A story as familiar as it is profound-tracing one extraordinary man's determination to recognize and overcome the cons that surround him and those within himself-in order to live a dream he held for decades when all the odds were against him. When you're in the con, the con plays you. Cons play off other cons. You learn to play the con, too, until one day you realize that the sum of all the cons is now destroying you, your family, your neighborhood, your army buddies, your city, your church, and your country. This profoundly moving memoir by entrepreneur, activist, Newbury salon owner, stylist, change-maker and valued Boston voice John Metz Clark, shows how personal change can be the start of networks of change in neighborhoods, cities, and on the national stage-one conversation, one march, one listening ear, one haircut, one stylist's chair at a time. Clark's story of beating every single odd is an inspiring, quintessential story for our time, showing how one person with a dream for a better life can name the cons, upend the systems, and transform a city, one blazing choice at a time.
