This is a Summary of Pat Conroy's memoir titled "The Water is Wide". Conroy is a Southerner and as a white American in the Deep South in the 1950s admits to biased behavior against blacks, particularly when he was in high school. However, his politics changed in college and his liberal ideas are reinforced when he visits the Nazi concentration camps. When he was young teacher, he witnessed the extreme grief of his students over the death of Martin Luther King, leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement.

Wanting to act on his new-found idealism, Pat applies for the Peace Corps but he never receives a reply. Not one to easily give up on his resolve to change bigotry and hatred, he applies for a teaching position in Yamacraw Island. Pat is fully aware that Yamacraw, an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina, is populated by blacks. For hundreds of years the inhabitants have lived on the produce of their farms and from the bounty of the sea, a way of life that practically isolates them from the rest of the world. At Yamacraw, Pat hopes to make a difference, no matter how small, to eliminate racial prejudice by helping in the education of the island's predominantly black school children. Superintendent Dr. Henry Piedmont is more than happy to approve his application for a teaching position.

Available in a variety of formats, this summary is aimed for those who want to capture the gist of the book but don't have the current time to devour all 338 pages. You get the main summary along with all of the benefits and lessons the actual book has to offer. You get the main summary along with all of the benefits and lessons the actual book has to offer. This summary is not intended to be used without reference to the original book.