All Over but the Shoutin'

In Chapter 23, Bragg moves forward with the story of his career, telling us about his move to Florida to write for the St. Petersburg Times, then “consistently, year after year, one of the top ten newspapers in America” (174). There he covered southwest Florida, including the Everglades, and got to write a story he considered a “dream come true: They sent me to cover an alligator hunt” (177).

Bragg also covers a truly tragic story about Siamese twins who die. He learns that for him, journalistic objectivity is “impossible” In cases like this one.

In this chapter, Bragg’s assignment changes so that he is covering Miami, which is a reporter’s dream town because so much exciting and terrible news originates there. He goes with a reporter friend to cover a riot in a black neighborhood and faces danger and fear unlike anything he has experienced before. Rioters throw rocks breaking their car window and hitting Bragg in the head. “I do not want to believe it, but I think we might have died there...” (189).  

Bragg continues to find good stories in Miami and to enhance his reputation as a reporter and a writer.