Description
Book SynopsisA whimsical warmhearted autobiography of a twelve-year-old who became a great trial lawyer
The oldest of four children in a prototypical Irish Catholic family, Pierce O’Donnell recounts growing up in a village with more cows than residents with his WWII-hero father, who owns the only liquor store; his intellectual mother, the librarian; his spinster aunt, the local postmaster; his three younger sisters; and a ghost named Nora. Last Pick adroitly conjures up a bygone era in which this young boy’s biggest concerns were making the Little League Team (he never did), not freezing to death delivering a newspaper, making Eagle Scout, and learning Latin as a reluctant altar boy allergic to incense. This self-deprecating story of a determined, well-meaning underdog will delight O’Donnell’s fellow Baby Boomers and enchant younger generations for years to come with its witty and timeless humor.
Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR LAST PICK
"O’Donnell’s story doesn’t confine itself solely to him...The rich history that he provides in this wonderful memoir ensures the past lives on."
—San Francisco Book Review
"An affectionate, appealing, and unsentimental look back on an all-American boyhood in the ’50s."
—Kirkus
PRAISE FOR PIERCE O'DONNELL
"The Nazi saboteur case is a blot on our law, and is being used by the Bush administration now to defend its attacks on civil liberties."
—Anthony Lewis
"O’Donnell is a master storyteller who vividly brings to life the trying times of World War II and a nation gripped by fear. "
—Johnnie Cochran
"[In Time of War] reads like a spy novel, only it’s all true."
—David Cole, author of Enemy Aliens
Table of ContentsAuthor's Note
Preface
Prologue
Winter
1: Hometown Boy
2: Nora the Ghost
3: "All Aboard!"
4: "Bless Me, Father"
5: Muskrat
6: Peter Pan
Spring
7: Spring Training
8: Incense
9: "Look It Up"
10: Highballs
Summer
11: Mr. Dibble
12: Sister Act
13: The Cousins
14: Last Pick
15: The Methodists
Fall
16: "Yes, Miss Gehle"
17: Happy Thanksgiving
18: "What Did Your Mother Say?"
19: Eating My Way Across Troy
20: Chin-Ups
