Born out of wedlock and disowned by his father, Ralph Hogges was raised by his grandmother on a fifty acre two-mule farm in Jeffersonville, Georgia along with her fourteen children. Because the anger and frustrations of his life caused him to hate school, he flunked the first and second grades. Feeling dumb, stupid, defeated and humiliated, he had nothing to live for. His grandmother refused to give up on him. With her fifth grade education and belief in God, she tried to help him with his school work and prayed fervently for him. At the age of twelve, Hogges accidentally stumbled into a world of books and fell in love with reading. This memoir highlights his love of reading books, insatiable quest for knowledge and resolve for academic excellence that elevated him to become one of the most renowned university professors, scholars, writers and poets in America.