Kathryn Tucker Windham was a pioneering female journalist in the South. By the close of the Civil Rights era, her hometown Selma, Alabama, newspaper had been taken over by corporate owners, and she sensed it was time to move on. She launched a new career as part social worker, part roving documentarian--photographing and writing about the people and places that fascinated her. When the national storytelling phenomenon took hold in the 1970s, she became a significant part of it. Then came a stint as essayist on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. She also wrote and performed a one-woman play, and served as consultant to public broadcasting. She is one of Alabama's best-known citizens, widely honored--yet she still keeps a busy schedule of public appearances, continuing to write, photograph, and tell stories. Seeking to put her worldly house in order, the nine autobiographical essays in this volume help tidy up the facts and folklore in her professional attic.

In sum, Twice Blessed is an intimate visit with a generous spirit.