Book Review: 'Son of a Preacher Man'

The Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker scandal of the ’80s was American tragic farce at its grandest, and nobody knows it better than their son. With this slight but well-meaning memoir, Bakker — a heavily tattooed reformed alcoholic who’d be far more comfy preaching in the Bowery than at PTL services — offers his tale from a new perspective: the scared, pudgy kid unable to reconcile a loving home life with the shady goings-on that eventually led Dad to federal prison. There’s a fascinating story here, and the excoriation of former family friend Jerry Falwell will be manna to all Tinky Winky defenders. But Bakker buries the good stuff under so many tent-revival platitudes that his life story begins to feel like an endless sermon. C