"From out of the South

a song arises

of a worth

that lies above wealth.

For a man is a man

whatever he has.

See only what

he is."

Soldier. Father. Whistleblower.

Abuser. Destractor. Cheater.

James Austin Whitten was a man of extraordinary intelligence who lived a life of contraditions. Born in Arkansas, he was forward-thinking during one of the US's greatest civil rights movements, objected to the cavalier way his fellow soldiers' lives were spent in the Korean War, and uncovered corruption in food flavor production at Nestle. He was also a serial adulterer who did not spare the rod on his three sons.

Within these pages are his legacy: the poetic reflections of his life, spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s. These detail how love, loss, and abuse shaped him, and give us insight into a complicated man and the hard-learned lessons he has for us to take forward.