news needed to begin with some account of the bad news. It’s the bad news, after all, that occasions a longing for the good news.’ Time magazine in November, 1979 published a poll of the twelve most meaningful religious books over the last ten years (12 books of about 15,000 published). Ten of the twelve are written by theologians or priests or ministers. Number seven on the list is “The Habit of Being” by Flannery O’Connor (1979). The summary is: ’Letters of one of America’s finest writers, who died in 1964, at age 39; the text is firm about Roman Catholicism, refreshingly short on self-pity about the disease that crippled her—and characteristically precise of mind and heart. Number ten is “Brother to a Dragonfly” by Will Campbell (1977). The summary is: ‘We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway,” Campbell says, and his memoir is a beguiling personal sermon on the same topic.’ Joe’s story is a familiar story of addiction, he goes from one a week at work to three or four a day and swallows them with alcohol. Will stays true to his binding love for his brother by going to see him every time Joe calls. Many times he believes Joe when he says he is going to stop and go back to work, but there comes a time when it is obvious to Will that Joe’s health is fading quickly and Will’s plea to save his life is futile. Joe dies at the age of 45. One story ends and the other goes on to be one of the few white men to be close to Martin Luther King Jr. and aides him in resolving conflicts that appear ready to erupt. Josh, of the Southern Literary Trail, has written one great review of "Brother to a Dragonfly.
April 26, 2018
It took a while for me to warm to this memoir but I am glad to have read it. Will Campbell’s account of how he came to understand that the mercy of God extends to both the scorned African American man in the Jim Crow South and the klansman is an important lesson we should all strive to understand if we aspire to know the God of the Bible. But in many respects this is a book about Will seeking to understand, love, and aid his brother. I appreciate how Will tells this love story with great transparency. His efforts were both Herculean and Christlike but they were nevertheless the efforts of a mortal probe to make mistakes and sin despite his intentions.
May 25, 2021
Some things in this book were racially insensitive and extremely uncomfortable to read in 2021, but some things in this book were reassuring and encouraging for those who feel the fight for civil rights is hopeless. I read this book for a course, and I was honestly shocked this book was assigned once I finished reading it. I am inspired by the bravery and honesty of Will Campbell, but I am disappointed in some of the disturbing things he said in this book. Read more about him here: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news...
December 6, 2020
This book was recommended by a friend who knew I had been reading many social justice books this year. I had told him how much I appreciated John Lewis' Walking With the Wind and he suggested this book by a friend of John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. Brother to a Dragonfly is a memoir, not of the movement but of his and his brother's lives in the South through the depression and into the Civil Rights Movement. I will definitely be looking for his other books. This one was published in 1977. I was able to buy a used copy of the 25th Anniversary edition. It was not in our library.
March 12, 2020
I don't know where I was on July 24, 1992, but I pulled this book off of my bookshelf only to find that the author had signed this book for me saying "to one of us." He meant Southern and a civil rights supporter. Campbell was a Baptist minister who was a prominent activist. His book offers insights into his work, but it centers around his "idolizing" relationship with his brother. Beautifully written, the book is a classic, I'm just slow to get around to reading it, it seems.
March 13, 2021
A book that reads more like a novel than an autobiography, Brother to a Dragonfly is Campbells recollection of his years of fighting for black rights in the 50s and 60s while providing care and support for a brother with addictions. An informative, if not heart-wrenching story of growing up in the South, the book dances with metaphors and zings and stuns with a down home southern prose. A powerful description of love under fire.
September 6, 2023
I LOVE a memoir, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. I’ll say the thing that kept me from 5 stars was the fact that I’d already read Rev. Rep. John Lewis’s story, and it nearly ruins any of his contemporaries for me. What a wonderful story of people speaking truth into a young person’s life, and then the way that he is able to reconvert and reconvert to justice and love and grace over and over throughout his life. I loved it.
January 3, 2018
Campbell demonstrates his mastery of showing not telling. He allows his encounters with race in the American South before and during the Civil Rights Movement to arise inconspicuously as they form him and his community. He lets his experiences and the advice he received from an unlikely cast of characters speak for themselves.
July 19, 2020
A moving account of the bond between brothers and a lesson in loving those deemed unworthy of love. Campbell’s realization that his ministry had become one of law, not grace, holds relevance for us today, reminding us of the importance of seeing beyond our differences so we can “hear the cry of the other” and thus be healed...together.
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