Scott Brown will bring revealing memoir to SoCal

Sen. Scott Brown, a first-term Republican from Massachusetts, has people talking about his upcoming memoir, "Against All Odds." The publisher described the book, which hits shelves Monday, as a "gripping memoir of resilience and redemption."

In the book, Brown reveals that his past includes being sexually abused by a camp counselor when he was 10, something he kept secret for 40 years. In an interview with "60 Minutes" scheduled to run Sunday, he tells journalist Lesley Stahl,  "When people find people like me at that young, vulnerable age who are basically lost, the thing that they have over you is they make you believe that no one will believe you."

Brown's divorced parents wrestled with their own difficulties, and they were sometimes poor. "At school, I was often a free-lunch kid, ravenous for whatever hot food came out of the cafeteria line," he writes in the book. "I remember days when the largest things we had in our fridge were milk and blocks of yellow government-issue cheese." Brown also had a physically abusive stepfather.

Later, Brown's life started looking up. He was a star basketball player in college at Tufts. While he was a law student and member of the Massachusetts National Guard, he was declared "America's Sexiest Man" by Cosmopolitan magazine, which jump-started a New York modeling career. In 2010, he was a member of the Massachusetts state Sentate and the surprise victor in the race for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat.

Brown is bringing his story to Southern California next week. His book tour will bring him to the Ronald Reagan Library on Feb 25; tickets are $45.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Sen. Scott Brown at the Armed Services Committee meeting on Feb. 17. Credit: Harry Hamburg / Associated Press

Comments

[NorthernCA Teacher]

I am a teacher. I do not have time to write a memoir.

How does Scott Brown have time to be an elected representative of voters of MA and also have time to write a book?

[M.D. McNiff]

Answer: Brown is a prototypical empty suit who hired someone to write it for him.

[Bette Finger]

It takes a great deal of courage to face this experience and a considerable amount of strength to put it out there.
I applaud his courage. There are many, many children and adults who have had this experience and will benefit by Scott's example of overcoming incredible odds. I'm sure his reasons for telling his story are to demonstrate the power of the human spirit to rise above the painful experiences of our childhood and make the choice to reach for a better life.