{"product_id":"blessings-and-disasters","title":"Blessings and Disasters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom a \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003estaff writer and PEN award winner, a blend of memoir, history, and reportage on one of the most complex and least understood states in America.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In Alabama, we exist at the border of blessing and disaster....\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlexis Okeowo grew up in Montgomery-the former seat of the Confederacy-as the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. Here, she weaves her family's story with Alabama's, defying stereotypes about her endlessly complex, often-pigeonholed home state. She immerses us in a landscape dominated today not by cotton fields but by Amazon warehouses, encountering high-powered Christian business leaders lobbying for tribal sovereignty and small-town women coming out against conservative politics. Okeowo shows how people can love their home while still acknowledging its sins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this perspective-shifting work that is both an intimate memoir and a journalistic triumph, Okeowo investigates her life, other Alabamians' lives, and the state's lesser-known histories to examine why Alabama has been the stage for the most extreme results of the American experiment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503762743669,"sku":"9781250871824","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781250871824.jpg?v=1786867473","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/blessings-and-disasters","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}