by Margaret Anne Barnes

Throughout the canon of American literature, from Huckleberry Finn to Francis Macomber and beyond, souls wounded by civilization have sought their better selves by going into the wilderness where they find redemption in the natural world.

In this tradition, with all the wisdom and humor, is Margaret Anne Barnes’s A Buzzard Is My Best Friend. First published in 1981, this delightful page-turner tells the true story of a family fed up with the artificiality of suburban life and how they found love, honor, commitment, friendship, freedom, and reality down on the farm. Warm and insightful, A Buzzard Is My Best Friend shows in loving detail the preciousness of life too often overlooked as we hurry about doing "important things" which seldom have any lasting value, while missing opportunities to have buzzards and others rejected by society as our bosom companions.

A Buzzard is My Best Friend is a true story of a traditional American family, jaded by monotonous, seemingly meaningless suburban life, which flees to the country searching for love, peace, friendship, reality. They get more than they bargained for—life is harder, the work more strenuous, the losses more painful—but they also receive far more than they expected, and from unexpected places. A chicken teaches a lesson on loving one’s children, no matter how strange they may seem. A cat provides an example of beauty being more than exterior appearance. A duck shows the importance of trying to achieve one’s dreams, no matter the cost. A crippled dog becomes an object lesson in courage. In this more authentic world, the author shows us how she even came to love a carrion bird as her best friend.

Margaret Anne Barnes is the author of the highly acclaimed Murder in Coweta County (1976, made into a TV movie) and The Tragedy and Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama (Mercer University Press, 1998).

The Tragedy and Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama

Remember When...? Family, Friends, Recipes

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Memoir

ISBN 978-0-86554-713-1

MUP/H532