The Soldier of the Leaf chronicles the life of Marvin Brown from early childhood through his career with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. His impressions as a child of the south in the mid 1940s and 1950s provide glimpses of the struggles of poor and middle class blacks in Cairo and Savannah, Georgia. At age 14 he and two friends hitchhiked from Savannah, Georgia to New York City. His vivid and dramatic account of this dangerous journey is both hilarious and informative. His naivety, good luck and strength of character helped him meet and form a lasting bond with a family...