The Widening View traces the slow and circuitous trek that leads a young dreamer from the cotton fields of Alabama to the Elysian Fields of Paris, then eventually much further around the globe. Bernard Shaw said it well, "Life isn't so much about finding yourself as about creating yourself." Often that may prove be a haphazard and unpredictable affair. Looking back on the milestone of life, one may be inclined to ask, Did I achieve anything worthwhile? Did I make an impact on the world I came into?
Eugene Scruggs is professor emeritus at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Since retiring from teaching and administration, Scruggs has authored several books, among them The View from Brindley Mountain: A Memoir of the Rural South. That study depicts the life of a young lad who dreams of a wider world beyond the hard-scrabble farm where he is raised. The present work traces the slow and sometimes arduous path to that larger and diverse world he could scarcely imagine.
