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Title: Carolina Roots

Subtitle: From Whence I Came

Author: Thomas Shytle

Narrator: James R. Clevenger

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-25-13

Publisher: Tom Shytle

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The textile industry in Piedmont North Carolina was among the first to feel the ripple effect of the stock market crash in October 1929. The author was barely a year old in 1933, when his family was forced by events over which they had no control to leave the cotton mill where they worked and relocate to the mountains of Western NC. Economic conditions there were even worse. By 1939, war was already raging in Europe and the mills were flooded with orders to produce fabrics for the military.

When the author was seven, his family moved back to the mill village; to much better conditions. His story is about his experiences while growing up in a cotton mill village, followed by a career in the USAF. From the Great Depression to the 21st century his story includes the sociological, political, and economic dynamics of that period and his personal reaction to the evolution that shaped our world during the last 75 years.

Members Reviews:

The World Owes You Nothing

A tremendous book on growing up during America's great depression (what's so great about it?), of particular interest today. Tom Shytle went on from humble beginnings to spend 25 years flying for the Air Force. His writing style is lucid and to the point, with some deft touches of humor. The best recommendation I can give this military biography is to quote an entire paragraph from his youth. Growing up in the company-provided shacks surrounding the Park Yarn factory, he wrote:

"Growing up on a cotton mill village was a unique experience, probably unlike any other anywhere in the country. I read somewhere that 'you can take a boy out of the cotton mill village, but you can't keep lint from returning to his navel.' Growing up in that environment teaches you early on that the world owes you nothing."

What an amazing message for today's generation, where too many have come to expect everything be given to them. This man started with nothing, at the bottom, and never believed that he was destined to stay there. This is an American work ethic our country needs to find again, because the hard times today are nothing like those faced, and overcome, during the 1930s.

What an inspiration, we are honored as a country to have had warriors like this fighting for our freedom. And people like this are needed, once again. If not from this generation, then perhaps the next one. Read this, and believe in an America worth cherishing and protecting.

Family and background

I believe the author is a relative of mine and he grew up in the same situation and near the same place as me. I relived a big part of my childhood.

A page from our history

The year 1932 was an important one. Hitler's star was rising in Germany, and the great depression peaked as America struggled to regain its footing. Average annual income in the U.S. was $1,900, but in the poor counties of western North Carolina, many farm families survived on annual incomes as low as $100. Tom Shytle was born to a poor family in the cotton mill town of Kings Mountain, NC. His parents worked in the local cotton mill, Park Yarn, lived in company housing, and bought their necessities at the company store. Together, his mother and father made $25 per week when the mill was at peak production. In 1932, the mill operated three days per week and they earned a maximum of $7.20 each.