Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges

Anyone who's watched 60 Minutes correspondent Pitts on television will be hard-pressed to reconcile that collected, intelligent reporter with the ""functionally illiterate"" elementary school boy he once was. Pitts's authorial debut tells his inspiring against-the-odds tale, one that begins in inner city Baltimore and ends at CBS's venerable news institution. Enduring bullies and humiliation through grade-school, Pitts also struggled with reading, and stuttered until he was 20 years old. Even after scratching his way to Ohio Wesleyan Univ., his freshman literature professor told Pitts he was wasting everyone's time. Pitts credits his enviable determination to the strong women in his life, including his wise, spiritual mother (whose first question in any situation is always, 'Did you pray yet?'""), and OWU professor Ulle Lewes (who, Pitts says, not only ""changed my life, she saved it""). Further, as an African-American, Pitts had to overcome startling racism in nearly every newsroom he encountered. Pitts shares spare but illuminating stories, such as his encounter with Dan Rather just before departing for Afghanistan; Rather advised him to write letters ""to all the people you love most in the world,"" just in case. Pitts's story is refreshing and worth a read for fans of journalism and rags-to-riches memoirs.