Men my mother dated and other mostly true tales

the long version

As heard on This American Life and NPR's All Things Considered, Brett Leveridge spins mostly true tales of small-town Lotharios and big-city dreams in a voice that is simultaneously hip and homespun--and utterly his own. There's something universal in these tales of the dating life, peopled with well-intentioned boys next door, two-timing playboys, and traveling roustabouts with a girl in every town. You'll meet the fellow behind Mom's first arrest; get the unexpurgated truth about winking Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing; and learn why a young woman would consent to see The Eddie Cantor Story six times in two weeks--with six different men. Leveridge holds forth on many other topics as well, offering his decidedly contrarian views on major holidays, hilarious skewerings of television ads, and a bittersweet account of the life of a straight man often presumed to be gay. Like the best of our current essayists--Roy Blount, Jr., David Sedaris, Sandra Tsing Loh--Leveridge is at once forward-thinking and nostalgic. With his enormously appealing voice and happy knack for taking a commonplace topic and veering off into uncharted territory, Leveridge is, as one scribe put it, "Will Rogers meets Garrison Keillor meets Jack Kerouac." "Men My Mother Dated" was a finalist for the 2001 Thurber Prize for American Humor.