Before there was tourism and souvenir ashtrays became "kitsch," the Lake of the Ozarks was a Shangri-La for middle-class Midwestern families on vacation, complete with man-made beaches, Hillbilly Mini Golf, and rubber tomahawks. It was there that Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist spent summers in the 1960s, working at a small resort owned by his bombastic uncle—serving in all areas of the operation, from cesspool attendant to bellhop. Reflecting on this era in his life, Geist recalls here a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and wonderfully weird experiences that shaped (some might suggest "slightly twisted") him into the man he is today.

"Funny, poignant, and memorable.... An entertaining and illuminating journey into the past of a fascinating man and an always-intriguing country."—Jon Meacham