This award-winning New York Times best seller tells the story of a Black man, a self-described Blird (Black Nerd) and his fascinating life, including the now infamous Central Park incident where he videotaped a woman using racial tactics to endanger his life.

When the struggle to save oil-soaked birds and restore blackened beaches left him feeling frustrated and helpless, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand-he stopped using all forms of motorized transportation.

“In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. I am, in the deepest sense, colored.” From these fertile soils—of love, land, identity, family, and race—emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist J. Drew Lanham.