James Rogan was born to a single mother cocktail waitress who later raised her four children on welfare and food stamps, and who ended up as a convicted felon.
His bartender father abandoned his mother and him before his birth.
Despite growing up in San Francisco's hardscrabble Mission District, he became a political and history aficionado as a young boy, and he once convinced former President Harry S Truman to help him with his homework.
But Rogan traveled in a tough circle.
Shenandoah Press Rough edges, paperback/james rogan
