What Drives Dennis Kucinich

'When the landlord came he said he had only rented to two kids, not four, and we had to move. Dad packed us into the dirty grey 1948 Dodge. It had an ignition that ground like a bad sinus. We drove for hours and hours. It was getting late. Dad drove down 30th Street, looking for rent signs, and then took the car under a railroad bridge, to the end of 30th Street, the edge of the industrial flats. It was just above the steel mill where a fiery fist shot out from the steel sleeve of a long smokestack and opened its flaming fingers 30, 40, 50 feet until the night around it dissolved into its outstretched orange palm. The fingers of fire came together to form a torch. The light played upon the car, our shadows dancing in the interior. When I closed my eyes I could feel the light on my face. It was comforting. Even though I couldn't think of a single friend who moved around as much as we did, and even though I knew for sure most people just didn't live like this, I also knew our family was together, so what did it matter?'

--from Dennis Kucinich's new memoir, The Courage to Survive. He met the book's publisher in the green room of the Bill Maher show.