A Man's World

The narrator presents a compact autobiography made of meditative recollections that move from boyhood in a rural Southern village to later professional life. He describes being raised in the household of a devout minister and a reserved minister's wife, an early undeserved punishment that influenced his sense of justice, and the small-town routines and landscapes that shaped his outlook. Writing with the analytical caution of a scientific background, he reflects on a sudden loss of religious faith, the distinction between evidence and truth, and his ongoing effort to behave decently within the limits of ordinary, unremarkable life.