Title: Outhouse to White House
Author: Jimmy Mosley
Publishing: LitFire Publishing
ISBN: 978-1434902566
Pages: 50
Genre: Memoir/Autobiography
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent
Hollywood Book Review
Awarded to books of excellent Merit
Jimmy Mosley’s Outhouse to White House is an inspiring story about how a man overcame a humble life to rise through the ranks of the Army to serve under President Reagan. This memoir will help encourage many readers.
Outhouse to White House tells Mosley’s life story of growing up on a plantation in southern Mississippi. Mosley writes about how he grew up in the Jim Crow South with a single mother and siblings under grueling poverty when he didn’t have shoes or indoor plumbing. Mosley joined the Army to see the world and improve his life. Despite the racism he encounters, he rises up and becomes a soldier who serves for 35 years and guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Though he deals with a lot of adversity throughout his career, Mosley perseveres in his professional life. He also details how he maintained his marriage of thirty years to his wife Patricia because of his faith in God.
Mosley’s writing is so conversational; readers will feel he is speaking directly to them. He writes unflinchingly about the hardships he faced, but also writes about how he focused and worked to maintain his accomplishments. Mosley not only writes about how he persisted in his career, he offers advice to other people about how they can overcome their troubling circumstances. He offers advice to young people to stay in school and to keep their faith. Even though Mosley endured a lot of racism in the military, he harbors no bitterness towards the military and is truly a graceful patriot to his nation.
Outhouse to White House would be best for readers who like memoirs about African-Americans in the military, like Colin Powell’s My American Journey. In the prologue to the book, Mosley wrote about how his life story was so extraordinary, it could be made into a movie. Mosley’s autobiography could easily be made into a movie like Men of Honor, the film about Carl Brashear, the first African-American master diver in the Navy.
Mosley’s memoir could be an inspirational book which could be read in military academies or in church groups. Additionally This book could be shared with high school students that need to read a short and impactful book about a person who found their purpose in life Outhouse to White House is a moving memoir that will motivate readers to achieve their dreams.