Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) signed copies of his autobiography — which illustrates his abusive childhood and rise to public office — Saturday at the Syracuse University Bookstore.

The line for autographs started forming 30 minutes before the event, which began at 1 p.m. and lasted for an hour. While Brown was signing copies of his book, ‘Against All Odds,’ he shook each person’s hand and gave advice to students.

‘Education is very important,’ he said. ‘Study hard.’

In his memoir, Brown opens up about his difficult childhood. After his parents divorced when he was 1 years old, his mother supported him with welfare benefits. Brown, then 10 years old, was sexually abused by a camp counselor who threatened to kill him if he told anyone. He also suffered physical abuse from his stepfathers.

This book is the first time Brown mentioned anything about his abuse to the public.

Brown often shoplifted during his childhood and was arrested for stealing record albums when he was 13, he said in his memoir.

‘How could I do this?’ Brown wrote in the book. ‘I did it the same way I stole food. I was eleven or twelve and hungry all the time.’

But Brown changed his life. He graduated from Boston College Law School and served on the Army National Guard. In 2010, Brown won the U.S. Senate seat held by democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy for more than 40 years.

Linda McHugh, Brown’s aunt from Newark, N.J., said she came to Syracuse to see her nephew. Because of her dysfunctional relationship with Brown’s father, she hasn’t seen her nephew since he was 2 years old. They recently reunited while the two families attended basketball games in Boston.

‘The reunion was such a blessing,’ McHugh said. ‘Scott and I never had the experience of having a close family, and that’s all we wish for our children to have. I never had the opportunity to see him grow up, and it’s a dream to me to see him now.’

McHugh said she is blown away by Brown’s success.

‘He pushed and drove himself forever,’ McHugh said. ‘None of us can take credit, he did everything by himself.’

One of Brown’s daughters, Arianna, is a sophomore pre-med student studying at SU.

Students and people from outside Syracuse attended the book signing to meet Brown.

‘I bought the book for my dad’s birthday,’ said Jules Peixoto, a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major who was second in line to get an autograph. ‘It’ll be a great present because we’re from Massachusetts, and my parents really like him.’

kvdolins@syr.edu

Published on March 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm