So ... what's this about?

Would you like to walk a mile—or a few to several hundred pages—in a person’s shoes, getting to see what their character is made from, and how strong or weak that character is in the face of all that life throws their way? Will they give up or will they change? Will they fail or persevere?

In this age of combative politics, when personal differences are being writ large, rather like shields used to reinforce division and keep people from really getting to know each other, there is nothing more important than learning about the lives and characters of people who are far different from ourselves. Well, who knows: you and Thomas Dixon may have something in common—or a lot in common.

And when it comes to memoirs, we especially love stories about underdogs who make good—people who took the American Dream by the horns and rode it over roads that were rough, dark, and often dead-ended to achieve a better life and greater accomplishments than anyone (and perhaps even they themselves) imagined possible. Dixon’s Tommy Mack: A Memoir and Family History series, is essentially an underdog story—the story of a boy born into a family battling poverty, hardship, dysfunction, and paternal alcoholism and violence in Appalachia, yet manages to grow up to become a prosperous, loving family man and achieve a successful career with a large company.

But Dixon’s personal successes in life, which he achieved against many odds, are only one aspect of his story. While tales like his tend to be heart-warming, uplifting, and inspiring, they are not always told with all-out honesty or consummate dignity. What many will enjoy most about Tommy Mack is that Dixon manages to narrate his life with both. Plus, along the way, he throws in plenty of historical details too, so older readers can reminisce along with him, while younger readers can get a good taste of what the old days—in this case, the 1960s and the 1970s, with rock music giving way to disco, dances like “the Hustle” and “the Bump,” 18-year-olds on driving binges, sexual mores changing, a gasoline shortage underway, and the AIDS crisis looming.

For many decades now, hundreds of the famous (Margaret Thatcher, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore) and not-so-famous (Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls, Bill Bryson) have entertained and amazed the world with their memoirs. Now, with self-publishing, many "normal, everyday people" (Lee Basnar, James E. Martin, and yes, Thomas M. Dixon) are telling their tales. They're good tales too: historical and reminiscent, and worthy of being told.

Thomas will be presenting much of his life in the form of four memoirs, each examining and revealing how his childhood may have influenced his adolescent years and, maybe even, his adult/senior years:

The first, Tommy Mack: An Appalachian Childhood, an autobiographical account of life in Appalachia, went on sale in November, 2011. It tells the story of Tommy's tumultuous childhood growing up poor (note the photo above) in the coalfields of southwestern Virginia during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Thomas' second book, Tommy Mack: Unsettled Years, has been available since June, 2014. It chronicles the author's adolescent years adjusting to city life during junior and senior high school.

Next, it's on to the hilarious, thought-provoking, and troublesome years of junior college, where campus life, semester breaks, and two scorching summers provide enough material for a third memoir: Tommy Mack: A College Try. This installment was released in the fall of 2018. Copies are available online at Booklocker, B&N, and Amazon.

Finally, Tommy Mack: Best of Intentions deals with Tom's adult years: the trials, tribulations, and key learnings around his work, social, organizational, military, and family life. This addition, God willing, should be released sometime in 2025.