It was 1935, the sixth year of the Great Depression. Most of the population was living on faith, hope, and denial. Still, it was not a bad year to be sixteeen--if you were white, middle-class, Protestant, and lucky enough to be living in Atlanta. Like a Tree is the story of the Krueger family and how they coped and conquered through the spirit-breaking years of the nineteen-thirties. In a larger context, Like a Tree is about the South's white liberal minority that worked quietly and largely underground , fighting prejudice, segregation, and ignorance to emancipate future generations. Early revewers have called this book "touching," "absorbing," "powerful, "important," "original," "richly textured." It is a testament to perseverance, love, good will, and the fortitude of ordinary human beings.