In the illuminating language of memory, Deborah McDowell tells the story of her family, living a segregated life in Bessemer, Alabama, where her father worked at U.S. Foundry and Pipe, nicknamed Pipe Shop. Through the intimate details of their daily lives, she shows us how civil rights affected a working-class town, among three generations of women and men. McDowell movingly uncovers a world rarely portrayed, where she was raised to love the sounds and meanings of words and to value a place and culture that has passed. "What an eye McDowell has for important stories hidden in the everyday details, and what a good storyteller she is."-Tonya Bolden, Washington Post Book World "[McDowell] weaves the plainest drab cotton threads into a magic carpet."-Adele Logan Alexander, Women's Review of Books "Engrossing. . . . The author has a seductive way with words that makes Leaving Pipe Shop as good as a piece of sweet potato pie served after a plate of greens and fried chicken."-Boston Globe