In this autobiography, Johnny Cash talks about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who have shaped him. In his own words, Cash sets the record straight - and dispels a few myths - as he looks unsparingly at his remarkable life: from his turbulent past to the joys of the present to his plans down the road. Here, too, are the friends of a lifetime, including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Dr. Billy Graham.

Reviews

"When death starts beating the door down, you need to be reaching for your shotgun," writes the Man in Black, the American country icon who still performs tough-talking story-songs like "Folsom Prison Blues" and "A Boy Named Sue" on his tours. Unsurprisingly, the famously Christian Cash (he has often performed at Billy Graham crusades and has written a novel‘The Man in White‘based on the life of Saint Paul) reveals himself to be a man possessed of a heartfelt yet idiosyncratic spirituality, one that can accommodate both a belief in ghosts and a literal interpretation of the Bible. Cash is less interested here in recounting the details of his personal and public lives than he is with taking the reader to a handful of his favorite places, moving softly through the memories of a singer's regret-laden years on booze and pills, getting himself in the mood to reflect by describing the surroundings in which he writes. The result is a gentle, moving memoir that may frustrate some fans of Cash and of the Sun Records-era Memphis that saw his rise to fame, as the book only touches on Cash's relationships with those whose stardom eclipsed his own‘Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and (later on) Bob Dylan. The reader senses Cash's formidable presence in every terse phrase, however, as a melancholy calm pervades the narrative. 200,000 first printing; Literary Guild selection; author tour. (Nov.)

"Engaging. . . . Written with honesty and spiritual insight. . . . Cash's stories shine."--Chicago Sun-Times