The Magnolia Jungle

The Life, Times, and Education of a Southern Editor

First published in 1960, this book tells of author P. D. East’s trials and tribulations as a liberal editor during the times of the civil rights movement in the Deep South. It is also the story of his struggle to find his own identity and maturity out of a confused, poverty-ridden childhood in rough country towns, which created the prelude for his growing awareness of the blight of southern hypocrisy and racial discrimination.

A succinctly and well-told story.

“In all, the book tends to explain, not apologize for, East’s eccentric journalism, his militant but sometimes inconsistent editorial thinking, and his refusal to retreat from terrific southern hostility, even at the danger of his and his family’s well-being. East in the end appears something of a hero and, indeed, an anomaly in these conformist times.”—Kirkus Review