Jesmyn Ward’s “Men We Reaped”

Jesmyn Ward grew up in rural Mississippi in the Gulf Coast town, DeLisle. Her new memoir, Men We Reaped, tells the story of the challenges of living in a community which was ravaged by poverty, violence and drug use. It also chronicles the deaths of five young men she knew well, including her brother and cousin, who passed away within four years of each other. In the course of the book she ponders her own success in the midst of widespread failure and why she survived and others didn’t. In this hour of Radio Times, we hear from Ward about her early years in Mississippi and why she returned to the South.