True Vine: A Young Black Man's Journey Of Faith, Hope And Clarity

by John W. Fountain

John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him—his faith, his own true vine.

True Vine is John Fountain's remarkable story—of his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life.

Today John Fountain is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times , based in his hometown. His return to Chicago marks how his story has come full circle, this time in triumph. True Vine is an inspiring, moving, gripping story of one man's American dream—a dream that all of us can share.

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him—his faith, his own true vine.

True Vine is John Fountain’s remarkable story—of his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life.

An award-winning journalist, Fountain has been a national correspondent for The New York Times, based in Chicago (2000 to 2003), joining the Times from The Washington Post. He is currently a professor of journalism at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Until recently, he was a tenured full professor at his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Fountain was formerly a visiting scholar at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston. He is also working on his second book. His return to Chicago marks how his story has come full circle, this time in triumph. True Vine is an inspiring, moving, gripping story of one man's American dream--a dream that all of us can share.

Reviews

[Barbara Pearlman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written memoir of John Fountain about his life in a ghetto in Chicago and his eventual success as a family man, a minister and a reporter for the New York Times.

[Rhonnel Simms · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book my senior year of undergrad. Before that, it sat on my bookshelf for several years—a treasured find from a local bookstore located in Uptown, Minneapolis. This was definitely a God thing: Eph. 2:10. I love how John 5 serves as the connection or “vine” that weaves his whole story and miraculous triumph together. God truly rewards those who seek Him, never give up, and who has decided to let go of the thoughts of others--even though it shouldn’t take the perils of the Chicago ghetto and hopelessness of a genius trapped in a bleak and cursed environment/world to be free-thinking and hold true to divine promises.