We Were Brothers: A Memoir - Softcover

“Barry Moser writes about the savagery of racism and the savagery between brothers with thoughtful introspection. In his efforts to understand both what he did and what was done to him, he has given us a beautiful and deeply compassionate examination of life.”—Ann Patchett, author of This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
 
Preeminent artist Barry Moser and his brother, Tommy, were born of the same parents, slept in the same bedroom, went to the same school, and were poisoned by their family’s deep racism and anti-Semitism. But as they grew older, their perspectives and their paths grew further and further apart. For nearly forty years, there was more strife between them than affection. When Barry was in his late fifties and Tommy in his early sixties, after one particularly fractious conversation, their fragile relationship fell apart. With the raw emotions that so often surface when we talk about our siblings, Moser recalls how they were finally able to traverse that great divide and reconcile their troubled brotherhood before it was too late.

Including fifteen of Moser’s stunning drawings, We Were Brothers is a powerful story of reunion told with candor and regret that captures the essence of sibling relationships.
 
“This boyhood memoir reveals much more than it ever explicitly states, with its tight focus on boyhood, brotherhood, estrangement, and reconciliation . . . With masterful narrative control, Moser reveals the narrowness of perspective as well as the limitations of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 
“Barry Moser is a delightful storyteller--his descriptions of the time and place of his childhood are as vivid as his wonderful famed drawings.” —Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life
 
“The wrenching and redeeming story of brothers who take different paths and yet ultimately find their ways back to each other . . . is sad, moving, and joyful all at the same time.” —Andrew Hudgins, author of The Joker  
 

BARRY MOSER was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and other museums around the world. He has illustrated and/or designed over 350 books, including Moby-Dick, Frankenstein, The Divine Comedy, and the King James Bible. His edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland won a National Book Award. He is currently Irwin and Pauline Alper Glass Professor of Art and the printer to the college at Smith College.