Book Description

The writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by Nigeria's military dictatorship in 1995. An outspoken critic of military rule, he helped bring the environmental and human-rights abuses of Shell Oil and the Nigerian military before the world. The name Ken Saro-Wiwa became synonymous with the struggle between a traditional way of life and the juggernaut of global commercial interests. In the Shadow of a Saint comprises a history of modern Nigeria, a biography of an activist, and a frank depiction of the author's childhood and relationship with his controversial father. The book shines light on how Wiwa made his way in the shadow of his father's expectations, how he came to terms with his father's imprisonment and execution, and how he coped under international scrutiny. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Fathers and sons
A moving and evocative memoir of Ken Wiwa's difficult coming of age, caught between two cultures and the collision with history of his domineering father, Nigerian playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. In effect the story is told in two parts - the author's life up to his father's hanging on trumped up charges in 1995, and his subsequent attempt to come to terms with his fathers ambiguous personal legacy, in part from seeking out the children of other political martyrs such as Nkosinathi Biko and Aung San Suu Kyi. One gets the sense that by the end of the book Wiwa has achieved some sort of closure and establishment of stable, constructive self-identity. Recommended to anyone interested in Nigeria, international diplomacy, or the relationship between fathers and sons.

amazing
I remember where I was the day I found out Ken Saro-Wiwa had been murdered. It's a day that will forever be with me.

Ken Wiwa does a beautiful job of honoring his father's human rights work and expressing the complexity of their relationship. It is a shame that Mr. Saro-Wiwa will never be able to see his son's heartfelt tribute.

A great book, for anyone to enjoy
This is a beautiful, inspiring book. It is not just a biography of internationally acclaimed activist and novelist Ken Saro-Wiwa, but also an account of a son who manages to find himself despite the notoriety of his famous father. Ken Wiwa traces the history he has shared with his father, and examines his changes in perspective through his childhood, adolescent and adult years. He recounts his father's successful life, from government worker to TV writer, novelist, and finally, to political activist. He tells of his father's efforts to improve the lives of the impoverished Ogoni people, which included a heroic struggle against a multinational oil company. With brevity, and brutal honesty, Ken Wiwa leaves no stone unturned in examining his own thoughts and emotions in relation to these events.
It would have been easy for Ken Wiwa to wax poetically about his father's heroism in the face of such a powerful opponent, and to fill all the pages of a book on this subject alone. He could have possibly sold many more books this way. But he purposely chose not to, and instead invites his readers on a rich, multi-faceted exploration of his father's life, his family and of his own growing self-awareness.
In the end, we, the readers, are just as proud of Ken Saro-Wiwa as his son is. But it is the journey that we took to get there that makes it all the more moving.

A Humble and Honest Description of Ken Saro-Wiwa
I was in bed on the morning of the 10th of November 1995 when the death of ken Saro Wiwa was announced over the radio. As it is in Nigeria there is always the official and unofficial news so speculations the previous night dismissed as rumours...even though i was almost twenty at this time, it dawned on me that i knew next to nothing about Mr Saro-Wiwa..and folks made up to many stories that usually left you confused but Ken Wiwa has done an excellent job. He initial presents hiself has a spoilt kid who saw more meaning to life in the west than in Africa his home (Or so i understood it) but as he grows, he matures to the point where he does not only understand his father and what he stands for but learns to forgive and even sympathise with his many dilemas in his struglle to liberate the lifes and minds of his people. The most refreshing thing about the story is that Wiwa Snr and Jnr reach a compromise in what seemed like a stumbling relationship (as it is with many first sons who are similar to thier fathers) and reconcile before Saro-Wiwa dies. I gues like Wiwa snr said "it's a shame we cant choose our parents" but having ready a story like this one I'm quite glad it so too.

Bro Ken i agree with your Dad you do have a good style keep the books coming.

Interesting Perspective
While some may not enjoy nonfiction, I thought this was a very good read. Though I lacked knowledge on Wiwa Sr and the struggle, the author (his son) did a good job to present clarity to the issues at hand. However what's makes the book a good read is that the story is presented through the eyes of a son who felt he had to measure to the great expectations of his father. While the author's writing style is ok, the honesty of his writing makes it worthwhile. I thought it was interesting to see how the author found the conflict of politics when faced with an issue so personal(his father's execution). I heard about the book through an interview on NPR. We Americans, are very ignorant on issues that have happened in Africa. Not only will you enjoy reading it, but you will also learn from it. But you will also perhaps identify with issues involving children and parents as well. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (16)

KOLA BOOF highly recommends Francis Bok's New Book
The following review is submitted by Sudan's top woman writer, author Kola Boof.

Once again, Francis Bok, a brave handsome heroic warrior man from the very gracious and proud Dinka Tribe has come forward with humility and elegance...to tell his truth. Not only does he tell HIS truth--but he also tells the truth of all of us who are both black and Sudanese. This is a remarkable book, one that should be important to ALL humanity, because in the larger sense, it is not just about being black or being Dinka in Sudan, it is not just about slavery...it is about human beings failing to honor and cherish the lives...of other human beings. This is one of the best books of the year!!!

As an Arab/Oromo woman born in Omdurman--and as a Northerner--I would like to testify and back up Mr. Bok's truth, because I personally witnessed much of what he writes about in his book.of course.I witnessed entirely different events at an entirely different time, because being the daughter of an Arab Egyptian, I was able to see the slave movement from its "infancy"--before it became visible and I was also an 8 year old child playing in the home of Dr. John Garang as my father, Garang (a Dinka) and other Arabs discussed at great length...what would years later become the SPLA.

...

PLEASE BUY IT RIGHT NOW! IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY!

About Kola Boof:

Sudanese-American author Kola Boof...currently appears in the just released all new short story collection "Politically Inspired--Edited by Stephen Elliott" (MacAdam/Cage). All proceeds of the book "Politically Inspired" go to the Oxfam Humanitarian fund to help buy food and medicine for children in Iraq. In February 2004, Kola Boof's 1995 Arabic novel "Flesh and the Devil" will be released in ENGLISH in the U.S. translated by Said Musa. Kola Boof's books for the North African Book Exchange, however, were forced out of print when Muslim forces in Morrocco firebombed the author's publisher Russom Damba in Rabat. This includes her classic "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin", which is no longer in print. Miss Boof became a citizen of the United States in 1993.

Up from slavery
The cruelty that Francis Bok experienced at age seven--and which he recounts here--defies civilized human conception. One day in 1986, his mother Marial sent him to Nyamlell's market from their Southern Sudan Dinka village of Gourion to sell eggs and peanuts. His father Pial Bol Buk had recently called Francis "Muycharko"--"like twelve men." He would be successful and achieve something important.

Eventually, as this book bears out, his father's hope proved prophetic. But in 1986 Francis could count to no more than ten and still played alweth and Madallah--Dinka hide-and-seek and cricket. His mother sent older friends to supervise his first independent market trip.

The Catholic boy nicknamed Piol, for rain, that day lost his childhood and world to the murahaliin. After torching the nearby villages and slaying their inhabitants, 20 light-skinned Juur horsemen charged into Nyamlell. They severed the heads of all Dinka men with single sword strokes, left them rolling in the blood-soaked market dust and stole Piol's older friends Abuk, Kwol and Nyabol. A rifleman permanently silenced a crying girl with a bullet to her head. A swordsman sliced off her sister's leg at the thigh. Francis tried to flee. Terror squelched his cries. He was halted at gunpoint, grabbed and slung astride a small saddle, crafted specifically (as he later recognized) to carry abducted children, and ridden far north.

Bok recounts the role he played in pushing President Bush to toughen and sign the Sudan Peace Act on October 18, 2002. As he points out, this made Americans increasingly aware of Sudanese Islamic government support for mass enslavement and genocide of Southern Sudanese Christians and animists.

But as he also notes, while there may be some kind Muslims, the ongoing genocide against 2 million Southern Sudanese Dinka is merely a modern manifestation of Islamic tradition in Sudan and elsewhere throughout North Africa.

Francis Bok recognized in his treatment an institutionalized cruelty. He was beaten, forced to tend and sleep with animals, fed rotting meat, and cursed as a jedut--maggot--even after his master pressed a Muslim name and prayers on him. Abdul Rahman ironically means "servant of the compassionate one." But there was not one second of compassion during Bok's 10 years of captivity, although he was one of the lucky ones. He many times tried to escape, and failed. His penalties were mere beatings. Other Dinka escapees routinely lost their limbs when recaptured. Giemma Abdullah threatened the same; Bok didn't believe him, until he saw other Dinkas, limbless. Finally, at 17, Francis Bok took the cows one morning, and from the road near their grazing area ran all the way to Mutari. After further privations and imprisonments, Bok finally hid in a truck en route to ed-Da'ein, fled to Khartoum, to Cairo, and as a refugee, in 1999, to the U.S. He landed in the U.S. poor, illiterate, and 20.

But Bok admits that he was like all its victims unaware of the jihad institution's name or history. During 10 long years of enslavement by Giemma Abdullah in Kerio, Bok learned that the Arabic word abeed carried three meanings-"slave," "black" and "filth." Half his lifetime among Muslims taught him that they considered themselves better than Southern Sudanese infidels. But this hardly educated him on the institution to which his 20th century captors and masters subjected him.

The privations Bok suffered and the constant jihad in Sudan are typical of those suffered by non-Muslims, as pre-eminent Islamic scholar Bat Ye'or notes in The Decline of Eastern Christianity. Rudolf C. Slatin's In Fire and the Sword in the Sudan (1896), recounts 10 years of captivity by Khalifa Abdullah, searching for slaves and booty in Christian and animist regions. One finds similar accounts by Greek historian Speros Vryonis Jr. and in Nobel laureate Ivo Andric's 1924 Ph.D. thesis, Development of Spiritual Life in Bosnia under the Influence of Turkish Rule and in the October 20, 2003 issue of the Vatican-vetted La Civiltà Cattolica.

Francis Bok's book recounts his journey to freedom, education and the fulfillment of his father's dreams. This account resounds with the voice of twelve men, speaking as it does for the enslaved Dinka masses, still suffering razzias in Southern Sudan--and for non-Muslim dhimmis across time.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

Be hold
contineously zionest snakes spit out their poisons. One reviewer wrote "the Arabs have been trading christian slaves for 1500 years ago", well, 1500 years ago THERE WAS No Islam and No arabs there and no Chrestians. The people of that regions are African tribes whom adopted Arab language. That happened several hundered of years ago. YOU CANT SAY about all East African nations they are HALF ARABS - because half the SWAHILY language is Arabic. Since the down of history it has been the custom among premative tribes (and old civilizations) to enslave war prisoners and/or their families, or chlderen. Let it be not far of your assumptions that Mr Danka wouldn't be there if it wasn't for his slavery, no praising this doomed costum , but it is highly propable that he would have died after loosing his family with starvation or became a baby solider in Karank army and died in battels.
The book did not address how rehtric christians supported slavery by buying slaves to free them , did not discuss how pagan groups where forced to be cristians.

Horrifying events, inspirational attitude.
Francis Bok was only seven years old when he was kidnapped in his southern Sudan village and forced into slavery by a brutal Arab Muslim farmer in the north. Sadly his tale of slavery and torture is only one example of the centuries old practice of slavery and genocide during Sudan's war between the Arab Muslim north and African Christian south. His master treated Francis poorer than his livestock and he was often given garbage and rotten food to eat. He was virtually cut off from other young Dinka slaves in the area and as a result was forced to withdraw into his own mind for survival.

One of the truly remarkable aspects of this book is Francis' positive attitude throughout his ordeal. He never lost hope of escaping and creating a better life for himself. Although he was forced into slavery for ten years and lost contact with his tribe customs and language he never lost his will and determinism to learn about his culture after he was free. Additionally I was impressed with his sense of helping others who are victims of Sudan's war and sending back money to friends in Egypt who were denied United Nations refugee status. In the United States where individualism is the way of life it is refreshing to read how Francis reached out to help others instead of falling into a trap of only caring for himself.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY is a contemporary narrative that effectively shatters the myth that slavery is a problem of the past. It is sad that the world has kept silent about the appalling problems in Sudan. Time is past due for humanity to stop the needless slaughter of innocent southern Sudanese by their northern neighbors. Highly recommended.

I...
I have taken particular interest in the situation in Sudan for months now. Whenever I think of it I get enraged. The whole animal in me comes out. I read the book and was incensed. Francis Bok is a man worth twelve men, if not more. He is brave and handsome. I couldn't help but notice his long, elegant neck. I wish all the best for him.

I am wondering why the world is doing nothing about this. The slavery in Sudan is a centuries-old practice and genocide. It is shameful that the Western media would rather televise naked Dinka men wrestling and drinking milk--and yet the world is not being told how these people have been torn..literally - by slavery, famine, and war. I feel for Sudan. The Arabs in the North are just shameful. This should end!

The majestic Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and other tribes in Southern Sudan are an African treasure..the famed Ethiopians of the ancients. Yes, the very ones living closest to the sun, the favorites of the gods. They were once famous (all over the world) for "feasting with the gods" and being the holiest of people. I read about Sudanese slavery today and feel angry that even African countries have turned themselves away from this devastating situation. Time is running out! ... Read more

Book Description

Jack Olsen's Last Man Standing is the gripping story of Geronimo Pratt, war hero and community leader, who was framed by the FBI in one of the greatest travesties of justice in American history.

Geronimo Pratt did not commit the murder for which he served twenty-seven nightmarish years. As a UCLA student, though, he had led the Los Angeles Chapter of the Black Panther Party, and became a target of the FBI. Here is the spellbinding saga of Pratt, his heroic lawyers, Johnnie Cochran and Stuart Hanlon, and the Reverend James McCloskey, who overcame all the odds to bring the truth to light and free Geronimo.

... Read more

Reviews (19)

...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
Superlative investigative reporting, coupled with a riveting narrative, makes for a compelling and remarkable book that keeps the reader turning its pages. The author deftly chronicles the amazing journey of Geronimo Pratt, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and Black Panther Party leader, who, in 1970, fell victim to a political power struggle and was incarcerated for a murder that he simply did not commit.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, all affirmatively conspired to bring about this miscarriage of justice through a shameful and colossal abuse of power. Make no bones about it. The author weaves a most convincing indictment of the culpability of these agencies in this matter. It is a shameful episode within the criminal justice system.

Were it not for the concerted efforts of his dedicated legal team, spearheaded by attorneys Stuart Hanlon and Johnnie Cochran, Geronimo Pratt would most likely still be waiting for justice. They stayed the course with him the entire time. It was through their dogged determination that Geromino Pratt's twenty seven year odyssey through the criminal justice system finally came to an end. It was a journey that few would care to make.

This book is a testament to one man's faith in himself and in the truth that ultimately set him free. It is also a testament to the skill of the author in penning such a spellbinding tour de force.

Truly an experience
Last Man Standing a book that chronicles the life of Geronimo Pratt is truly a literay masterpiece. The author (Jack Olsen) did an excellent job of taking the reader into the depths of the American justice system. Olsens depiction of the Geronimo Pratt case may allow you to put any remaining thoughts of the O.J trial to rest. Witnessing the pain and sacrifice experienced by Geronimo and his attorneys is truly astonishing. How a man could experience such cruel and unusual punishment and harbor no ill feeling toward those who orchestrated his demise is a testiment to the true character of a man who refused to allow the system to crush his spirit. Last man standing is a book that will keep you up late at night telling yourself that you will read just one more chapter.

Amazing book, Amazing man
Geronimo Pratt had one of the most honorable and incredible lives I have ever heard of. This book documents his entire life, from is Morgan City childhood to his unjust incarceration for the murder of Caroline Olsen. I literally had trouble putting this book down. It is a great read for anyone interested in the judicial system, the FBI's COINTELPRO, the Black Panther Party, and racism in general. READ THIS BOOK!!!

One of the Best books I ever laid my hands on
This book should be mandatory reading for every black person when they turn 15 years old. To read what the gov't put this man through was utterly shocking. After you read this book read "The Judas Factor - The Plot to Kill Malcolm X." You'll be numb after reading these two books back to back.

Last Man Standing
... In this respect, Last Man Standing, author Jack Olsen's biography of former Black Panther Geronimo Pratt details a gripping, unfathomable, tale of a man wrongly accused of murder and as a result, spends decades in prison.

While growing up in the impoverished, rural Louisiana bayou, Pratt learned how hard life can be. Tough lessons from his hard nosed father, Jack Pratt, taught Geronimo and his sibblings the value of hard work, self-reliance, and mental toughness. Geronimo, unfortunately would be forced to rely on these lessons during his constant struggle for survival throughout his entire adult life, most of which was spent incarcerated. Along with the childhood teachings of his father and a passionate sense of determination, Pratt was able to endure a fate and hardships that would have broken the average individual.

Generations of African Americans after Geronimo Pratt will only be able to hear stories about what life was like in the 1960's and 1970's living as a radical trying to change the system by force. The Black Panther Party (BPP) serves as one of the most famous movements opposite the more visible nonviolent protests of the 60's. As one of the leaders of the Party, Pratt quickly rose to a powerful level within the organization. Ironically, Pratt's murder conviction was the result of members of the BPP uniting against him as well as the over zealousness of law enforcement divisions dedicated to the group's extinction.

A good portion of the biography centers around Pratt's trial for murder. Readers will find it hard not to get caught up in the conspiracy theories and paranoia that the defendant had to be feeling at the time. Compelling arguments made by Pratt's lawyer, a talented young Johnnie Cochran, will instantly put you in Pratt's corner.

After being presented with the facts of the case, I firmly believe that Geronimo Pratt was innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. Readers however, should remember that they are being presented with only one side of the story. The facts however, are presented clearly enough for each person to form their own opinion.

I felt that this book did a good job of bringing to light the good things that the BPP did (free meals programs, literacy/education initiatives, programs to combat poverty) but I think it did a disservice by glossing over the more militant edge of the organization. Despite that minor let down, I found this novel gripping, and uplifting and I would highly recommend it to any non-fiction reader.

I give "LAST MAN STANDING" a rating of 3 ... Read more

Book Description

"During my boxing career, you did not see the real Muhammad Ali. You just saw a little boxing. You saw only a part of me. After I retired from boxing my true work began. I have embarked on a journey of love."

So Muhammad Ali begins this spiritual memoir, his description of the values that have shaped and sustained him and that continue to guide his life. In The Soul of a Butterfly the great champion takes readers on a spiritual journey through the seasons of life, from childhood to the present, and shares the beliefs that have served him well.

After fighting some of the fiercest bouts in boxing history against Joe Frazier and George Foreman, today Muhammad Ali faces his most powerful foe -- outside the boxing ring. Like many people, he battles an illness that limits his physical abilities, but as he says, "I have gained more than I have lost....I have never had a more powerful voice than I have now." Ali reflects on his faith in God and the strength it gave him during his greatest challenge, when he lost the prime years of his boxing career because he would not compromise his beliefs. He describes how his study of true Islam has helped him accept the changes in his life and has brought him to a greater awareness of life's true purpose. As a United Nations "Messenger of Peace," he has traveled widely, and he describes his 2002 mission to Afghanistan to heighten public awareness of that country's desperate situation, as well as his more recent meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Ali's reflections on topics ranging from moral courage to belief in God to respect for those who differ from us will inspire and enlighten all who read them. Written with the assistance of his daughter Hana, The Soul of a Butterfly is a compassionate and heartfelt book that will provide comfort for our troubled times. ... Read more

Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"[A] LANDMARK BOOK."

--San Francisco Chronicle

"POWERFUL."

--The New York Times Book Review

"GRIPPING."

--The Boston Sunday Globe

"BRILLIANT."

--The New Yorker

"EVERYONE SHOULD READ AND LEARN FROM THIS LUMINOUS BOOK...Like Alex Haley's Roots, through which African American history came into national focus...Slaves in the Family has the potential for creating a perceptual shift in the American mind...The book is not only honest in its scrupulous reporting but also personal narrative at its finest."

--San Francisco Chronicle

"BALL IS A FIRST-RATE SCHOLAR-JOURNALIST...He's also a good detective, tracking down the many descendants of Ball slaves from New York to California and back in the South and coaxing them, often with some difficulty, to tell their stories...Outside Faulkner, it will be hard to find a more poignant, powerful account of a white man struggling with his and his nation's past."

--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A MASTERPIECE...REMARKABLE...It is a work about slaves in the family.But it is also a large omnium gatherum of enchanting fireside anecdotes, secrets teased out of reluctant fragments from the remote past, the real lives of blacks and whites whose stories had been lost in the disintegrating churn of time until Edward Ball's patient reconstructions."

--The Raleigh News & Observer

"A TOUR DE FORCE...The heart of this remarkable book consists of his sleuthing--tracking down and interviewing the descendants of former Ball slaves across the country... Part oral history, this unique family saga is a catharsis and a searching inventory of racially divided American society."

--Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

"A PAGEANTRY OF PASSIONS AND STRUGGLES."

--African Sun Times ... Read more

Reviews (91)

This book is full of gifts
'Slaves In The Family' is amazing. The research Edward Ball was able to do for this book was tantemount to a sisyphean feat. By tracing the heritage of several slave decendants back to the mid 1600s, he fullfilled something so profound for those families, almost no words can describe it. Most African Americans in this country are resigned to the fact that we'll never know who our great, great, grandparents were, where in Africa our ancestors once lived, or who we are beyond stolen people. To be able to say 'I've traced my heritage as far back to a relative named Binah, which is a common name in Sierra Leone, so my people are probably from there' is one of the most spiritual, life-altering pieces of information an African American (who is searching) can be given. In my personal experience, there has always been lack of understanding of myself. I can read and study and dance and commune, and on one level that is all of the knowing I need. But is that because that satisfies my soul, or because that's all the knowing I'm likely to get in this lifetime? Whatever the case, all my life there's been this yearning to know who my people are, and it's a yearning I've heard echoed in my sisters and brothers all over the country. Edward Ball is also a brilliant story teller. There are times when I'm reading, that I have to remind myself that it's non-fiction. Not only because it's so well written, but because I'm so far removed from the brutal, chattle existence my acestors survived, it is often times impossible to reconcile on the D train to Brooklyn that this country (and on a larger scale - the world) has a continually unpleasant history of treating fellow human beings deplorably, and in some instances, ungodly. Ball's able to relay American history, not black history (because there is no such thing in this country - we're all intertwined), in such an unbiased, sometimes humorous, sometimes somber way, that you really can't believe he's a descendant of one of the largest, earliest, and longest held plantation owners in South Carolina. The book dedicates equal time to his European relatives, and is unique in that no one is demonized, nor depicted as saintly. It is what it is.

I highly recommend it. Just came out in paperback. And there are glossy pictures.

Easily followed history
I enjoyed this book a lot. It took me a little longer than usual
to read this book (it is a lengthy book). I blame it on the holiday season and my work load. If you are a busy person, it might take you some time to read as well, plus you find yourself flipping back and forth to the pictures to place a face with the names mentioned.

Edward Ball did a good job in researching his family history and piecing together the slave's family tree as well. I liked the fact that he did not show any bias in his writing. He could have taken the oral history of the Ball family as fact, but he decided to collaborate his findings with the former slaves families. In doing so, he found out that many slaves where actually blood relatives of his.

I didn't buy this book (I borrowed it from the library), however after reading it, I will purchase it, because if I ever plan to research my family history it will help me to organize my findings. I also plan to buy his second book "Sweet Hell Inside."

Great Subject
Mr. Ed Ball does a good job traveling the U.S. to find relatives in his family from the slave years. While details are almost non-exsitant, he was able to form his family tree though family documentation and oral history.
My lack of starts comes from my feeling this book didn't get deep enough into how the relatives today truely feel about their past relative's situation. While he did a great job setting up his family's history and relating to it, he missed on the compassion needed for the slave side of his family. He must have had it since he was accepted into so many families and told their stories.
In one of the end chapters he went to Sierra Leon to trace the African side of the slave trade. Again he falls short of writing with feeling.
This book is worth the read because it gives you a documented slice into a family's life as slave holders in South Carolina. I do think it helps reveal some of the issues of slaves during the founding of the United States-something that isn't taught well enough in America's school system. I only wish the book were more personal instead of factual. But I guess that's why there are other books.

Coming to grips with the past...
National Book Award-winner, Slaves in the Family, is one of the best nonfiction books I have read in the past ten years. Edward Ball comes from a very prominent family of plantation owners in the Charleston Low Country. The patriarch, Elias Ball, immigrates to the colonies in the late 1600's. Being very prolific when it came to progeny, he soon had children and grandchildren owning over two dozen plantations along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. After the Civil War, the Ball plantations were sold or lost, one by one. Yet today, the Balls are still very prominent in Charleston Society. Their family tree is well documented, and instead of being plantation owners, they now count lawyers, judges, doctors and priests among their ranks.

In Edward Ball's first effort, he sets out to find the descendants of the thousands of Ball family slaves. This was no easy task. Many slaves had no last names. Others moved to distant states. Some descendants had no wish to speak with him. Ball also encountered reticence from his own family. The extended family did not like to talk about slavery. On the few occasions when the subject was raised, they all espoused the party line: 1. Balls never mistreated their slaves 2. Balls never separated slave families and 3. Ball masters never slept with female slaves.

Using surviving Ball journals, diaries, ledgers and inventories, Edward was able to contact a good many slave descendants. I found the most moving parts of the book are when Edward's research validates the oral history of many slave ancestors, and in some cases, helped them to fill in the missing pieces of their genealogical puzzle. Edward's research also helps him to discover more about his own ancestors. Contrary to Ball oral history, not all Ball plantation owners treated their slaves admirably. Also, slave families were sometimes separated-although mostly due to economic necessity (i.e. when slaves were sold to settle an estate). But what really shocked the author was when he discovered that he had ancestors of color! But save that topic for another book.

The only part of Slaves in the Family that bothered me was Edward Ball's insistence on being an apologist for slavery. Although slavery was a horrible institution, Ball was in no way responsible for what his ancestors did hundreds of years ago. Still, this is just a minor distraction in an otherwise fabulous book. In addition to reading Slaves in the Family, I also listened to it on tape and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Edward Ball truly gives us a remarkable effort in his first at bat.

Interesting and revealing historical journey
This book educated me more about the history of slavery in the USA than any other thing. The author's investigation about his family's history of owning slaves spares no facts, however disturbing they are. It traces the history of the slave trade and focuses on the slave business of Charleston, SC where his family settled and started several plantations where many slaves lived and worked. He finishes his exploration by describing his presence at the family reunion of his family's slaves' ancestors. This book explains the plights of slaves and slaveowners without any slant caused by some political agenda. It is a straightforward presentation of slavery and its consequences. The evils of slavery become apparent by the mere description of history.

Ball meanders at some times in ways that may not be interesting to some readers; however, I appreciated some of the details about the history of South Carolina and its environment.

I think this book accomplishes a healing and educational purpose that trancends Ball's family and reaches to all Americans, as we have all been affected negatively by the heritage of slavery in this country. ... Read more

Book Description

There are many heroes of the civil rights movement—men and women we can look to for inspiration. Each has a unique story, a path that led to a role as leader or activist. Death of Innocence is the heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring story of one such hero: Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till—an innocent fourteen-year-old African-American boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and who paid for it with his life. His outraged mother’s actions galvanized the civil rights movement, leaving an indelible mark on American racial consciousness.

Mamie Carthan was an ordinary African-American woman growing up in 1930s Chicago, living under the strong, steady influence of her mother’s care. She fell in love with and married Louis Till, and while the marriage didn’t last, they did have a beautiful baby boy, Emmett.

In August 1955, Emmett was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped from his bed in the middle of the night by two white men and brutally murdered. His crime: allegedly whistling at a white woman in a convenience store. His mother began her career of activism when she insisted on an open-casket viewing of her son’s gruesomely disfigured body. More than a hundred thousand people attended the service. The trial of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, accused of kidnapping and murdering Emmett (the two were eventually acquitted of the crime), was considered the first full-scale media event of the civil rights movement.

What followed altered the course of this country’s history, and it was all set in motion by the sheer will, determination, and courage of Mamie Till-Mobley—a woman who would pull herself back from the brink of suicide to become a teacher and inspire hundreds of black children throughout the country.

Mamie Till-Mobley, who died in 2003 just as she completed this memoir, has honored us with her full testimony: “I focused on my son while I considered this book. . . . The result is in your hands. . . . I am experienced, but not cynical. . . . I am hopeful that we all can be better than we are. I’ve been brokenhearted, but I still maintain an oversized capacity for love.” Death of Innocence is an essential document in the annals of American civil rights history, and a painful yet beautiful account of a mother’s ability to transform tragedy into boundless courage and hope. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

We Must Never Forget
For everyone who has heard of Emmett Till and sworn "never again" and for those who don't believe the horrors of life for too many Blacks in the South, this book is essential. This is a mother's story of the brutal murder of her young son and the travesty of justice that followed in a rural Mississippi town in the mid-1950's. She refused to let her son's murder be hidden, and it became an early rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement. Mamie Till-Mobley moves the rock under which the roaches of racism hide and exposes them to the bright light of truth. Her words are both inspirational and disturbing. We don't want to believe that this happened fifty years ago here in the "Land of the Free", but it did. We can't even tell ourselves that it could never happen now, because she tells us of a recent and terrifyingly similar murder of a young Black male in the South. Not far from where I live, four young men have just been charged with burning a cross in the yard of a Black family who had moved into a white neighborhood. Mamie Till-Mobley had her son's casket kept open so the world could see what was done to her son. Now, her book opens the "casket" of the buried past to show us once more.

Mamie Till-Mobley was a courageous woman whose story is very moving. She talks about her youth, her family, her relationship with Emmett, the lives of Blacks in the south and in Chicago. Her story would be an important one solely because she lost a child to violence. However, her story is much, much more. She stands with other Black women of the 20th century: Marian Anderson, Rosa Parks, Coreta Scott King, the mothers of the girls killed in the church bombings.

I believe strongly that we must continue to bear witness to these events, just as we must bear witness to Hitler's atrocities, and the mass murders that continue to occur around the globe. Remembering cannot cure the ignorance and hatred that accompany prejudice, but it can help to prevent repeats of these horrific events.

As I read this book, I was reminded of an editorial written over 30 years ago by Arthur M. Sackler. Speaking of the famine in Bangladesh and other mass deaths, he said, "Tears alone are not enough." I hope that everyone who reads the words of Emmett Till's mother will realize that tears are NOT enough - we must remain attentive and work diligently to wipe this kind of hatred from the face of the earth.

A Riveting Story Told By A Fascinating Woman
Mamie Till Mobley lost her only son, 14 year-old Emmett Till, to a hate crime in Money, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955. She was denied justice in a farcical trial in which the boy's murderers were set free. As much as it is the story of Emmett Till, it is also the story of a determined mother to dedicate the remainder of her life in supporting the civil rights movement, and as a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. She is a shining example of what we all should be, a positive influence on those we come into contact. She didn't spend her life in bitterness at her son's killers. She only hoped they would repent of their crime (they didn't), because their final Judge would not be a jury from the state of Mississippi. The killers found their so-called supporters had drifted away from them, because of the negative attention this crime brought to the area. Their business was boycotted by blacks, and their wives left them. Emmett Till was a sacrificial lamb that started the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and the subsequent contributions of his mother in touching the lives of those she came in contact with is something that can't be measured. The winners in this story are a mother, a child, and the country's awareness of the need for civil rights for all citizens, while the losers are the boy's killers. There is much to learn in this book, and Mamie Till Mobley continues to teach others through this book even though she passed from this world on January 6, 2003. I did find a date mistake listed twice. On page 121 the initial incident at the grocery store in Money, Mississippi, is listed as Wednesday, August 20th. It has to be August 24th, because Emmett Till left Chicago for Mississippi on Saturday, August 20th. This mistake is repeated in the pictures. The date is later corrected to Wednesday, August 24th, on pages 185 and 261. Although it is difficult to wonder how these mistakes slipped through a proofreader, in no way does it detract from the book.

Not a Documentary
It was such a good idea to write this book in the first person. It was far from a documentary-like book with long technical jargon and delves into history. It read just like a work of fiction. I would lose myself for hours, reading this. It was as if I was right there. After all the stories behind this tragedy I believe this is the actual factual account. Mamie Till firmly discredited all the lies surrounding Emmett's character. Though I did find one flaw. I didn't like how the fatal TRIP to Mississippi was dramatized. It was written that she could hardly function, eat, or sleep once he'd left for the vacation. Granted any mother will miss their child but to that extent seemed a bit farfetched. (And besides, Emmett had lived away from her once before upon her move to Detroit.) But in a sense, Emmett was baby Jesus, and Mamie;Mary. God chose him as a sacrifice to open the eyes of the world and take action against racism. JW Milam and Roy Bryant have long since been dead and I'm sure Emmett was waiting on the other side. Those animals are getting theirs for eternity. And the fact that Roy Bryant divorced the wife who's 'honor' he was supposedly defending, that was a slap in the face. All of them were poor white trash.

Moving and Powerful!! The Remembrance of a Matyr
I am a 20 year old black college student that is from Clarksdale, MS. This is a little Delta town near where Emmet's murder was committed and also is mentioned in the book. The horrors described in this book are ones that every child from the Delta is aware of and is cautioned about. The men that murdered Emmett were brutal, merciless, tyrants that deserved the death penalty.
This book moved me to tears simply because of the fact that Mrs. Till never hated or wanted revenge for these men. She just wanted them to show some remorse and hoped that their little boys didn't grow up with the same kind of hatred that killed her son. This book clarified a lot of the myths that I have heard over the years about his death and also showed how strong and determined his mother was. He was her only child, the only boy, and yet she pushed and kept on fighting for him. They brought him home in a box filled with lime so he could deteriorate faster, and she said he didn't even look human, but she fought and never lost in the war of racism. She opened that box that was sealed by the state of Mississippi, and said "let the world see what I've seen". I think that this book is an eye-opener for anyone not familiar with Mississippi and for people that are, it is a raw look at the ugly truth. Mrs. Till went on to become a teacher and influenced lots of more kids with the passion that she would have given Emmett, and I thank her for this look into a heart that was wounded beyond repair and thanks to God, she made it. We made it. Emmett will never be forgotten, his story lives on still.

An American Portrait
This act of terrorism, committed by Americans, against an American, occurred less than fifty years ago. Some of the people who were involved in the kidnapping, brutal beating, shooting and the tying of this fourteen year old child to a huge gin fan and throwing his body into the Tallahatchie River, may still be alive today...
I enjoyed Rev. Jesse Jackson 's rousing, sermon-styled introduction which leads you into the story. It gradually, becomes clear why Mrs. Till-Mobley felt it necessary to include a detailed story of her son's life. I think it was important to her that the reader pay special attention to how he was treated by his family. It's more than obvious that Alma Gaines (Emmett's maternal grandmother) instilled in them the belief that every life has value, that there are none so special to enjoy "preferential, common dignities". I suspect, in that day, they were considered "uppity" because they dared consider themselves just as good. They simply took the words from American doctrine and, rightfully, made them their own. They understood, more profoundly than many, then and today, that American privilege is not supposed to be about color, but about the implication of democracy, and that as human beings, we are all endowed with a fundamental right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It's unfortunate and destructive, how some Americans feel privileged on the basis of their skin color. This ideal not only divides us among other countries it's also eating away at us from within.
If you are of the "unspoken, privileged class" of America, for a moment, try to reduce your "rights" to a fundamental level. You'll then be closer to a reality that Emmett could have been your son, nephew, grandson, uncle, brother or husband - this is the African American experience. Perhaps the most frightening truth is that America isn't so far removed from this event, socially, where we can say it couldn't happen today.
(...)Had Emmett not taken his father's ring on his trip to Mississippi, and been showing it off to everyone he'd met there (a seed of evidence for things unseen) they wouldn't have been able to identify his body. So, to the local authorities, it would have just been another insignificant Black body found floating in the Tallahatchie River. It may seem that all Mamie Till instilled in her son, including the method for taming his stutter, led to his unfortunate demise, but the river runs much deeper. Emmett's story is more than the act committed against him. His death brought about a consciousness raising that would change American history forever.
Pages 132 -137 tell the gruesome, and sorrowful, story of her ordeal identifying Emmett's body. I found it disturbing, being a parent, yet I had to re-read it several times to try and make sense of what could drive human beings to commit such a crime. I recommend you obtain a copy of this book, if only to read these four pages and I guaranty they will quell your innocence forever and perhaps change your entire worldview.
The story of Emmett Till deserves to be petitioned into our history books because it is, without question, a raw portrait of our America. No one can decry this story. It can't be discounted as an untruth fabricated by a self-promoting charlatan. That his murder did occur, under these circumstances, can never be doubted.
Christopher Benson sums up Mother Mobley's character eloquently. He writes that though she may have retired from teaching years ago, that was just "an administrative detail". She continued to teach far beyond her retirement, and she still does. There are lessons here about humanity, bravery, cowardice, love, and of course the evils we can be driven to out of hate and fear all doused with select pearls of wisdom on the intricacies of parenthood. You'll bear witness to a spiritual journey as she "walks through" her grief, on to understanding that the meaning of our lives sometimes paints a larger picture than we could have ever imagined.
I'm grateful that she did finally get to share her story. I can't help but feel honored to have read it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Crabcakes, James Alan McPherson's first book since his Pulitzer Prize-winning short-story collection Elbow Room, is a meditation on many topics. While McPherson figures prominently, the text is laced with recollections of other people, places, and times. Thus the story at the heart of the book--McPherson's decision to sell a Baltimore house he has owned for nearly 20 years, evicting his elderly tenant--is interwoven with reminiscences of a waiter on the Great Northern Railway, Baltimore street scenes, and a bittersweet set of instructions about what to do when stopped by police. Although it's almost impossible to characterize, Crabcakes is richly rewarding. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Crabcakes wasn't an easy read
I read Crabcakes almost right when it came out, because Jim McPherson is a writer I greatly admire, and because he was my teacher and friend at U of Iowa while I was there.

I used Crabcakes as a text in my SophomoreEnglish class at U of I, and generally people had a negative reaction. Itwas slow, plodding, confusing, and over-philosophical. It was also obscurein meaning, place, and time. Some students refused to finish it, and otherscame to class angry that they couldn't understand it.

When I first readit these were my reactions as well. However, I decided to use the book inclass because it eventually came to rest securely with only a handful ofworks that I didn't enjoy reading: stories I only came to appreciate later.Many of the most engrossing novels I've read don't have the staying powerof some of the most difficult, and such has been the case withCrabcakes.

McPherson's often convoluted sense of pacing, and his involvedsense of meaning (that spans cultures, continents, and languages) was apretty big project to get through, but once I was finished I couldn't stopthinking about it for a long time.

This is the best of art, the kind ofcreative endeavor that puts me in awe--when someone has an intenselypersonal vision and manages to communicate it with such accuracy that, fora time at least, the world looks different.

I highly recommend this book.

This book could have been better.
I did not enjoy this book to the fullest.I got confused about certain characters. I hated it. I could not get into the book for some reason.He should have had a dictionary in the back . So, that the reader could finddefintions of certain words.Certain parts of the book were interestingbut most of it was boring.I would not recommend this book to anyone atanytime.The book could have been better if it was well organized.Hejumped from one subject to another, many times.That totally confused me. I wish the book was shorter also.I really didn't understand why hecomplained so much about everything.He stayed in his house forever. Thisseemed unusual for a writer of his caliber.I believe he was under muchstress when he wrote this book.And that's why the book is not wroughtreading.This is my opinion of the book only many others said that thebook was great.That's probably because they understood him.Truly he wasvery unsuccessful when he wrote this book.

Powerful imagery-ricochets from Baltimore to Osaka and back.
Crabcakes follows an action taken(McPherson's impulsive purchase of a Baltimore rowhouse at auction because he sympathisized with the plight of its tenants) through the unexpected results on his life for years afterwards. His reflections make you pause and consider ripple events in your own life. "Etiquette Necessary for Survival on Secondary Roads" is brilliant.

A moving, illuminating memoir from a great American author.
James Alan McPherson, the author of two of the greatest short story collections of the postwar era, Hue and Cry (1969) and Elbow Room (1977) ends tewnty years of book silence with a moving, illuminating memoir of his journey from personal isolation to acceptance and understanding of community.We meet some memorable characters, Mrs. Channie Washington, the narrator's tenant, who always enclosed a small affirming note with the rent check, Ira Kemp, the dreamer and former co-worker of McPherson's as a railroad waiter in the early 60's, who became a lawyer and argued a case before the Supreme Court, Howard Morton, McPherson's neighbor, who looks out for him, while carrying for his own invalid son, and several Japanesse friends, who teach the author "religio," neighboring or binding.McPherson's quiet humor, dignity, and clear human insight make this a book of continual surprises, recognition and beauty.In answer to the question who in the world would you most like to have dinner and conversation with, some would say Thomas Jefferson, Einstein or Rembrant.My answer:I'd like to eat crab cakes with McPherson. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Bible for Black Nationalist !!!!!!!!
Blueprint for Black Power details a master plan for the power revolution necessary for Black survival in the 21st century. Blueprints posits that an African American/Caribbean/Pan-African bloc would be most potent for the generation and delivery of Black power in the United States and the World to counter White and Asian power networks. Wilson frames this imperative by deconstructing the U.S. elite power structure of government, political parties, think tanks, corporations, foundations, media, interest groups, banking and foreign investment particulars. Potentially strong Black institutions as the church, media and think tanks; industry; collectives such as investment clubs and credit unions; rotating credit associations such as Afrikan-originated esusu, tontine and partner are analyzed. Pan-Afrikanism, Black Nationalism, ethnocentrism and reparation are assessed, often misused and underused financial institutions as securities, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, underwriting, and incubators advocated, thus elucidating oft-negated opportunities for economic empowerment.

Bible for Black Nationalist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blueprint for Black Power details a master plan for the power revolution necessary for Black survival in the 21st century. Blueprints posits that an African American/Caribbean/Pan-African bloc would be most potent for the generation and delivery of Black power in the United States and the World to counter White and Asian power networks. Wilson frames this imperative by deconstructing the U.S. elite power structure of government, political parties, think tanks, corporations, foundations, media, interest groups, banking and foreign investment particulars. Potentially strong Black institutions as the church, media and think tanks; industry; collectives such as investment clubs and credit unions; rotating credit associations such as Afrikan-originated esusu, tontine and partner are analyzed. Pan-Afrikanism, Black Nationalism, ethnocentrism and reparation are assessed, often misused and underused financial institutions as securities, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, underwriting, and incubators advocated, thus elucidating oft-negated opportunities for economic empowerment.

Blue Print for Black Power
A lot to read, but well worth the investment. This book, if taken to heart, should be required reading for all Blacks and anyone interested in the advancment of Black people. Every thing you ever wanted to know about the who, what, when, where and why of the Black condition and how to rise above White dominance is right here.

Reflection of the genius of Amos Wilson
The late Amos Wilson wrote a blockbuster with this book. In in he states why African-Americans are economically powerless. He also states how they are to achieve power. A book well worth reading.

...what to do now!
ECONOMIC DESTINY DETERMINES BIOLOGICAL DESTINY!This book although big and thick it really is the blueprint for power. It expands on what BLACK Labor White Wealth by Claude Anderson PHD talks about. This book covers all the bases. Mr Wilson's book shows how insightful he is about the problems we face today. He shows several ways how we can have heaven while we LIVE overnight if we do what he suggests. It shows how the power is within our grasp if we will only wake up and raise our consciousness of what is really going on, I was awakened several times in this book; Wilson names names of the organizations and the people in the organizations that are anti black. He names the black leaders that are anti black too. He explains what's going on and why it continues unabated. He talks about how the nation uses psychic warfare to keep African Americans down. He explains how they deliberately keep blacks out of higher education; yes, we do get an education but there are different levels of education. There's the education that will teach you how to use a computer and then there's the education that will teach you how to make a computer from raw materials. Big difference! He talks about how blacks have very few people who have this very high level of knowledge that can be used by blacks to be more valuable to the world. He explains how too many blacks have a consumer mentality not a producer mentality. He has charts and references galore showing startling comparisons between blacks and whites that should not be missed by anyone of african ancestry. He goes deep into the obstacles that are holding blacks back in spite of drive and determination to succeed(Think and Grow Rich a black choice IS NOT the last word on success). He really made me rethink whether or not it is probable not possible to succeed when starting with no money. Wilson says the odds are against it. Of course you can always find someone who has succeeded from all the ghettos in the world but what about the other people in the same situation who didn't have any money, no inheritance from parents, no references, no relatives, no insurance money coming to them because their parents just died, no money coming to them from an injury and no one to give you advice. This is why so many blacks find themselves in jail or working menial jobs according to Wilson. The author suggests an african centered consciousness that will help the weakest one of us and help all of us to see immediate progress. This book is truly shocking; over and over again he talks about the consequences of not raising ourselves up:BIOLOGICAL DEMISE! Really this is no joking manner; the author has me convinced and Black Wealth White Labor says the same thing that if we do not learn how to compete with white people we will go the way of the indians. It is imperative that we adapt this philosophy before it is too late. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The most engrossing sports stories have a way of sneaking up on you. They explore issues much broader than competition, who won, and who lost; they are sports stories because they take place on the fields of play, but the light they shed illuminates much more than the athletic arena. On one level, The Great Black Jockeys is certainly about sports--indeed, racing was America's first national sport. But it's also about much more than that. It's an absorbing history, at times tragic, at times inspiring, of a nation in transition and the complex interrelationship between sports, society, attitudes, and race.

The overriding tragedy here is that this particular story essentially ends just after the turn of the 20th century. Before that, black riders dominated the game. In slave days, race riding could be a route to freedom. It was certainly a route to fame and a share of fortune. Whether a match race for bragging rights in the field, or a leg of the prestigious Triple Crown, black riders had at least a fair shake. Isaac Murphy, whose winning percentages have never been matched, won a trio of Kentucky Derbies. Jimmy Winkfield won back-to-back Runs for the Roses in 1901 and 1902. Yet, no black rider has piloted a winner in a major American stakes race since 1909. What happened?

By introducing us to a forgotten chapter in sports history and a host of deserving athletic legends sadly overlooked by time, Hotaling explores what did happen, and why a sport that witnessed blacks and whites competing as equals for so long at the highest levels suddenly locked the starting gate. The story Hotaling tells is as fascinating as it is painful, a story of opportunity unsaddled by prejudice and fear, and never significantly remounted again. "This is not black history," he makes clear. "It is not white history. It is American history." And like so much of American history, it's more complex than black and white. --Jeff Silverman ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Compelling history of the roots of the modern American athle
Any person who is a serious study of sports history will find this a most compelling dialogue on the "true" evolution of the American professional athlete. It is simply the most "untold" and most compelling story in the American experience. Today's athletes - of whatever color - should read this book to get a true appreciation for the foundations of the "professional" athlete in America and the depth of character exhibited by these great athletes under the most dire conditions.

Telling Another Untold Story
I read this book because it combined Black History and horse racing. Two of my favorite subjects. The book is well organized, full of information.

The author seamlessly intertwines American History, African American History, and the history of horse racing in America. So the book keeps your interest. He also balances historical facts, with the colorful characters\stories surrounding horseracing, while elevating Black jockies to their noble place in the "sport of kings".

This book is worth the price. A great read!!

Explores a long negleted area of African-American history.
This book explores a negleted aspect of the African-American experience in the United States. I had always assumed the African-American heros of sport were a twentieth century phenomenon. It was an eye opener to learn that there successful African-American jockeys and trainers as early as colonial time.

I would recommend this well written book to anyone with an interest in American history

A must-read for the true Horse Player
Mr. Hotaling's latest horse-racing book is a must read for anyone who considers himself a true afficianado of the sport. It tells a story which far too many people, even serious horse players, know little about. Horse racing is unique among sports in America because it is has virtually no black presence. There are few black owners, trainers, and breeders, and very few of the most visible players in racing, the jockeys. This was not always the case. In fact, black jockeys once dominated America's oldest sport. The first winner of the Kentucky Derby was black, as was the Derby's first repeat winner and its first three-time winner. The jockey with the highest winning percentage in history was black. Hotaling gives the history of these pioneers, and in doing so gives a history of the sport. He also deals with the glaring question: why have black jockeys largely dissappeared from the sport? It is well-written and insightful, a book invaluable to those who value the history of horse racing. ... Read more

Book Description

"exhaustively researched" biography of Malcolm X ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Reader
This book was obviously written by someone who hates Malcolm X. He had nothing positive to say only negative. He even went so far as to make the reader feel as though everything that Malcolm ever said was a lie. He portrays Malcolm as a person who hated himself but I believe it is the writer of this book who hates Malcolm and his family.

Questionable
This book is good if only for the insight into Malcolm's childhood. Other than that, it makes too many cynical conclusions based on whatever it is the author was trying to get across-- which by the end, is still unclear. Reading the introduction one would assume that this book was poised to breathe new insight on Malcolm the political figure and man. However, what you end up getting is more of a repetitious editorial piece. The author almost insults the intelligence of the reader by constantly rehashing the possible reasoning for Malcolm's every move. At one point, he suggests that Attallah was favored by Malcolm because of her light skin (like his) the way his dark-skinned father had once favored him. Perry also volunteers the very real and most likely possibility that Malcolm took this particular daughter to different events because she was the oldest of the girls. This is just one example of how he insists on giving the reader something to ponder on Malcolm's sincerity as a Black leader, tangible or not. There are parts of this book that indeed ring true with me for what I have interperted Malcolm to be, but these instances are too few and far between. I was in no way expecting an idealized picture to be painted here, only this book offers no real balance. Beyond this wounded Malcolm he avidly portrays, what else was there? Also for the attention he gave to alleged homosexual activity, arson, etc. he mentioned Betty Shabazz sparsely as if she held no importance in Malcolm's life. I found that fact very telling. After supposedly over 400+ interviews, Perry could only gather enough to give the mother of Malcolm's six children passing mentions. I actually got more of a rounded glimpse of Malcolm the man in the biography of Betty Shabazz by Russell J. Rickford. I advise those who are thinking of reading this book first to check out the autobiography w/ Alex Haley instead, then tackle this one if you wish. Even for all its omissions and probable half truths, you'll come away from that book actually understanding something. After reading Mr. Perry's biography, you get the urge to so say, "So?! What was your point?"

Approach With Caution
You have to question what Perry wanted to achieve from this book. He seems to have missed, or overlooked, all of the important issues that Malcolm X stood for.

He takes the word of Malcolm's detractors as the gospel truth and diminishes Malcolm's teachings and beliefs by portraying them as paranoid.

Perry seems obsessed with highlighting flaws in Malcolm's personality and uses this device to side step the vital lessons which Malcolm was trying to teach - lesson's which still need to be learnt today.

By all means read this book, but do so very objectively.

Too many unsubstatiated statements
I was not too fond of this book, not because I'm a Malcolm fan, but there are too many conclusions that Perry makes with weak evidence. Such as Malcolm's father (and Malcolm himself) setting their houses on fire, Malcolm's alleged homosexual activity,Malcolm asking the Klan why they allowed Dr. King to live, etc. etc. One could see why Dr. Betty Shabazz (Malcolm's wife)told Perry to get lost!

A Telling Tale : The Life and Times of Malcom X
Bruce Perry'sMalcom gives an in depth analysis of one of the most controversial public figures in modern American history.Perry describes Malcom's troubled childhood in the Midwest, from his bouts with his fatherinfidelities and his unexpected death -ruled accidental, but not certain--to his, light skinned, mentally ill mother who was not afraid to keep herson in line by any means necessary. Living within a dysfunctional familyand having no friends, Malcom finds himself wanting to leave his lonely andslow-pace lifestyle for the exciting East Coast. Moving in with hishalf-sister in Boston,Malcom becomes involved in criminal activities,from petty dope slinging and "runnin' numbers", to sleeping withwhite women and committing burglaries.Eventually he finds himself behindbars and from there Malcom X emerges. Known as Red, Malcom becomesacquainted with an inmate, a devoted follower of the Nation of Islam, whoteaches Malcom that their is an alternative for black men other than a lifeof crime.Malcom X is introduced to classic literature, poetry, and Islam. The religion has a powerful effect on Malcom, who embraces its ways andultimately becomes a follower. When he is released, Malcom X quickly workshis way through the ranks to head minister of the most populated andsuccessful Black Mosque in America.According to Perry, Malcom was notonly a devoted minister to his mosque, but to several others as well.Hissuperior, the honorable Elijah Muhammad, was initially impressed with thearticulate, young orator.In time Malcom X rises in the movement. He grabsall of the headlines and from the media's point of view, becomes thespokesman for the Nation of Islam.Eventually,Malcom breaks from thegroup and starts his own, which never gets off the ground.He was shotdead during a speech in Harlem, New York in 1965. Malcom X, thoughpoorly educated and a product of a mentally and physically abusedhousehold, nevertheless tookcenter stage and improved the quality of lifefor Black America.Bruce Perry gives the reader a personal account ofoneof America's enigmatic and flamboyant intellectuals of the twentiethcentury. ... Read more

Book Description

A vibrant social history set against the backdrop of the Antebellum south and the Civil War that recreates the lives and friendship of two exceptional women: First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her mulatto dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckly.

“I consider you my best living friend,” Mary Lincoln wrote to Elizabeth Keckly in 1867, and indeed theirs was a close, if tumultuous, relationship.Born into slavery, mulatto Elizabeth Keckly was Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, confidante, and mainstay during the difficult years that the Lincolns occupied the White House and the early years of Mary’s widowhood.But she was a fascinating woman in her own right, independent and already well-established as the dressmaker to the Washington elite when she was first hired by Mary Lincoln upon her arrival in the nation’s capital.Lizzy had bought her freedom in 1855 and come to Washington determined to make a life for herself as a free black, and she soon had Washington correspondents reporting that “stately carriages stand before her door, whose haughty owners sit before Lizzy docile as lambs while she tells them what to wear.”Mary Lincoln had hired Lizzy in part because she was considered a “high society” seamstress and Mary, an outsider in Washington’s social circles, was desperate for social cachet. With her husband struggling to keep the nation together, Mary turned increasingly to her seamstress for companionship, support, and advice—and over the course of those trying years, Lizzy Keckly became her confidante and closest friend.

With Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly, pioneering historian Jennifer Fleischner allows us to glimpse the intimate dynamics of this unusual friendship for the first time, and traces the pivotal events that enabled these two women—one born to be a mistress, the other to be a slave—to forge such an unlikely bond at a time when relations between blacks and whites were tearing the nation apart. Beginning with their respective childhoods in the slaveholding states of Virginia and Kentucky, their story takes us through the years of tragic Civil War, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the early Reconstruction period. An author in her own right, Keckly wrote one of the most detailed biographies of Mary Lincoln ever published, and though it led to a bitter feud between the friends, it is one of the many rich resources that have enhanced Fleischner’s trove of original findings.

A remarkable, riveting work of scholarship that reveals the legacy of slavery and sheds new light on the Lincoln White House, Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly brings to life a mesmerizing, intimate aspect of Civil War history, and underscores the inseparability of black and white in our nation’s heritage. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

two biographies in one!
Superbly written biography of TWO women in history. I learned more about Mary Lincoln in this book than maybe I wanted to but she was an interesting one. Author paints two life portraits and blends them artfully. If you are a First Lady buff, civil war buff or women's history reader then you won't want to miss out on this one.

Who Was Really in Control of Her Life?
Compelling portrait of the changing status of women during the 19th century in America. Elizabeth Keckly's story of coming up from slavery and enduring emotional and physical hardships is shocking in it's matter of fact presentation. Somehow, her dignity brings to sharp focus the inhumanity of slavery and clearly shows the untenable situation the mistress' of the house also had to indure. Her ultimate success as a business woman and friend of Mary Lincoln is heartwarming and natural.

Mary Lincoln's parallel story, in contrast, begins in a rich, cultivated, "safe" home, leads to a highly public "successful" match, and yet ends in maddness. The troubling effects of untreated illness and too many deaths in her life are devastating, and have forever changed my outlook on this much maligned former first lady.

To our sensibilities, she was a victim of the social and intellectual view of a "proper" woman's place in 19th century society. Lizzy's ultimate successes were hard won, but as a former slave she, ironically, was given more freedom from society's constraints than Mary. The very things that Lizzy could do that made her "respectable" would have been considered a huge step down for Mary.

I loved every moment of this book. I didn't want it to end. Its portrait of a time in our history is beautifully realized and has given me new respect for the women of the Civil War era. If you're interested in women's history, American history, or biographies this is a must have. ... Read more

Book Description

Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life.Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do. As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching, and deeply human-just like his music." ... Read more

Reviews (11)

In his own words.
Warning!: if people are honest you might hear some things you'd rather not read. In this case however, it does mean that through Ray Charles' own words we hear about his life up till 1978 when the book came out.

His youth was hard, becoming blind around age 7, going to a special school and losing his mom when she was only in her thirties were hard. Music is of course the theme that runs through it all, though I personally would have liked to have read more about the musical side of his life than the two things that make up an important part of the bo