Book Description

One morning, a box was delivered to Elizabeth Stone's door. It held ten years of personal diaries and a letter that began "Dear Elizabeth, You must be wondering why I left you my diaries in my will. After all, we have not seen each other in over twenty years . . ."

What followed was a remarkable year in Elizabeth's life as she read Vincent's diaries and began to learn about the high school student she had taught twenty-five years before. A BOY I ONCE KNEW is the story of the man that Vincent had become-and the efforts of his teacher to make some sense of his life.

With his diaries, Vincent becomes a constant presence in her household. She follows his daily life in San Francisco and his travels abroad. She watches him deal with the deaths of friends in the gay community. She judges him. She gets angry with him. She develops affection and compassion for him. In some ways she brings him back to life. And in doing so, she becomes the student, and Vincent the teacher. He forces her to examine her life as well as his. He challenges her feelings and fears about death. He proves to her that relationships between two people can deepen even after one of them is gone.

A BOY I ONCE KNEW is a powerful book about loss, memory, and the ways in which we belong to each other. This is a revealing, moving, and wholly unexpected book. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Memorable Memoir
When I first considered reading this book I said to myself "Oh, no - not another AIDS memoir!" having read at least a dozen and lived through the 80's and 90's in the San Francisco ground-zero of AIDS.

Elizabeth Stone's "A Boy I Once Knew" is something much more - a rare kind of memoir and memory game in one package. Here is a middle-aged New Jersey mother of two teenage sons in 2001 remembering a 14 yr. old student, Vincent, she briefly knew in Brooklyn 25 years earlier in the process of discovering him anew through his diaries as he grows into a 40 year old man about to die of AIDS in San Francisco in 1995. Ms. Stone ferries the reader through these dizzying time zones and locations with reflections on grief, discovery, death, illness and aging in her own family, relationships to her parents, children and husband as well as her role as teacher, mother and daughter. Reading this book is somewhat like reading a mystery where we know the beginning and the end but read to find out about the more nuanced matters in the middle. Two people become astoundingly revealed here: Vincent both through his own words and the author's recreation of him and the author through her dazzling insights into herself and her subject.

A Boy I Could Use as an Excuse to Write my Autobiography
What a tremendous letdown! I picked this up because I loved the thought of the ex-teacher revealing the life of a former student through his memoirs and her memories. Too bad that isn't really the book. Elizabeth Stone uses Vincent as an excuse to write her own autobiography- and believe me, her story makes you long to hear Vincent's all the more. Perhaps his diaries were very vague or his family reticent of having his life detailed - both understandable. But, given that, there isnlt really a worthwhile project here. I got so bored that I kept skipping pages looking to find Vincent's story and all I really kept finding was hers. Ugh! A vanity project all around.

About A Boy We'll Never Know...
Upon completing this book (and before reading the reviews of others on this site), I came out with many of the same feelings that they had: this book was NOT so much about the "Boy" but about the author. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one disappointed and misled by the book and its summary. I wanted to know more about the supposed title character...not about the author. The author left his diaries and notes to a total stranger so she could tell the world about him...about his battle with life...and death. And yet all she was concerned about was her own life. What a disappointment. I'm sure she gained something from reading his diaries, but we certainly didn't. And when she did mention him, she used quotes from his diaries that were quick notes like, "Went shopping. Met with friend." Nothing in detail. A true author who wanted to share Vincent with the world would have cut beyond his quick notes and written something with more depth, using his notes as a guide. Ms. Stone didn't seem to even "get" Vincent...or the gay lifestyle. So, after reading the book, I quickly resold it online. It wasn't a keeper for me. Sorry, Vincent...I hope someone else preserves memories of you...

a boy i once knew....
A large brown box appears on the doorstep of teacher, Elizabeth Stone's front door. Inside she would find the journals and inner workings of former student, former human being, former AIDS patient; Vincent.
This book was extremely slow going. I felt that it asked too may questions and sort of implied the story rather than to tell it. Yes I am aware that Miss. Stone only had the journals as a reference yet I still believe this work could have been executed in a way as to end up with a much more impressive piece of writing.
In reading "A Boy I Once Knew," I also came across a variety of typos and errors thus proving the type of effort that went into the book.
Stone also seemed to focus much more on her life than Vincent's, the one she meant to be preserved.
When I look at this book as a whole I can't help but wonder if Vincent was made into the person he wanted the world to know. But, at the same time, I don't know if we were properly "introduced".

A Good Read, But Not What I was Expecting
A Boy I Once Knew is a bit of a miss-titled novel. Although the book is an interesting read, I was expecting a book about the title character and his life journey from the time he was a student to the time he died. Instead, the book focuses primarily on the author who draws parallels between what is happening in the Journals to what is happening in her own life. While sometimes interesting. In that sense it was disappointing, leaving me to wonder about the diaries and what I didn't learn. A more apt title for this book might have been, The Diaries I Received From A Student And How They Made Me Reflect On My Own Life. ... Read more

Book Description

Phinn returns to the Dales for a second slice of Yorkshire life.

Continuing where THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DALE ended, Gervase Phinn begins his second year as a schools inspector in Yorkshire. His colourful cast of characters are now becoming firm favourites - the mostly mad staff at County Hall, the teachers who range from saints to stand-ins, and of course the children themselves who find ways of embarrassing school inspectors with innocent ease. Gervase's colleagues rag him unmercifully about his faraway look whenever the name of Christine Bentley of WinneryNook Nursery and Primary School is mentioned, and he realises it is time to take action - but how to put the question? Gervase Phinn has an extraordinary talent to entertain, and OVER HILL AND DALE will make you laugh out loud. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Over Hill and Dale - Phinn
This book will be enjoyed by anyone who has a love of children. In particular anyone with any contact with the teaching profession will recognise immediately the situations recounted in great depth by the author.

As an HMI inspector visiting countless schools, Mr Phinn's perfectly captured descriptions of the children, their teachers and the everyday school activities were a joy to read. His exquisite perceptions of the children put the reader into the classroom observing the joys, laughter and at times touching moments which managed to put a lump into my throat. I was there stifling my laughter as a young boy covers him with paint, I was embarrassed as a harrassed young teacher mistaking him for a care worker asks if he has seen the inspectors yet? and I was reaching for my handkerchief as a young blind child recounts a touching version of her understanding of sight.

A thoroughly charming read, which you won't want to put down. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An important contribution to profoundly gifted literature!
This book expands the horizons of literature on profound giftedness. It is an engaging parental account of one family's discovery of their children's extreme asynchrony leading ultimately to the author's discovery of her own. In their struggle to understand the complex and unusual needs of their children, Rebecca Hein and her husband Ellis must also learn how to best meet those needs. This journey of discovery reveals much about their own lives, bringing them full circle to a greater understanding of themselves and what is required for them to live their lives most fully.

Rebecca Hein details with clarity and insight the unusual ways her children learn, perceive and think. She chronicles the family's home schooling as she finds new ways to teach the children, all the while relating these to her own experiences as both student and teacher. Through Rebecca's keen observations, we accompany her family through this journey and in doing so find a familiar understanding of their experience.

This book can further the understanding of that experience for educators and professionals working with profoundly gifted children. It makes a compelling case for both the unusual educational and emotional needs of this population, and for the reasons these needs must be served. Even more important, is the book's value for those families who might see themselves in its pages and know that they are not alone. There is both comfort and optimism to be found in the ways this family chose to meet their challenges. ... Read more

Book Description

"In 1868, the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute opened its doors under the leadership of its twenty-nine-year-old founder, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. In spite of a proud history, social movements and the national economy had brought the institute to the brink of disaster 110 years later when William R. Harvey was appointed president. Brushing aside suggestions that the institute abandon its program of higher education and reconstitute itself as a preparatory school, Harvey began by dreaming dreams that were both big and infectious.

Twenty-five years later, the successes are extraordinary. The institute became a university, sixty four new academic programs were established, the endowment fund has grown to more than six times its 1978 level, the budget has been rescued from a sea of red ink and is now cruising safely in the black, fourteen new building that have been raised and all the old ones spiffed up.Among other such achievements is an innovative venture into commercial enterprise--the profits from which are applied to scholarship funds.

Detailed throughout this book are specific examples of decision making processes, priorities, programs and approaches that worked for Harvey and can work for you as well. Overriding all else, though, is a commitment to people, expressed as one leader's w9ill to improve the lot of others.

‘If you can help somebody--do it! If you can alleviate someone's pain--do it! If you can brighten someone's day with a kind word--do it! If you can be less bureaucratic--do it! If you can reach out and positively touch just one somebody--do it! If you can alleviate just one somebody's misery--do it!'

And don't forget to dream large!" ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Dr. William R. Harvey is our Modern Day Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
I just bought this wonderful book when I went back to Hampton University for Homecoming 2003.I was glad to see such an undertaking written on Dr. Harvey. I found it very interesting and I am now in trouble with my wife because I kept my night-stand light on all night reading the book from cover to cover.I have only one criticism so I will dispense with that first: Dr. Benjamin is very repetitious of certain facts and accounts including them in one chapter to illustrate one aspect of Harvey's leadership and then in another to illustrate a similar leadership trait, while this is the only weakness of the book it is a common thread throughout, chapter after chapter,and therefore does lend itself to no small amount of irritation.Other than that, it is an absolutely fabulous book about a man who has been a true inspiration to more than a generation of Hamptonians.As an approach to the work, it should be noted for the true students of the genre that the book neither is nor pretends to be a work of autobiography, instead it is a chronicle of how one man's value based leadership transformed an institution of higher learning.In the pages of this book one finds a man steady at the ship in steering Hampton toward new horizons while keeping her true to her most noblest traditions and aspirations.One finds a man of vision unafraid to do what is right for that grand institution while in the process demonstrating and exemplifying dignity and decency.As an alum of Hampton University who was inspired by Harvey's leadership as a student, the work came as a refresher and a capsulization of all that I learned while quietly observing this man from a distance. Thank You, Dr. Benjamin for capturing one of Hampton's finest moments...Dr Harvey, Hampton University is your destiny... what a blessing to be so clear...and she still needs you!!!

(...) ... Read more

Book Description

Countless fans remember Michal Landon from his leading roles in the popular television series "Bonanza," "Little House on the Prairie," and "Highway to Heaven."Far fewer, perhaps, know Landon as a caring father who changed the course of his own life to save his daughter's.Cheryl, a motivational speaker who travels throughout the world to share her father's legacy, has combined the simple beliefs Michael Landon tried to exemplify - both at work and at home - with family stories, her own experience, and the loving touch of her father's spirit.This special book is guaranteed to charm "and" inspire.Includes a special introduction and photo section.

- A motivational speaker and daughter of acclaimed actor Michael Landon shares a legacy of love that reaches beyond the grave

- Outlines the "7 Keys:" principles that helped the author through her most difficult times and shaped her life

- Enhanced with stories, thoughts, and photos from the family of one of America's most beloved entertainers ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Michael Landon¿s Legacy
Cheryl Landon has endured tremendous amounts of physical and mental pain. She struggled through many of those years of pain with the help of her beloved stepfather, Michael Landon. When he lay dying of cancer, Cheryl promised him and God "to honor and protect his name and to continue his legacy-his work to secure a healthy future generation."

Michael Landon's Legacy is the fulfillment of that promise. But it's more than just a tribute to a man who gave a child unconditional love at a time when she most needed it. As Cheryl grew and learned, she discovered what she calls "7 Keys to Supercharging Your Life," based primarily on her observations of how Michael lived. The keys are simple: "Trust in God; Choose love over fear; Believe that daily miracles do occur; Take action now; Believe in truth between people; Build bridges; and Don't judge each other." She illustrates each key with personal stories from both their lives.

Cheryl Landon is now an internationally known speaker, writer, and teacher. Her message is always "create a healthier and safer world for our children." Like her famous stepfather, she believes in the power of love and that God resides in all humans. She seeks to help people focus on that love rather than on fear. She uses Michael Landon as an example-an abused child, he became a loving adult dedicated to doing good for others.

She has devoted her life's work to handing down "to our future generation a world where dreams to come true; a world filled with hope, unity and love; a world in which we do truly love one another." She uses intensely personal experiences from her life to teach others how to replace hate and anger with love, and to show how love continues even after death. Readers wanting to change their own lives will discover inspirational and powerful guidance in Michael Landon's Legacy. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the story of a life in a turbulent world.

It starts with a privileged childhood in pre-revolutionary China and ends as an academician in the United States. It shows a constant struggle for excellence not for personal gain but for making a difference to society.It dares to tell the truth even if it is not in vogue.It should serve as a guide for every intelligent person.

Book Description

The special ethos of Oxford University continues to take hold on award-winning author Paul West. Now a world-renowned writer and acclaimed literary stylist, West illuminates the reader regarding one of the oldest and most venerable universities in the world. Writing with an affectionate smile, West takes you beyond the classroom with vignettes and memories that made his Oxford experience unforgettable. His vivid descriptions and rhapsodic language are enhanced by the personality on show. Recreating the ambiance with infinite care-from the ancient scent of colleges to witty interpretations of the Oxford accent-Oxford Days is a literary treasure not only for Oxford alumni but also those who appreciate literature. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Touching Memoir
Paul West is a brilliant novelist but it wasn't easy for him to get into Oxford. When he was finally accepted at one of the less well known colleges he had, well, arrived.

This is a touching memoir full of humor and just nice experiences in a world long gone. Oxford still exists of course but the Oxford attended by Paul West exists only in memory. He has, however, put it all down for us in this wonderful book.

another great memoir from West
West is one of the most versatile writers I know, as his ever-growing list of both fiction and nonfiction titles show. He's particularly fabulous when recalling in his elegrant and playful prose those events and places he experienced first-hand. This recollection and preservation of his youth defines the moments that will eventually make the great stylist he became. He is a writer and a man extraordinaire...and this is a book to be cherished.

A wonderful evocation of an era.
As a devoted reader of West's novels, I knew the prose would be stylish and witty, but I didn't anticipate how funny this memoir would be. It's a wonderful evocation of an era at Oxford, full of eccentrics, later-to-become famous writers, and West's touching memories of his life at a nearly mythic university. I found it smart, charming, and spirited. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Of what do we write when we write of love? In Bob Smith'scase, it is Shakespeare's poems and plays. Hamlet's Dresserbraids two strands of his life into a modest, heartbreaking, andsoaringly affirmative memoir. A bookish, lonely child, his crushon the Bard's work became love when, as an alienated teenager, hejoined the American Shakespeare Theatre as Hamlet's dresser. Intime he would dress other characters, perform in small roles,become a coach and a watcher, and eventually lead senior citizens'groups in Shakespeare-appreciation courses. But this ecstaticmarriage was haunted by his sad, contorted childhood: anincreasingly dysfunctional mother, a distant father, and Caroline,his profoundly retarded sister. "Art," he writes, "can be a brutalthing, not just some decoration placed over the truth, but thetruth itself." Smith's prose is bluntly ineffable: a rundowntheatre looks like "Miss Havisham's bride cake" and the firstteacher who didn't like him was "Miss Shumaker. It was right afterI stopped pleasing everybody." The book is thick with shortpassages from Shakespeare. Placed in perfect context, they leapfrom the pages, abrupt as panoramic pop-ups. --H.O'Billovich ... Read more

Reviews (17)

A real treat for anyone who grew up loving the theatre.
This was the most enjoyable book I've read in quite some time. A rare and wonderfully detailed account of one young man's coming of age in Stratford, Connecticut. Not your standard sexual awakening tales. No, this is a story of a spiritual awakening - a discovered kinship with Shakespeare and the Muses of comedy and tragedy. Bob Smith tells his story with compassion, wit and elegance. He doesn't shy away from the troubling memories of dealing with a mentally impaired sibling, nor the profound impact she had on his life and the lives of his parents. What the reader is left with is a sure sense of the authors humanity. His Shakespeare classes for senior citizens - the special relationships and bonds that he has nutured with lovers of The Bard - those famous and those seemingly forgotten about. Bob Smith's story is inspiring on many levels. However, the greatest gift this book gives us is a beautiful articulation of the awe and wonder that can only be found in the thaetre.

Breathtaking -- surprisingly so.
A professor friend of mine recommended this book to me. She had read a review in the Washington Post. Normally, I nod politely at such recommendations and go about reading whatever else it is that was already on my wish list. But, for some reason, I went out and bought this book.
I read it on the plane and, to my great embarrassment, found that I had to put the book down in my lap several times and take deep breaths, lest the other passengers see the tears welling in my eyes.
Bob Smith is a man I didn't know of before picking up the book. I didn't expect to care about his memoir. What I found is that I ended up caring very deeply and simply could not put it down until I'd finished it. To say that it is a moving book is an understatement. Somehow, Mr. Smith touches on all of life and love and loss and hope and well --- humanity. Perhaps it is because he weaves into his tale the timeless wisdom found in Shakespeare. And he does so masterfully.
By reading this memoir, you will learn about life, yourself, Shakespeare, and what it means to be human.

Needed more Shakespeare
I picked up this memoir based on a blurb that mentioned the author's connection to the Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare festival. Having had a single opportunity to attend this (Christopher Walken's Hamlet!) event, I was hoping for some insight and history of the event. Instead, I found out far too much about Smith's problems; of his difficulties coping with a family that was overwhelmed by having a severely disabled child in the home (Smith's sister), and very little about Stratford's festival. Well, shame on me for buying into a blurb, but I still found the book very disappointing. Focusing basically on his youth, and his later contributions to the community by running Shakespeare reading groups at senior centers in NYC, HAMLET'S DRESSER, needs far more Shakespeare. When Shakespeare does appear, the book comes to life. The joy senior citizens get from the reading groups, Smith's fascination with Shakespeare that led to a life immersed in his works, and especially in the sections where Smith discusses the actors he had an opportunity to work with is where this book truly becomes interesting. Katherine Hepburn, June Havoc, and Bert Lahr all make memorable appearances. The chapter where Smith discusses going on tour with Lahr gives the reader a wonderful glimpse into what it is like to work with a talented yet irascible actor on the road with all of its joys and pitfalls. Sadly, there are not enough of these journeys in this book. I feel some empathy for Smith's trials and tribulations, yet they didn't make for interesting reading. The troubled tales of his youth seem better suited to a therapist's office as opposed to a memoir. They truly pale in comparison to his tales of the theater, which when shared with the reader make for some fine storytelling. If the focus had stayed with Shakespeare and the theater I feel this could have been a wonderful book, as it stands it is a flawed a bit boring overall.

A Life Intensely Lived
Just how interesting could a memoir by someone whose (real!) name is Bob Smith ever be? As it turns out, Bob Smith is a fascinating man with a talent not often celebrated, but that is absolutely central to art: he is a supremely-gifted appreciator.

He loves painting and music and, centrally, Shakespeare. He never went to college, never wanted to learn to drive. Art museums and live theater are his ideas of heaven. He's done directing, acting, painting. But basically he loves being an audience, and feels it is his job to teach others how, as audience, to participate fully in Shakespeare's art. For him the Bard is redeeming, and is just the tonic for those that have to peel life down to its essentials - the old and the dying.

This is not a book that will teach you anything much about Shakespeare. True, chunks of his language punctuate the text, but Bob Smith is trying to talk about his own life. He tells his story in parallel threads - his present and his growing up.

There is a terrific sadness coupled with an almost manic energy and feeling running through this narrative. Paintings and Shakespeare started out as ways for Smith to escape the pain in his life, but quickly came to provide their own meaning, interest, and, primarily, joy.

Two or three centuries ago it was not uncommon for a person to have but one book - the Bible. He or she would read it daily, sometimes just for comfort, sometimes in bafflement, sometimes with understanding. It was vast and lasted a lifetime; its images and language permeated waking and sleeping. I don't doubt that Bob Smith reads the paper, devours an occasional trashy novel, and watches some television. But without his having explicitly said so, he leaves the definite impression that his central, focused, daily meditations are in the texts of Shakespeare. He has read them all many times, and still he finds and works new veins of meaning. What a glorious way to live, and how difficult, in the Age of Information.

Why did he ditch his sister?
The single most powerful element in this very readable story is the relationship between the author and his beloved but severely retarded younger sister. Inexplicably, he allowed half his life to go by without visiting her, for which he felt guilty, and justifiably so.

He doesn't offer a reason for his neglect. Are we supposed to assume it? Are we supposed to play amateur armchair shrink and say something empty like "it was too painful for him"? In an otherwise fairly well written book, I really can't get over the fact of his betrayal of the person he loved so, his complete abandonment of the love of his life, without any explanation.

I began reading the BOMC selection "Genius" right after this one. It also begins with Shakespeare. Both books class Shakespeare as the Babe Ruth of literature. Don't we all? Isn't that a cliche by now? And yet, while much of Shakespeare's work is excellent, hasn't it occurred to anyone that some of the comedies are far short of excellent? Some of the comedies are worse than I Love Lucy reruns. Excuse me for being an iconoclast, but the emperor isn't always clothed.

And while we're iconoclasting at Shakespeare's expense, does it not occur to anyone that both Othello and King Lear are as lurid and in a way disgusting as the HBO series Oz, which by the way receives poor ratings from an ex con critic who claims that Oz is not at all realistic, and is way over the top. Othello and King Lear are sickening stories. They go beyond sadness, beyond tragedy, into a perversion of the psyche that I can do without. A man strangling his faithful wife to death as a result of believing a liar, and a vain and foolish man ending up tortured by his own children. This is sick stuff. Sorry, it's too heavy and too sick for me. The perversion and cruelty in these plays goes far beyond Hamlet and Macbeth, which are much happier by comparison, dealing only in murder.

As for The Merchant of Venice, which Bob Smith defends as being a reflection of the times rather than simply admitting that it is viciously racist (and was at one time titled The Jew of Venice), it must be admitted that if filthy racism is to be defended by the excuse that it represents its time and place, and therefore Shakespeare was not a racist, well then, you could almost make a case that Hitler was not a racist either, for the same reason. As FDR said, if a Goebbels emerged on the streets of New York City in the 1930s or early 40s, NYC would have run as red with Jewish blood as Berlin. So isn't it about time we stopped reflecting the prejudices of our time and place, and isn't it time we assigned responsibility to the individual for what he chose to write? Shakespeare must be admitted to have been a vicious racist himself. In that, he joins Chaucer, who was even worse, and of course was another "reflection of his time".

I resent the deification of Shakespeare, not because Merchant of Venice was racist, not because King Lear and Othello are disgusting, but because frankly I believe that more than a few of his comedies were as bad as the worst of the Beatle songs, and they weren't all brilliant. Merchant, Lear, and Othello are all a lot better than some of those stupid comedies, and classing everything Shakespeare wrote as superior just nullifies one's credibility. You're giving the "right" answer, but is it really the right answer? Why not admit that he wrote a few "hits" that were pretty awful. Okay, the girl is dressed as a guy again, okay this character is pretending to be someone else, alright already, seen that one already under another name. Actually some of them would have fit in pretty well with I Love Lucy. ... Read more

Book Description

The humorous and poignant memoir of a Cuban-Canadian who taught for 35 years at one of America's premier boarding schools. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Mike Stalzer FCRH 2002
This is wonderful memoir. Much like in his classes at Fordham, Dr. Naison really brings history alive, reminding us that it is more than what you read about in the typical history book, it is about the people that lived it. He gives his life a powerful, emotional, and thoughful voice. For any current and future Fordham University students, I would highly recommend his classes and this book. For everyone else, buy it and see what you missed out when you decided to attend a different school!

Doesn't even deserve a title
Just a bunch of racist tripe.

Making Sense of Our Lives
Though it deals with his own personal and unique journey, Naison's book helps us all make sense of what our lives have been like since the 60s. The media would like us to believe that those of us who believe in equality, social justice, a real end to racism, and an alternative to corporate capitalism run amock have all disappeared. My personal experience is just the opposite -- our views haven't changed, and indeed, have become more solidified by events of the last decade.

Whether the passion of the 60s will ever reappear in a new guise is impossible to predict. If if does, I feel privileged in knowing that Mark (and so many of my other friends) will be there, if not on the barricades, at least in providing lunch!

Love the Man, Love the Book!
I've known Mark Naison for nearly 15 years, since I took his courses at Fordham "The Worker in American Life," and "The Sixties." There is noone else in this world like Mark Naison, as a person, a teacher, or an activist. For thirty years Mark has integrated his classroom work with his community activism, and he has influenced countless students at Fordham (and elsewhere) to do the same thing! Reading this book was an absolute delight, whether you know Mark or not. It's a great story of a Jewish kid from 1950's Brooklyn who got involved in the fight to make America a more inclusive and equal place, and he's never lost his ideals or dropped the struggle. Mark, you're one of my heroes!

White Boy -- Heterodoxy at its Best
Naison's gritty narrative takes readers on an odyssey from the multiracial streets of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, where the author spent his wonder years in the 1950s to the vibrant intellectual and activist culture of Fordham University's Black Studies department in the 1990s. In the process, readers learn of the trials and joys this "white boy" faced living a life -- as an activist, lover and teacher -- that transgressed the racial mores of his day. "White Boy," presents an alternative to the standard understanding of "whiteness," which mandates that it be the political and cultural antithesis of "blackness." Naison's book presents a more hopeful picture. Being white and spending 30 years teaching African American studies was not a problem for Naison, or his colleagues at Fordham. He writes, "because we were willing to listen to many voices, and to see race from multiple vantage points, our department provided an intellectual outlet for students of many backgrounds grappling with their racial and cultural identities (...) (W)e created an environment where fighting racism, and exploring the meaning of racial differences, became a moral and political imperative and the center of a vibrant intellectual community" (224-225). Naison's memoir presents an often neglected story in the history of whiteness in America, one where racial difference can help bring different people together instead of constantly keeping them apart.

And just as Naison's life transgressed racial norms, his book defies standards as well. People are reading "White Boy" in places you would never think to see a book published by an academic press: beaches, subways, transit workers' locker rooms, parish offices. Simply put, this in no ordinary memoir. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Tarheel Required Reading
Every Tarheel, or any non-Tarheel who has an interest in one of the most important political figures in the South, Terry Sanford, should read this book. Senator in the NC General Assembly, Governor, President of Duke University, and US Senator, this book covers it all. It provides an interesting look at Southern politics, and how our past still effects us to this day. There should be a "Six Degrees of Terry Sanford" game, as he can be linked to practically anybody in the field of NC or National politics. Kerr Scott, Lauch Faircloth, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, The George Bushes, Al Gore, Jesse Helms, Jesse Jackson, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Dole & Erskine Bowles (both front runners from their respective parties in the 2002 Senate race) and the list goes on. Terry Sanford witnessed great movements in history. The race issue in the South, a political atmospheric change, the wheeling and dealing of politicians. Throughout he kept his values and goals, which helped him become a symbol of Progressive policies, and helped place Duke University into national prominence. This should be required reading!

Must reading for Tar Heels and politics buffs
Anyone who lives in North Carolina will learn much about the state's recent political history in this book. And anyone who is interested in progressive politics should read it too. Terry Sanford's forward-thinking approach to government is an inspiration, particularly in the areas of race and education.

Well-researched, insightful, and inspiring.
Former North Carolina Governor and United States Senator Terry Sanford is one of this century's outstanding political leaders. While serving as Governor in the early sixties, Sanford became known nationwide for his commitment to improving education in North Carolina.

Covington and Ellis' biography of Sanford offers a great deal of insight into Sanford's formative years and his political career. The authors researched their subject thoroughly, and the reader gains a great deal of insight into North Carolina politics and into the historical forces shaping the country.

Many of Sanford's colleagues, family, and friends were interviewed for this book, and their stories and perspectives add depth to this book. Many of the characters in the book are still active in North Carolina politics, including "Jimmy Hunt" (as he is referred to in the book) who now serves as Governor of North Carolina.

People who still believe that our government can be a force for good, and that a political life can be synonomous with a life of public service, will be inspired by this book and by the life of this outstanding public servant. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Excellent update
As a child of the Vietnam era, I've long been curious to find out what became of the people that populated the Time magazine of my youth. Shillue brings up to date with a personal look at the lives and times of the Vietnamese. It is reassuring to hear about the resiliency of the Cambodian people and I was glad to see that Shillue's first-hand accounts bring us right into the lives of those we left behind. I particularly liked when she compared contemporary Americans to their counterparts in Asia.

Alright...
This book was alright, a good description of Vietnam for those that have never been and want to know what is about over there. I studied in Hanoi for four months during college and it was a real trip back for me while reading this, especially when the author speaks of her visit to Hanoi. I stayed in Bach Khoa while I was there and lived in that very neighborhood for four months and it made me very nostaligic. However, the author tended to irritate me at times with what I saw as an attitude towards the culture and traditionalism of the northern region. Frankly, I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would...but then again I'm very biased when it comes to Vietnam since the country means a lot to me...

At last we see Vietnam as a place and not a war
Excellent Read! In the early 1990s I was an American businessman living in Vietnam and this well written book takes me back to the country and a time which I still miss every day.

It reminds Americans that Vietnam is a place and not a war.

If anyone wishes to see and feel Vietnam and Cambodia as they are today this is THE book to read. I look forward to Ms Shillue's next book.

Compelling, but needs a good copy edit
I am enjoying this book, but the numerous grammatical errors (ex.: the use of "it's" to indicate the possessive, as opposed to "its") are beginning to prove distracting. In this day and age, there is no excuse for such inattention to detail on the part of the publisher.

Wonderful sense of Vietnam today
This book is unusual, for it offers readers a sense of the sights, feelings and sounds of Vietnam in the late 1990s. Shillue is an honest reporter, who travels to Vietnam without war baggage. She writes like a dream and the only criticism I have of the book is that I wanted more. Read it. ... Read more

Book Description

Biographical recollections of J. Earl Moreland, a Texas farmboy who was in the first class enrolled at Southern Methodist University, co-founder and second president of Porto Alegra College in Brazil, and president of Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, 1939-1968 ... Read more

Amazon.com

Don Snyder had a plum academic job, a peaceful, almost perfect life, and plans for far more success in the future. Teaching English and creative writing at Colgate University couldn't have been more stimulating; he sought ever more work and thrived on student contact. When his contract was suddenly not renewed, Snyder was uncomprehending. Nonetheless, he responded immediately--thinking his efforts and accomplishments would pay off, as they always had in the past. Interestingly, he took some time before relaying the news to his pregnant wife, hoping that he could match the bad news with that of another appointment. After almost 100 rejection letters, Snyder found himself helping (not necessarily the word his fellow laborers probably used) to build a house in Maine, and worrying about being able to afford heavier boots. This book might have been preachy or self-indulgent. It is neither. ... Read more

Reviews (65)

A to the point account of feelings about job loss.
'The Cliff Walk' by Don J. Snyder provides insight into the thought processes and depression brought on by a job loss. It is a "to the point" book about how this man looks at other people while dealing with the emotional trama of losing and not being able to find another job. The internal battles about self worth, self expectation, and self doubt are mixed with the just plain day to day problems of how to survive. Mr. Snyder hits close to home for anyone who as ever lost a job as he describes his sink into depression and then the realization that he really is no better than anyone else. The characters in the book are fully developed, especially Colleen, his wife. I felt her strenghth as I read the pages of the book. I became so emotionally involved I had to force myself to put the book down in order to escape from the feeling of being cornered only to find myself drawn back into the pages as soon as I could stand the emotional pain. It is a must read reminder for anyone who had ever been in this situation and a must read for anyone trying to understand someone who is coping with a job loss.

it could happen to you
A brutally honest and intriguing look at the stages we go through when employed. The writer wasn't just unemployed, however, his former life as a college professor was golden enough to give a deep-set but false sense of security that things would always continue to be that good. But whatever you chalk up other people's unemployment, too, you can't dismiss Snyder's with an easy explanation. Finally, he moves his wife and children and began doing manual labor. Snyder doesn't shy away from portraying his less than flattering side, but when he finally tells his son, "You do the work right even when you're working for a jerk," you're on his side all the way.

Snyder: Those CANNOT do will get a job TEACHING????
Don Snyder: Heard you on the radio. You seemed a decent, honest man. However, remember the old saying.

"Those can do will do, those cannot do will get a job teaching".. Please, Please, Please teaching English is not a REAL job.

Anyone can BS in front of 18, 19 years old. The academic world has "HARD" subjects like science, math, engineering, medicine, and "SOFT" subjects like arts, literature, humanities.

The English department is what we called "bonehead" "no brains" "mickey mouse"

If you had been teaching in the mathematics, science, medicine, engineering departments, you could get another job overnight.

Please, teaching English Literature is not a real job. The Internet, Computers hopefully will obsolete these jobs and all these phoney jobs, phoney people will have to real jobs.

day by day after being fired
don's book is not one you want to read wanting to be like him. life is rough, yet rewarding and offers so many pitfalls and obstacles that you're often cringing at whatlife can offer you sometimes.

very real story of self discovery with some humor
I read this book a few years ago and found it fascinating. I think it is particularly useful as we drift into the so called "knowledge based society". It becomes easier to delude oneself about one's self worth. Knowledge is continuously evolving and changing .... basic life skills it appears are more durable.
I think this book is really about these issues. The author's wife must be a Saint. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Waldorf education is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't always turn out quite the way its founder, Rudolf Steiner, expected. No matter how spiritual, anthroposophical or Waldorfian we become, we are still human beings and we do the funny, admirable or reprehensible things that human beings of all stripes do; but there is something in the Waldorf atmosphere that makes these things funnier, more admirable or more reprehensible.

In The Education of a Waldorf Teacher the author describes how he learned the facts of Waldorf life the hard way, takes a sympathetic look at the problems of students, teachers, administrators and parents, makes constructive suggestions that may be helpful both to veterans and to those who are just finding their way into Waldorf education, and provides entertaining reading for those who are simply curious.

Book Description

Black Livingstone is the first book to chronicle the remarkable life of William Henry Sheppard. As a twenty-four-year-old African American missionary in 1890, Sheppard departed for what was then the Belgian Congo, accompanied by Samuel Lapsley, a white man who had grown up on a plantation and was the son of a prominent Alabama judge. Lapsley died of fever barely a year later, but Sheppard thrived in Africa for three more years before returning to America. Back home, Sheppard was billed as the "Black Livingstone" as he traveled the country, lecturing to packed auditoriums. Black and white, rich and poor alike came to hear his true tales of African adventure. One year later he returned to the Congo, where he witnessed and gathered testimony on the genocide being perpetrated by the Belgian government and the rubber companies, eventually helping to break their hold on the region.

Pagan Kennedy unfolds Sheppard's life and times with a novelist's narrative skill and penetrates the complexity of her subject-a man who found power in the Congo but not in the Church to which he dedicated his life, who fought the persecution of Africans but never of blacks in his own country. Beautifully illustrated with archival photographs, Black Livingstone will appeal widely to readers of books on African history such as King Leopold's Ghost and In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, as well as readers of fiction set in Africa, like Barbara Kingsolver's bestseller, The Poisonwood Bible. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

The Tale of the Congo
Pagan Kennedy told the story of a African American missonary who wanted to convert the uncharted parts of the Congo to christianity. William Sheppard, the missionary, was very determined to complete his goal of converting the Congo even if it took his whole life. I Could not put the book down. The book was basically a detailed sum up of what really went on in the Congo. At some points in the book it almost seemed fictional because it was so hard to believe what was happening to him amd the people who were with him. The book was a very good read, but at some points hard to understand but that added to the suspense of the book. Overall the book was a very fun an interesting book to read. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the Congo or who wants to find a good book to read.

William Sheppard should be better known
The life and work of William Sheppard should be better known. He was an African-American who escaped Jim Crow in the U.S. to become a missionary in Africa. He co-founded a Christian mission in Africa where they had been none before and for a time ran it single-handedly. He was also an amateur anthropologist/ethnologist and became the first foreigner to establish contact with the Kuba people of central Africa and to describe their culture to the outside world. On top of all that, he documented the cruelty of the King Leopold's Congo rule. Unfortunately, it is not clear that "Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo" by Pagan Kennedy is up to the job of elevating William Sheppard to his rightful place in history. The book is well written, worth reading, and might be valuable to anyone interested in Africa, the Congo, or Christian missionaries, but a lot of the story is missing and is filled in with generalities from Sheppard's time. It may be the case that original documents concerning Sheppard's life are lost, and this is the best that can be done, or perhaps another book can do better. Four stars, but barely.

The Unknown Black American Explorer
I think that this book gives an excellent, detailed look back on a greatly unknown black American explorer, William Henry Sheppard. Pagan Kennedy opens our eyes to history that is left out of history books. The Presbyterian missionary attempts to convert African tribes into "civilized Christians", but in the end fails because of his mishaps and disliking by a white missionary. I recommend this book to anyone interested in studying black American explorers, or anyone looking for information on the Belgium Congo.

The humanitarian at heart
Black Livingstone is a remarkable tale, illustrating hardships, history, and the dignity and determination associated with two courageous explorers. Pagan Kennedy accurately portrays 19th century Africa, and shows the light and beauty of the "dark continent". Readers are bombarded with delicate representations of barbaric and striking images. In turn, it enables the reader to experience a deeper feeling of empathy for the abused Africans. This novel raises questions as to whose way of thinking was most primitive. This ironic twist reveals that perhaps the most civilized are the most barbaric by nature. The character Sheppard shows the Pontius Pilate in all of us. That no matter how much we want to strive for goodness, our weaknesses and dark sides, can get the best of us. The novels descriptive nature allows readers to see the intimacy Sheppard shared with the Kuba people, as well as the lack of intimacy he did share with his wife. A notable highlight of this novel is demonstrated when a more tasteless and uncouth side of Sheppard is shown. It showcases the human nature of Sheppard, and most men in general. Although not a difficult read, this book is recommended to those who care for the well being for the human race.

Too Many "probablys"
I agree that Pagan Kennedy is an excellent storyteller, and her telling of William Sheppard's story is spellbinding. Contrary to what some reviewers think, however, there is much more primary material available to the researcher than Kennedy seems to have used. Unfortunately, Black Livingstone is marred by too many suppositions--maybe, probably, perhaps, could have, should have, etc.--and the author attributes attitudes both to Sheppard and his associates that cannot be substantiated from records. William Phipps's biography, William Sheppard: Congo's African American Livingstone, presents a much more balanced picture of this important man's life and service. ... Read more