Book Description

Robert Johnson's story presents a fascinating paradox: Why did this genius of the Delta blues excite so little interest when his records were first released in the 1930s? And how did this brilliant but obscure musician come to be hailed long after his death as the most important artist in early blues and a founding father of rock 'n' roll?

Elijah Wald provides the first thorough examination of Johnson's work and makes it the centerpiece for a fresh look at the entire history of the blues. He traces the music's rural folk roots but focuses on its evolution as a hot, hip African-American pop style, placing the great blues stars in their proper place as innovative popular artists during one of the most exciting periods in American music. He then goes on to explore how the image of the blues was reshaped by a world of generally white fans, with very different standards and dreams.

The result is a view of the blues from the inside, based not only on recordings but also on the recollections of the musicians themselves, the African-American press, and original research. Wald presents previously unpublished studies of what people on Delta plantations were actually listening to during the blues era, showing the larger world in which Johnson's music was conceived. What emerges is a new respect and appreciation for the creators of what many consider to be America's deepest and most influential music.

Wald also discusses how later fans formed a new view of the blues as haunting Delta folklore. While trying to separate fantasy from reality, he accepts that neither the simple history nor the romantic legend is the whole story. Each has its own fascinating history, and it is these twin histories that inform this book.

Reviews (6)

great book!
I just finished this book, and I have to say that it is the best history of blues I have ever read. It was full of facts, but written in a really readable style -- sort of like a conversation with someone very knowledgable about the subject, more than a lecture. It also made me think about a lot of the music I love in a whole new way.

I have been listening to Robert Johnson's music for years, and after reading Wald's chapters on his recordings I went back over them again. I can't say I agree with every single one of Wald's comments, but I heard so much that I had never noticed before. It really opened up Johnson's music, and made me understand what he was doing, and how he fit into the bigger picture.

I have to admit that I am not as familiar as I should be with some of the other people the book talks about, like Leroy Carr and Dinah Washington, but this made me want to go out and get their records, and learn more. And I guess that's really the point of any book on music.

Long haul to the Crossroads
When I saw this book, and the cover picture I was so excited. I couldnt wait to read it. I anticipated some insite into Robert Johnson, and the blues generally. Never judge a book by its beautiful cover....

I read the book, cover to cover. I have been an avid blues fan since 1967, still am, and listen to the stuff and play it on my guitar almost every day. I was familiar with 95% of the performers mentioned in the book. I owned the companion CD and have much of the material on other Lps and CD's. This is an area of interest, passion and comfort for me.

I would really like to meet Mr. Wald and play guitar with him-he is clearly knowledgable and stimulated by the genre.

But in a nutshell, this is a LONG READ, which I eventually found TEDIOUS. All of the five star reviews are accurate regarding its content and meaning, and I don't take issue with Mr. Wald's premise. The information on Robert Johnson, which interested me enough to buy this book was not comprehensive-the liner notes from The Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson are more informative. This has ALL THE THRILL OF A TEXTBOOK, with a bit LESS USEFULL information. But, thanks to Mr. Wald for his efforts on a subject not much delved into since the folk anthropology of the late sixties and early seventies.

Six stars. A required book to understand Blues & Culture
Every time I read this book I am emailing, making long distance and local telephones, going to parties, political meetings, music
performances and other gatherings that I would prefer to miss for
a quiet night at home reading and practicing my many instrument. I am calling and talking to, running out to meet with, scholars of the blues and African American music, performers of blues, jazz, and folk music, people who study culture, ideology, race, and class, crusading that they buy this book.

This book follows the reality of the invention of the blues and how it really spread and what it really is. This book tells the truth and not the ignoramus stereotype of the state of blues culture in the world that Robert Johnson, and for that matter, his parents grew up in. This book tells a story the moldy fig people the Johnson met the devil at the crossroads idiots, etc won't recognize, but if you are African American, you will recognize you grandparents and parents and great grands depending on how old you are and how musical the memory is, whether you come from Mississippi or Los Angeles.

This is a serious serious serious book clean and well written, a book that belongs in every home. This book is marketed as a book about Robert Johnson. However, the central thesis of the book is that blues is a creation of a black public that loved and desired the blues and that defined the reality of the blues and then seeks to find this music's history and how the conflict between it and the nature and business of commercial recording transpired, and how this is totally contrary to the folklorists image of the dustry field hand by day, and blues virtuoso of sad existential songs at night.

To the many researchers and divers into our past this book is sourced enough that if you are quick enough you can get to the primary sources he mentions that will help you be in the next generation of rational thinking papers, books, music collections, and discoveries will come from, at least if you share my hope that real scholarship and knowledge can pierce through the garbage oceans of stereotypes and thinking that serves dominant culture and the place of Blacks in its fantasies and nightmares.

For those who are into the blues as practiced by those on the earth as Blues People as Imamu would have said, this brings things wherethey are for you and where they should be.

As I have said in various places, this book is marketed as a
biography of Robert Johnson, but what this actually is is a condensed criticisms of the views of the blues foisted on blues people by the folk and post folk white blues industry, a concise and factual criticism of previous histories of the blues, and a lot of practical learning in a short readable book.

Not only if you are interested in blues, African American music, butif you are interested in the deformities of the culture by dominance in this society, you need to own this book and know what it teaches.

For those who see the blues as being ultimately represented by
isolated nearly African, primitive delta bluesmen, pouring out theirdeep Negroid souls about the existential nature of black suffering and founding the blues, this will show you that you are a complete fool or at least a victim misled by pervayors of ignorance.

Nice job

Click on the about me blurb above my name and then procede to my comments on the complete Robert Johnson set to see description of the realities of Bob Johnson that this book reflects even though I wrote it before this book came out. Then buy this book because it says so much more than I could have imagined along the same lines.

The Blues and Romantic History
Many Americans have shown a great interest in "roots" music as part of a highly commendable effort to understand our country's life and culture. Much of this interest has, over the years, focused on the blues of the Mississippi Delta and, in particular, on the recordings of singer and guitarist Robert Johnson (1911 -1938). Johnson was an obscure figure in his day and his life and music remain the stuff of legend. He had two recording dates in 1936 and 1937. His music was rediscovered in the 1960s and since that time the sales of his collected recordings have numbered in the millions.

In "Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues" (2004), Elijah Wald offers a compelling study of the blues and of blues historiography focusing on Robert Johnson. Wald tries to correct what he deems to be the prevailing myths about Johnson: that he was a primitive folk artist caught in the Mississippi Delta who recorded and perfected a local traditional form of blues. Wald finds Johnson an ambitious young singer who had studied the blues forms popular in his day. Johnson, Wald argues, wanted to escape the Mississippi Delta and pattern himself on the urban blues singers, in particular Leroy Carr, emanating from the midwest and Chicago.

Wald finds that Johnson displayed a variety of blues styles in his recordings and that he was largely ignored by black music listeners of his day because Johnson's early efforts to capture an urban blues style were basically copies of more successful singers and because his songs in the Delta blues style lacked appeal to the urban and sophisticated black audience of the time.

Johnson's music only became well-known, Wald argues, with the rise of English rock, and with his rediscovery by a largely white audience. The tastes of black music listeners had moved in a mostly different direction towards soul, funk, rap, disco and did not encompass rural blues singers. The fascination of modern listeners with Johnson, according to Wald, is due to a romantic spirit -- a boredom with the life of the everyday -- and a search for a past full of authentic individuals who knew their own wants and needs and who projected themselves in their art.

Wald's book begins with a history of the blues before Robert Johnson focusing on the commercial character the music had at the outset. He gives a great deal of attention to the Blues queens -- Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey -- and to their smooth-voiced male sucessors, particularly Leroy Carr, as mentioned above, and Lonnie Johnson. These singers profoundly influenced Johnson's music and his ambitions to become a popular entertainer and not a cult figure.

The central part of Wald's book consists of a brief biography of Johnson -- summarizing the various speculations on his life -- and of a song-by-song discussion of his recordings. In this discussion, Wald discusses the music with a great deal of intelligence and understanding. He shows very clearly Johnson's debts to his more commercially sucessful predecessors and explains as well the variety of blues styles Johnson encompassed in his songs.

The final portion of the book carries the story of the blues forward beyond Robert Johnson's death. It shows how the music at first evolved into a combo style, again approaching popular music, which took blues into a different direction from Johnson's recordings. The book concludes with a discussion of Johnson's rediscovery, and the discovery of other Delta blues singers, beginning in the 1960's.

Wald clearly knows his material. For all his criticism of the mythmaking cult over Johnson, Wald's love for this music shines through, as he is the first to admit. Upon reading this book, I spent considerable time relistening to Johnson's music and felt I came away with a better understanding and appreciation of it than I had before. The goal of every book about music should be to encourage its readers to return to (or get to know) the songs, or what have you, themselves. The book meets this goal admirably.

There are few books on the blues that manage to be both scholarly, critical, and inspiring and Wald's book is one of these few. I do not find Wald's thesis as unsusual as he claims it to be, but it certainly will be worth exploring by listeners and readers who do not have a large backround in this music.

In music, a fair and careful historical account will in the long run perform a greater service to the music and the artists than will legends and stereotypes. The Delta singers discussed in this book, Robert Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Charley Patton, were musicians of talent. Understanding their story can only increase the listener's appreciation of the blues.

Who was Robert Johnson?
This is an intelligent, thoughtful, informative book, with a unifying objective historical view. If you want the musical answer to the musical question I posed above, it's here. Wald puts Johnson in context in the history of the blues, and there's a great companion CD, Back to the Crossroads: The Roots of Robert Johnson, with 23 rare 78 tracks, so you can hear many of the hundreds of blues pioneers mentioned in the book.

My favorite suggestion in this book: What effect did Alan Lomax's 1941 Mississippi interviews with Delta blues players regarding Robert Johnson have on their assessment of "their one-time peer"? This thought made me put the book down and think about history and history writing, for about 2 days.

Very heady. I'll be looking for anything Mr. Wald writes. ... Read more

Book Description

"The secretary of state is America's face to the world and in Dr. Rice the world will see the strength, grace and decency of our country....I've relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience and appreciated her sound and steady judgment. And now I'm honored that she's agreed to serve in my Cabinet."—George W. Bush, in his official statement nominating Condoleezza Rice as the next Secretary of State

As Secretary of State and a close confidant of President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice is the most influential woman in the history of the United States government, and perhaps one of the most famous black women in the world. Her latest stint in Washington, DC follows her role as National Security Advisor to the President and a distinguished career as scholar, professor, provost, and foreign policy advisor that has taken her from Birmingham, Alabama, to Denver, Colorado, to Palo Alto, California, to the White House—all by the age of 50.

But just who is this powerful woman who has experienced firsthand some of our nation's darkest and brightest moments, who was a key player in the government's response to the September 11 tragedies, and who some believe will likely be a future governor, senator, vice president, or even president? Drawing from exclusive interviews with dozens of relatives, colleagues, friends, and teachers and from scores of previously published interviews and articles, Antonia Felix gives us the first biography of this extraordinary American—a poised, immensely appealing, fiercely loyal, and deeply religious woman, whose passions include music, football, and Russia.

Her remarkable story is founded on a compelling family legacy. With ancestors on both sides who were white slave owners and slaves, Condoleezza Rice comes from two lineages, the Rices and the Rays, devoted to education and achievement. She was born in segregated Birmingham in 1954 and grew up in the upwardly mobile, high-achieving, black middle-class enclave of the city. Her music-loving parents, both educators, named her after a musical term, con dolcezza—to play "with sweetness."

The Rices started their only child on piano lessons at age three and filled her childhood years with ballet, figure skating, tutoring in French and Spanish, football viewing, and a constant flow of books at her bedside table, setting forth a standard of excellence that would give her the "twice as good" edge necessary to be on an even standing with her white peers in the segregated South.

While in training to become a concert pianist (a dream she eventually cast aside), Rice graduated from high school at 16 and from the University of Denver at 19. She ultimately found her career calling from her professor there, Josef Korbel, former Central European diplomat and father of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who sparked her passion for Soviet studies. After receiving a Ph.D. at age 26, Rice became an assistant professor of political science at Stanford, starting on the path that led to her becoming the youngest-ever provost at Stanford, the youngest and first-ever female national security advisor, and the first black, female secretary of state.

The story of her path to excellence is an inspiration to all, regardless of politics. Ms. Felix's book, Condi, not only gives us the first comprehensive portrait of the person who has the president's ear perhaps more than anyone else in his administration—a black woman who has risen to the top in a field traditionally dominated by white men—but also a greater understanding of and insight into the workings of the White House. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Objective and Entertaining
Condi is an objective biography of Dr. Rice, beginning with her childhood experiences in Alabama, and continuing on with her rise to the White House.The most interesting part of the book is the history of her family, and how they shaped her into the ambitious and intelligent woman she now is.

Fascinating life of a fascinating woman
I picked up this book to learn more about the woman who is our new Secretary of State and I'm glad I did. It seems she's been on the track to get where she is almost from the time she was born.

Although born in segregated Birmingham, her parents tried to shield her from those realities and instead focused her upbringing on scholastic achievement and church. Her parents, very accomplished and community involved people, made sure Dr. Rice had every opportunity growing up.

The fact that Dr. Rice initially studied to become a concert pianist, until she realized she didn't have what it takes to be a success didn't surprise me. Neither did the fact that she was bright enough to skip two grades and was very young when she graduated college. I was suprised to learn that Dr. Rice initially registered as a Democrat and voted for Jimmy Carter. It was that administrations Soviet polices (and her belief in small government) that turned her into a Republican.

This book details the public face/life of Dr. Rice (the schooling, jobs, etc). Her private life is barely mentioned (no gossip here). For example, the fact that she's dated several football players is mentioned (briefly) but not discussed in any depth (the gentlemen's names aren't even included). What finally emerges is a portrait of an extremely bright, accomplished woman who loves her job, her friends and family and football.

Condi is a Respectable Character
You don't have to agree with her views to be in awe of what this woman has accomplished. I for one am not a huge fan of the administration for which she belongs, but I figured since Condoleeza Rice is about to step into an historical position (the highest government position appointed to a black woman- Secetary of State), I better educate myself on the woman and her journey.
Condi-The Condoleeza Rice Story gives its readers an overview of this intriguing woman's life, but no more. I was pleased to find out more about her family background which is filled with scholars. Knowing more about her family history gives me a better understanding of why she is the way she is. The book goes on to detail every accomplishment Condi has made whether it be the University of Denver's "Senior Woman of the Year," Standford's provost, or National Security Advisor. I must admit that I was very disturbed and stunned to read of her connection to oil (served on Chevron's board,etc.) That definitely made me a little weary.
While this biography was very informative, it failed to shed light on Condi's personality. I would like to know more about the Condi that enjoys football and hanging out with her firends.

Shows us the career superwoman but not the person
Condoleezza Rice was the object of intense curiousity earlier this year during the controversial 9/11 hearings. Although she revealed nothing except the standard public relations talking points, Rice maintained her poise in the onslaught of intense scrutiny. So it's no wonder the Bush administration has increasingly leaned on her to argue their position about the war in Iraq.

Antonia Felix's biography of Rice reads like an elongated resume of her subject and not much more. It's very much a public relations work as she dutifully cites Rice's accomplishments. However, anyone who has paid scant attention to Rice has heard it all before. Sure we learn of Rice's childhood in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights struggle, her love of football and classical music but we get no sense of what really makes her tick.

Is she an icy, cold blooded schoolmarm as many have suggested or is there in fact a personality behind the image she presents? Does she wholeheartedly believe in the policies she argues for on behalf of her employer or does she entertain any doubts? Rice is obviously an intelligent woman and I strongly suspect she's a more complex individual than her press, good or bad, lets us believe. I'm sure many would love to know how she reconciles her personal viewsand beliefs as a preacher's daughter and African American with some of thestands and policies of the people and institutions she has served as a spokesperson for.

Read this book if you want a recitation of Rice's career accomplishments but if you're looking for more you'll have to wait for another biography.

Will the Real Sistuh Please Stand Up?
Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story by biographer Antonia Felix paints a picture of a life divine. This is the story of how a little black girl from the segregated south rose to prominence to become one of the most powerful women in political history. A woman whose impact may affect America forever. Hers however is not a story of a poor little girl scuffling from the ravages of poverty to a top level Presidential appointment. Not a rags to riches story here. No, Rice was raised in the comfort of the educated middle class, a privileged daughter of the south, the quintessential BAP, (Black American Princess).

Born to a third generation college-educated family in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice knew well the family history of her paternal grandfather's journey from sharecropper to college graduate and she knew the legacy she inherited was not to be taken lightly. Both the Rices and The Rays (maternal line) were proud, educated folk. Her mother, Angelena Ray Rice, was an accomplished musician and school teacher when she met John Rice, a young Presbyterian minister. By the time Rice was three years old she was learning French and the piano. Though she was in the midst of the most heated time of the civil rights movement-- her hometown was known as Bombingham--, the coping methods of the black middle class was one that shielded their children from the insanity and horrors of Jim Crow. Rice's parents' response to her concerns about segregated facilities was that it was not her problem. When the amusement park opened one day of the year for blacks, they did not patronize it. Summers were spent at college campuses where her parents took graduate courses, one being the University of Denver. They eventually moved there when John took a position as professor and administrator. Rice excelled in music and ice skating though she was informed that she did not have the aptitude for college. Of course her parents dismissed the notion and Rice proved them wrong by excelling in her studies at private schools.

After entering the University of Denver at age fifteen, where she challenged a professor on the intelligence of blacks, Rice realized that while she was a good pianist, she was not great and therefore shifted her interests elsewhere. She took a class in Russian Studies and there she found her passion. She went on for advanced degrees and eventually ended up at Stanford University as a professor and then a provost. It was there she came to the attention of President George Bush. But it is under the present President George W. Bush's regime that she has flourished and received world wide attention as the National Security Advisor.

The book, in tedious detail, chronicles Rice's academic and political career, however, nothing was really revealed that could have been culled from articles and other media outlets. This reviewer anticipated reading this book to get a real picture of the Condoleezza Rice that the public is not privy to and have my knowledge expanded about this hard-to-read woman. I wanted to get into the head of this woman with the plastered smile and perfect demeanor. I wanted to know the real woman. But maybe the façade is just what it is.

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub ... Read more

Book Description

Manchild in the Promised Land is indeed one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time. This thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s. When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem -- the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor. The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because the book is affirmative and inspiring. Here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and became a man. ... Read more

Reviews (38)

The Greatest of the 20th Century American Autubiographies
This book for me is the most startling and important autobiography regarding black inner city life even when compared to Malcom X's. When I was a teenager growing up in the inner city in the eighties, the older black middle class generation spoke to us "youngbloods" as if we invented crime. The sickness of self hate, envy, disrespect in our community existed for a long time before it became fashionable to parade these ailments in front of mass media for profit. Manchild details these problems through a teenager growing up in the fourties in an inner city environment who luckily makes a turn for the better at the right time before becoming an adult. This is an American story, not just a black one, and one that details why blind conservative patriotism and easy fix liberal solutions still continue to be difficult to swallow for youth attempting to survive an institutionalized system designed to almost guarantee their failure in life.

Those who don't remember the past.....
When this book came out in 1965, the NAACP's magazine "The Crisis" and other middle-class blacks criticized this book because it's raw and unsentimental portrait of ghetto life was seen as threatening to the entry of Black Americans into mainstream positions in America at the time. Too bad so many people tuned out it's message. Many of the things Claude Brown spoke of in this book about the Harlem of the mid-20th century came to pass in far more communities than Harlem (massive drug addiction, lunatic Black nationalist cults, massive disrespect of women, mindless violece, etc). Had more people listened to Claude Brown (RIP) at the time, perhaps Black America may have united to rid our communities of these evils instead of irrelevant "issues" like the Confederate Flag so that these things would not have become the plauge that they are today. As George Santayana said, "Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

A Definate "Must-Read"
This book goes on my list of favorite books. It is a well told story of one's transition from being a boy to a man while trying to survive an break out of Harlem's trap. I had some trouble getting interested in the book in the beginning but once I did, I couldn't put it down. Realistic and compelling.

The Best!
This book started what I would like to believe as my introduction to adult reading at the age of 18. I could not put it down because captured the experience of a black child in a timeless caption of America. You understood the impact of one person on hiself and even those around him. You will never forget the unrelenting love he had for "Pimp." The love that only an older sibling could have for a younger sibling. Buy it! Then read "Down These Mean Streets."

Truthful
I had to do a summer reading project over last summer for 10th-11th grade. It was literally the longest book that I have ever read, but no complaining here.. I thought it was a really good book. Very moving, entertaining, and it told the real truth about how street life was like in the past. ... Read more

Book Description

This "bold...extraordinary...blockbuster..." (Newsweek magazine) begins with a birth in an African village in 1750, and ends two centuries later at a funeral in Arkansas. And in that time span, an unforgettable cast of men, women, and children come to life, many of them based on the people from Alex Haley's own family tree.

When Alex Haley was a boy growing up in Tennessee, his grandmother used to tell him stories about their family, stories that went way back to a man she called "the African" who was taken aboard a slave ship bound for Colonial America. As an adult, Alex Haley spent twelve years searching for documentation that might authenticate what his grandmother had told him. In an astonishing feat of genealogical detective work, he discovered the name of "the African"--Kunta Kinte, as well as the exact location of the village in West Africa from where he was abducted in 1767.

While Haley created certain unknown details of his family history, ROOTS is definitely based on the facts of his ancestry, and the six generations of people--slaves and freedmen, farmers and lawyers, an architect, teacher--and one acclaimed author--descended from Kunte Kinte. But with this book, Haley did more than recapture the history of his own family. He popularized genealogy for people of all races and colors; and in so doing, wrote one of the most important and beloved books of all time, a true Modern Classic.
... Read more

Reviews (124)

Truely Touching Saga - you'll be shaken to your roots
This book already has hundred reviews .. why am i writing one more ?Well,So much is the power of this book .
This book is different .. It will haunt you . You won't be able to leave this book in half.Nor will you be peaceful for few days after reading it .So is the power of this book .. you are drawn in the characters and really deeply touched by them ..
But it will teach you something you'll never forget.
This book changed my thoughts ..
People have already wriitten about historical , literery aspects of this book and i agree with them this is a masterpiece !!
I want to mention this rather small thing that struck me ,
This family has rather informal way of passing information to generations after generations ..Telling each new born stories about his dad , grand father and indirectly keeping the ROOTS ALIVE ...giving them something to treasure
I thought to myself , what will I be passing to my kids , and what will they tell thier kids and so on ..will my family members down few generations remember somethings about me our times ?
You have to have to read this ,no matter whether you are black brown or white .

From Gone With The Wind To Roots
One of my college friends who studied comparative literature in China wrote to me a few years ago, about how she was longing to visit Georgia one day, "The plantation, and the oak trees...". Gone with the wind is a classic and was well translated in many languages. The movie also brought countless publicity and I remembered that I read an article once how the book "corrected" the public perception of the south and the slavery.

Well, that was my impression too, until I read Roots. Gone With The Wind is a story from Whites perspective with a focus on romance. I feel now it carried a heavy make up on the real south and the slavery. It eulogized the relationship between white masters and black slaves. Roots, on the other hand, describes the same south and the slavery, from Blacks perspective.

Roots started from Kunta Kinte's life back in Africa, to stories of several generations in the South. I feel the African part was hard to read, maybe due to lack of interests personally. Once I got past that part, I was fascinated by the story and I was saddened many times by their struggles. I believe the book displayed a much more accurate picture on the slavery and on relationships between whites and blacks. It is more than a family's tale, it is history!

I strongly recommend this book to everybody, especially to those who are interested into American History, to non-blacks, and to foreigners like myself. With Gone With The Wind overshadowed Roots in many other countries, this book offers a great education on American Slavery and on Black History. It shreds new lights on the origins of many current issues in the U.S. such as racism, racial profiling, and affirmative action. I rank this book the best book I've ever read, well, at least in English.

Heritage Regained
Alex Haley's monumental tribute to his forebears provides not only the perfect antidote for Blacks in a society that perpetually miseducates us about our ancestral homeland, but also an unblinking and unflinching view of slavery.
This was the book that made Americans of all races and creeds care about this country's shameful past in a way that many never had before. The book points out the role of Arab slave traders in the problem, but it should be noted that under their auspices such problems stayed on African soil until the arrival of the toubob.
Haley does a brilliant job of getting inside the heads, hearts and souls of his forbear, Kunta Kinte and his family, however fictional certain aspects of the story may be. He warmly and lovingly re-creates both the positive and negative aspects of life in the village of Juffure, The Gambia, detailing their family lives, educational system, religious life, and their complex system of government. We learn about griots, who are highly reminiscent of the wandering minstrels of Medieval Europe, who through their songs and stories, pass the history of their people from one generation to another.I could feel the hot,arid climate of that region from just reading!
If people never read any other part of this epic saga, I would at least encourage them to read Chapter 24 in which Haley gives a brief but college-level education about the great kingdoms of West Africa, including Mali, the Kingdom where the world's first University was built in Timbuktu.More so than Europeans, Americans have a harder time accepting Africans as people of acheivement with a noteworthy history, even though they know that the earliest civilizations of man began on that continent, and that Africans have had thousand of years to figure out many things for which our culture does not give them credit.
It was to the University of Timbuktu that Kunta Kinte had purportedly planned to travel when sometime in the summer of 1767, he was chopping wood to make a drum and was attacked by four men who killed his pet dog, knocked him unconscious, and after a demeaning process of being chained, shaved, and branded by his abductors, had him loaded aboard the Lord Ligonier, and shipped to America on a filthy and horrifying journey, where he touches terra firma again at the docks of Annapolis, Maryland on September 29, 1767.
Every emotion Kunta must have felt as he lost control of his life, identity, name, and physical personage is registered. We feel his bewilderment, at dealing with his first view of an alien culture, Native Americans, innumerable degradations, first encounter with snow during one of four attempts to escape, and his pain when his foot is severed. His humbling discovery of his need for love is especially saddening.
Kunta's overwhelming resentment at the docility of the other slaves is replaced with understanding of their survival tactics. He befriends a gardener and fiddler after being sold to a kinder master, and he meets Belle, several years his senior, whom he eventually marries, and has a daughter named Kizzy.
Massa Waller's daughter, Missy Anne teaches Kizzy to read, and Kunta Kinte's life ends in the heartbreak of permanent separation from his daughter when the teenager writes an illegal pass for her sweetheart, Noah, and is sold from the Virginia plantation to a more sadistic master in North Carolina, who rapes her repeatedly and by whom she has her son, George.
In the midst of their dehuminization, we learn how the slaves manage to sustain a culture, learn and discuss current events, to love each other and have honorable relationships, even though the auction block may part them forever, and to periodically assert themselves and settle scores with their oppressors.While reading this story, I was reminded of how professors have warned that whatever Europeans did to others for so long boomeranged in two world wars.
The story follows the triumphs and tragedies of Chicken George and his descendants and finally ends with Alex Haley's emotional quest to trace his heritage and ascertain the truth about stories he was told in his boyhood.
Ultimately, Haley compensates for his ancestors' losses merely by his presence at the dock at Annapolis on the 200th anniversary of his ancestor's disembarkment there.
Whereas Kunta Kinte's abduction was lamented in 1767, two centuries later, in an underrated moment that is probably one of the most sacred in literary history, Haley visits Juffure and reconnects with those of his ancestral village who address him by his forebear's name.
Happily, the circle is complete and the world made to care about events that claimed more lives than Hitler's Final Solution.
Kunta Kinte's memory is honored with an annual festival in Annapolis, and every September 29th, a promising African American is given a scholarship in his name.
Hence, the Gambian who had once hoped to study at the University of Timbuktu has his waylaid ambitions fulfilled through others. There could not be a more fitting tribute to his memory.

A family story.
This year for Black History Month, I decided to read a black history book, and I could not think of any title more celebrated than Alex Haley's "Roots". The experience was rewarding far beyond what I would have imagined in two respects. First, learning more about a cultural heritage that was different from my own was an awakening to say the least. Furthermore, Haley proved to be a master storyteller, making the read an enriching personal event.

One of the most compelling aspects of Roots is its conceptual basis. "Roots" is unique in its approach to research. The germination of "Roots" occurred when, as a youth, Haley marveled at the ancient family stories related to him by his maternal grandmother and a coterie of other female cousins and aunts. Those tales relate how a great ancestor known as "the African" was kidnapped into slavery one morning while chopping wood for a drum along a river called "Kamby Bologo". The family's oral tradition was remarkable in its time scale, covering at least five generations after the African was sold into slavery at Annapolis in 1767.

Haley expands his research beyond the family stories to include corroboration from conventional genealogical and historical sources such as official records from Spotsylvania county Virginia. In addition, Haley takes the further (and unprecedented) step of including corroboration from African oral tradition sources know as "Griots". Griots are a cultural phenomenon in West Africa. They are individuals who are combination storytellers and historical archive for a culture that has limited written records. It is the blending of information from such diverse sources that gives "Roots" its unique appeal.

As the father of two young (and darling) children, the most touching part of "Roots" for me was the beginning that related the birth, childhood and early adulthood of "the African" who was named Kunte Kinte. Having an awareness of the general storyline, and knowing what was going to happen eventually to Kunte Kinte, it was heart wrenching to read about the loving family and village relationships that would be forever severed by a terrible crime. The process of committing a person to slavery is dehumanizing in the extreme. "Roots" reversed that process by returning to the chattel that was Kunte Kinte his basic humanity. From the standpoint of prose style, the success of "Roots" herein lies. It is not merely a story from black history, but it is an important cautionary tale for any human being that is tempted to show brutality to fellow travelers.

I did not give "Roots" five stars because of another stylistic issue that I believe diminished its potential impact. It appeared to me that Haley changed his pace about mid way through the text, and I found this somewhat disappointing. Up through Kunte Kinte's sale to "Massa Waller", the character development reminded me of the level of detail you might find in a Victor Hugo novel. However, about the time Kunte Kinte is maimed by slave hunters (they chop off half his foot), it seemed to me that Haley picked up speed in his storytelling, and the years (and generations) began to pass by with ever increasing velocity. I would have preferred a more deliberate approach and greater character development to the later generations (particularly with Kizzy and Chicken George). I think that "Roots" could easily have been twice as long and yet remain a compelling epic.

A classic
I never saw the mini-series and don't want to. I finished the book about three days ago, having avoided it and the film since I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon and follow a trend. But this was one time I wish I had listened to everyone else, for I truly missed one of the great pieces of literature out there. ROOTS, along with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Jackson McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD are some of my favorite books now and have a special place in my heart. The writing is excellent, the story will blow you away, and it seems as fresh (and disturbing) today--as if it were just written. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a heart and soul.

Also recommended: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and BARK OF THE DOGWOOD ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bob Marley, reggae superstar and pop culture icon, left an indelible mark on modern music. Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley delves deep into the life of the lionized leader of a musical, spiritual, and political explosion that still reverberates more than a decade after his death.Almost nothing pertaining to the life of Bob Marley is left out; the origins of Rastafarianism (the Ethiopian religion that was the keystone of his life), the roots of the reggae sound, the Jamaican political and social debacle that informed his lyrics--this is a comprehensive account of the life of the artist and the times that produced him.

Catch a Fire is assiduously researched; the details writer Timothy White presents of the King of Reggae's life are cinematic in scope and, at times, cumbersome. White includes much of his primary source material, ranging from full interviews with band members to unearthed CIA documents, and devotes a whole section to describing his exhaustive research process. The final product is rich with elements of spiritual tome, rock biography, and history text; it is a hagiographic epic--the story of a man and his legend. --Brendan J. LaSalle ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Iron Lion Zion
After being a fan of Bob Marley's music for years, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the legend. I chose to read Catch a Fire and found it to be an amazing book about an even more amazing person. Not only does it tell everything about the life and times of Bob Marley, but it tells of the origins of reggae and Rastafari. It is a book that I found myself glued to time after time, I just couldn't put it down. The book describes life in Jamaica in an awesome way that makes you feel like your there. I recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely interested in learning more about the Natural Mystic that is Bob Marley.

the Best Ever
This is the first biography of Bob marley that I have read. But I have read (and written) numerous biographies of people in popular culture, social history, military history etc. This book is written in a way that is hard to describe - it uses the jamaican patois so cleverly and appropriately that you realise there is no other way the events in Bob's life could have been described. So detailed are the descriptions that it is obvious the author writes from a personal knowledge of Bob, his family, his friends and his musical associates. Absolutely rivetting, and impossible to put down, it stays with you. I listen to the music now with a quite different appreciation of what is going on in the songs.

Catch A Fire
Catch a Fire was a great book. It helped me to better understand the culture of Rastafarians and the type of life which a Rastafarian lives. The book Catch a Fire gave tons of background and information that you do not read in the everyday biography of Bob Marley. The book also helped you to understand the politics of Jamaica which in return helps you to understand the lyrics and songs of Bob Marley on a completely different level.

Reading this book made me understand why such a vast age range of people enjoy Bob Marley's music. I gave this book five stars because I feel that it is not only a great book on Bob Marley but also a great book about the Rastafarian culture and Jamaican politics. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in Bob Marley, Reggae music, Jamaica, politics, and or the history and culture of the Rastafarians. I feel that this book would appeal to a great number of people.

A book you won't want to put down
It's been some time since I read this book TWICE. First bumping into it at the library and then buying my own copy on-line... As you start to read this book, it is as though the lights are turned down low and the projectionist starts to roll the movie - it is entirely absorbing. Bob's life, the changing times, the Jamaican political scene, the protagonists and antagonists - the Chris Blackwells and Scratch Perrys - the hanger-on-ers and the End. Marley's life is better than any fiction - as can be said for each of the players in this true tale. In a way, Chris Blackwell even offers an unexpected "Bond" connection.... The book will give you an escape from wherever you are now and a deeper understanding of the person behind the stage persona you see in the videos... Like a perfect cup of coffee in the morning, or a great album such as Marley's "Legends" album filling the air of your room, you will enjoy the read this book provides.

THE LIFE OF BOB MARLEY: A MUST HAVE BOOK
If your into Bob Marley this is a must have book. You will love this book and get hooked on it and won't want to stop reading it. This is a heartpounding book that explains the time period that he lived in and how he made a big impact on the whole world with his music and his attitude towards life. So go to your nearest book store and purchase your book today!

xoxo rhino ... Read more

Book Description

Forbidden Fruit is a collection of fascinating, largely untold stories of ordinary men and women who took extraor dinary measures, risking life and limb to be together. It1s the story of couples who faced mobs, bloodhounds, bounty hunters, and bullets to defy the system that allowed slave masters to breed and sell people like cattle. Some broke the taboo against interracial marriage, putting their lives in the most severe peril.

In one remarkable story, a Georgia couple who fled slavery wearing multiple disguises sailed for England with bounty hunters and federal troops on their trail. A fugitive slave from Virginia spent seventeen arduous years searching for his wife. A Missouri slave fell in love with his white Mormon neighbor and escaped to Canada to be with her, putting pepper in his shoes to throw dogs off the scent at night and hiding in trees by day.

Betty DeRamus gleaned these amazing stories from descendants of runaway slave couples, unpublished memoirs, Civil War records, books, magazines, and dozens of previously untapped sources. Beautifully and compassionately written, this important book reveals a chapter of American history that is shameful but is about triumph as well as torture, achievement as well as degradation, and indomitable love as well as hate. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Adds a Human Dimension to Slavery
These are stories of hope that take place in the midst of one of the most terrible times in American history. When some people thought that they could own others based just on skin color, other people lived and even loved.

These stories are based on the tales passed down by descendants, unpublished memoirs, Civil War records, books, magazines and dozens of previously untapped sources. They add an entirely new dimension to what life must have been like in the pre-war South.

More than anything else these stories help you to relate to the people, they add character to the bare statistics. It adds a very human dimension to the people who through no fault of their own were slaves. These people knew love, had feelings, were not just the animals they were considered by their owners.

wonderful book
Forbiden Fruit is one of the best history books I've seen in a long time. It tells a largely ignored story and reminds the reader that the slaves were human beings, not symbols and that they weren't passively waiting to be saved. This book is filled with men and women who risked everything for the freedom to be with their beloved.

"Real Life Romance Resurrected"
Betty DeRamus is an excellent writer and her take on how far people were willing to go for love in a time when the ultimate price was literally losing your life is a tribute to our African American ancestors. As a columnist for the Detroit News and Michigan Chronicle, DeRamus has educated and informed the masses of devout Detroit followers who, like her, son believed that she had more to contribute to the legacy of all writers especially African American writers. DeRamus will sign copies of Forbidden Fruit at Barnes & Noble in Detroit on Warren btwn. noon and two on 2/9/05 and Waldenbooks btwn. noon and two on 2/10/05.

An excerpt of this book is available at www.bettyderamus.com
... Read more

Book Description

WRITER'S DIGEST AWARD WINNER!

July 15, 1968. It is only three months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nation is burning. Black and White America are locked in the tense grip of massive change. Into this inferno steps an unsuspecting young White couple. Neither significantly knew even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. In this fateful moment, a Black baby becomes perhaps the first in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a White family. Here is a brazenly honest glimpse into the mind and heart of that child, a true story for the ages. Jaiya John has opened the floodgates on his own childhood. Black Baby White Hands, a waterfall of jazz splashing over the rocks of pain, love and the honoring of family. Magically, this book finds a way to sing as it cries, and to exude compassion even as it dispels well-entrenched myths. This classic is sure to find itself well worn, stained by tears, and brushed by laughter in the lap of parents, adolescents, educators, students and professionals. Here comes the rain and the sunshine, all at once. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Thank you, Jaiya, for sharing your soul...
Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib by Dr. Jaiya John touched my soul. It is a journey into the world of a child who was a stranger surrounded by well meaning adoptive parents who were unable to reach the depth of his heart and soul. As you read his book, you move through the depth of a range of emotions and emerge with a hope that armed with sensitivity and knowledge, there is a future for the children caught up in the system. Prior to adopting my first child 25 years ago, I read a book about the account of an adoptee. That story enabled me to prepare myself for how my children might feel being adopted. Dr. John's book is the "Transracial Adoption Bible" sorely needed in this arena. As a transracial adoptive parent, adoption worker and trainer, "Black Baby" has become required reading for those families that I work with or train who desire to parent transracially. When I train prospective aodptive parents, all of them indicate that they want the best for their children. If we look at ourselves honestly, we realize we cannot be everything to our child. Jaiya's poignant life journey compels us to shed our color-blind ideas and recognize we live in a race conscious society that will see color and react according to preconceived notions. We cannot protect our children forever; we must give them the tools to survive in this society. For those who have or are considering adopting transracially, once you read "Black Baby", you will have walked in Jaiya's shoes and you cannot help but come away enlightened and armed with the knowledge you need to do right by the children you love so much. Thank you, Jaiya, for sharing your soul. We need you in this field "It takes a whole village to raise a child."

What a beautiful book!
The elegant cover is symbolic of a beautifully told story that it holds within its pages. This story deeply touched my heart. Living in Los Alamos, I found the descriptions of the city, surrounding areas and cultures to be simply breathe-taking. This story disclosed the inner conflicts of a child adopted into another race. Dr. Jaiya John's honest and heart -wrenching descriptions of his inner turmoil and his examination of how he was living vs. how he might have been living in his own culture was captivating. After reading this book, I found myself with a deep connection and love for the Black community. I have told strangers about this beautiful book. It is a must!

This is an extremely powerful and beautifully written book.
As a child welfare professional and advocate, I believe that this book can serve as a wonderful learning tool for parents seeking to adopt children of different cultures/races. All Social Workers would also greatly benefit from reading it. As a transracial adoptee, this book truly validated many of my experiences growing up in a world that was socially and emotionally challenging, and often made very little sense to me. Dr. John can serve as a role model for many because he has worked tirelessly to search for, and grow from, the meaning behind his experiences. Through his storytelling, he also shares his life with us in a manner that honors all of his family members. I highly recommend reading this book.

elevated
I wasn't sure when I first picked up the book if it would hold my interest, but it did quite a bit more than that.I can't imagine anyone not getting something out of this book, because it touches everyone if your heart is open and beating. I gained considerable insight on transracial adoption and the plight of the child growing up without really knowing their heritage.
I would consider this book a "must read" by anyone.
The author really keeps you captivated.

A tour de force!
Here is an astounding literary achievement where poetry and music of the soul come to the written page. It's so remarkably rare to find a biography rich in colour, texture on a voyage of discovery. His use of metaphor unparalleled. I do hope we have more from the pen of Jaiya John. ... Read more

Book Description

In this affectionate memoir, Guilbault invites us into her girlhood, revealing what it was like to grow up as a Mexican immigrant in a farming community during the turbulent 1960s. She recalls her early struggles to learn English, to fit in with schoolmates with their Barbie dolls and cupcakes, to win approval, and to bridge the tensions between home life and the public world to which she was drawn.

As her mother dreams of owning a house with her new farmworker husband, Rose perfects her English and writes for the school newspaper, nurturing dreams of her own that will eventually take her far from her life as a farmworker’s daughter. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Written by a pair of social scientists--Stephan Thernstrom is a professor of history at Harvard;his wife, Abigail, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute--America in Black and White is acomprehensive look at how much life has changed (and remained the same) for black Americans. Theauthors conclude that, while much remains to be done, life has gotten measurably better for blacks since thecivil rights movement. For example, only a quarter of black families live below the poverty line, ascompared with more than three-quarters of black families in 1940; similarly, where 60 percent of workingblack women were domestics in 1940, today a majority are white-collar workers. In what will likely proveto be the most controversial of their conclusions, the authors argue that, while many problems remain,traditional civil rights remedies, such as affirmative action and racial preferences, will not solve thoseproblems. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Slightly to the right of center look at race relations
Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom's "America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible" charts a different course from many of the scholarly books written about racial relations in the United States today. The authors agree that the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s was a resounding success, opening many doors to African-Americans as a result of the systematic dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the South. This book is necessary, claim the authors, because the ideas that originally drove the civil rights movement have since drifted into dangerous terrain. According to this book, Martin Luther King's message of one nation where all people will be judged by their individual merits and not skin color has become a land where blacks and whites are once again moving into separate camps based on race. The introduction of affirmative action programs and other racial social policies does not solve divisive problems but instead creates new racial barriers. Moreover, media and civil rights proponents today discuss black problems as though that segment of the population has made little progress. The authors insist that there are still nagging difficulties to overcome, but that a "lack of analytic rigor" leads to false perceptions about how far blacks have actually risen in society. Therefore, the authors rely heavily on statistical tables, charts, and polls to prove their arguments.

The first section of "America in Black and White" outlines the history of the odious conditions blacks faced in the American South and the resulting rise of the civil rights movement. The Thernstroms describe southern society in all of its squalor: the crushing poverty faced by both whites and blacks, the lackluster drive towards industrialization that kept many members of the population toiling in fields and small towns, pathetic levels of state spending on education for blacks, and the biases of the criminal justice system. Relying heavily on Gunnar Myrdal's groundbreaking study of race in America, the authors correctly detail the host of social structures aligned against the African-American population. For example, blacks rarely received decent treatment in the legal system because police departments run by whites often failed to protect the black citizenry from criminals. Moreover, the legal system in the South considered crimes committed against blacks secondary to outrages perpetrated against white members of society. Subsequent sections of the book take an in depth look at black progress in various social arenas from the 1970s onward, arenas such as education, politics, law, crime, and many others.

The absence of job opportunities, poor education, lack of protections in the courts, and segregation policies in the South led African-Americans to increasingly move north. The first migration came during World War I. A second, even larger migration occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. Blacks in the North did not have to deal with segregation, but did experience racism in housing and certain sectors of the job market. Better conditions in the northern states led to an increasing drive for an end to Jim Crow in the South. The authors argue that federal legislation destroying segregation in the 1960s also contained the seeds of future divisions. The Thernstroms see a sinister change of direction with the release of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report on the black family in 1965. Moynihan's remedy for the problems faced by black citizens, echoed by Lyndon Johnson in a speech at Howard University the same year, moved beyond providing for equal opportunity to call for "equal results" as well. This argument indirectly endorsed the idea of affirmative action and social entitlement programs based specifically on race. For the authors, the problems inherent in this approach are clear: to formulate policy giving special treatment to one race is just as racist as passing laws subjugating specific races.

Perhaps the most interesting section of "America in Black and White," and probably the most controversial, concerns the authors' claims that African-American social advancement was greatest immediately before the rise of the civil rights movement. During the 1940s and 1950s, the authors write, blacks surged forward in nearly all areas of American society. This growth was far from perfect, but in the arenas of education, economics, politics, and sports blacks saw remarkable gains. Almost half of the African-Americans who lived in poverty moved out of that classification during this period. Education levels for blacks, while lagging behind whites, still grew significantly compared to earlier eras in American history. This period also saw the integration of professional baseball and basketball, opening up an entirely new aspect of society to black advancement. African-Americans showed signs of vigor at the polls, as a court case outlawing white southern primaries and greater movement to the North allowed more blacks to vote than ever before. Obviously, there were still many problems to overcome: black wages still lagged behind white levels, education was still a problem, and the South still practiced vigorous discrimination against its black population. But African-Americans did make progress, and this chapter effectively illustrates that modern day claims about the complete lack of black improvement before the civil rights movements of the 1960s are patently false.

The greatest problem with this analysis of black gains during the 1940s and 1950s is that it undercuts the need and influence of activism as a force for change. If African-Americans were achieving so much, why did the civil rights movement appear on the scene? It may well be a case of a segment of the population finding some success and quickly wanting more, thereby accelerating the growth and scope of that change. But the Thernstroms spend more time discussing the overarching factors-political, economic, and social-that contributed to two decades of growth instead of focusing on what everyday people were doing on a local level to bring about advancement. Following this argument to its logical conclusion makes a reader suspect that twenty years of gradual progress would have toppled Jim Crow laws without the assistance of any sort of social activism.

No gray areas?
In contrast to the title of the book - AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE, it is rare that the subject of race relations can be discussed in such black and white terms. There is definitely a gray area on most issues.

The Thernstroms however, argue otherwise. On one hand are their views and on the other is the opinion of the "chattering classes." Whites who are in favor of affirmative action, in their view, support "policies built on deference to black victimization through which they can display their racial virtue." The book however is not vitriol, and it does have a central argument. Two of the main points developed on are:

(1) Black progress has been substantial; progress began post WWII, long before the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement therefore, has been given too much credit for the progress blacks have made in this century.

(2) Affirmative action is a mistake and it is "manifestly absurb" that these programs have improved conditions for blacks.

The Thernstroms use a wealth of polling data to support their points, and seemingly present a solid case for progress. For instance:

> "In 1958, 44% of whites said they would move if a black family became their next door neighbor; today, the figure is 1%"

> By 1997, "a Gallup Poll found 83% of whites aged 18 to 34 approved of interracial marriage. (The figure for blacks in the same bracket was 86%)."

Yet, there are other data sets that show conflicting views. How do we reconcile data from AMERICAN APARTHEID by Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton with that of this book? Massey and Denton show that there is a high degree of residential segregation still existing with whites having "little tolerance" for residential racial mixture beyond 20% black. Other studies, using data in Stanley Lieberson's and Mary Waters' FROM MANY STRANDS go beyond calculating residential segregation to indicating marital isolation. Orlando Patterson has calculated that the odds that an African-American woman will marry an African-American man are 27,444 times greater than that a non African-American woman will marry an African-American man. Lastly, a statewide special election was held in Alabama last November. The purpose being overturning the state's anti-miscegnation law which was still on the books. Over 40% of Alabamans voted to keep the ban in place; obviously there are still a lot of people that think blacks and whites should not mix blood.

AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE fully endorses the civil rights acts - the quarrel is with affirmative action. However, while stating that "too much remains" of white racism, they contradict themselves when saying that "haters have become a tiny remnant with no influence in any important sphere of American life." Perhaps this ambiguity, and the Thernstroms inability to speak with certainty, only serves to underline the reality that in race relations in general, and policy prescriptions in particular, there remains a vast gray area. Other contributions are needed.

The moralists of the Right
This book renders a thoughtful and persuasive treatment of the facts of racial divisions in the United States. The problems encountered by the Thernstroms in propounding on this subject can be summed up in what one anti-reveiwer on this page has written in order to smear another reveiwer with whose opinion he apparently disagrees. To wit, the anti-reveiwer does nothing more than cite a case brought by the CFTC against the son of the targeted reveiwer whom he's attempting to marginalize, much as those who don't agree with the Thernstroms' attempt to marginalize them; and with the same type of faulty facts and sloppy research, just as in the instant case I cite.

It's unfortunate that the debate of such momentous and substantive issues, such as the racial problems addressed by the Thernstroms, cannot take place in more temperate tones. It would also be more helpful if reveiwers would focus on and respond to the facts presented in this book, on the merits, rather than opposing them because they affront the complainants belief system.

This book reflects some sobering and instructive work. Let's hope the more emotionally balanced among us can use it to further the goal of racial harmony rather than to continue being divisive.

Doesn't live up to promise
The title is apt since bouth authors appear to see the world in black and white with little room for gray area. This is clearly evident in their thesis, "That which brings the races together is good; that which divides us is bad." A grand oversimplificiation, if you ask me.

The questions is: unity at what cost to black Americans? While you cannot argue that black Americans have progressed greatly since the Jim Crow era, I do take issue that "the perception of serious racial divisions in this country is outdated - and dangerous", as the back cover states. Tell that to the unarmed blacks being killed across the country by white police officers and to the many blacks who can't get taxis in New York City.

The Thernstrom's also contradict their own statistical data. They assert that the greatest gains achieved by blacks in the US came during the 1940's-1950's, before the civil rights movement. That may be true, yet thier own data shows that the average income of a black family today is still the same ratio as it was to whites in the early 1950's. Same for the unemployment rates of blacks, which have been around twice those of whites since 1954.

While loading up on charts and graphs, they fail to get to the meat of the problem, which is "the system" (for lack of a better term) itself. The one which rewards blacks that mesh nicely with white culture (i.e. Michael Jordan) and labels outspoken blacks such as Allen Iverson as "bad role models" for our children, simply because he doesn't conform to the white Americans idea of what a black person (or any person) should act like. I'm not trying to say that Iverson is a good role model, but what has Michael Jordan ever done to help the cause of blacks in this country? Selling $... shoes (that cost about $... to make) to kids in the inner city, whose parents are struggling to get by, doesn't exactly qualify. This gets back to the whole unity thing, since the authors point to the Michael Jordan's and Vernon Jordan's of the world as proof of black success. Yet look at how Iverson is treated in the media and by the Philly PD and how Jordan got treated in the media after his gambling scandal and the message is obvious: talk like a white person, act like a white person, dress like a white person and you will be treated well. But the moment you start to act like that black kid from the street....kiss those endorsements goodbye. If you replace clean cut Kobe Bryant from the 'burbs with street tough Allen Iverson from the 'hood in this current rape case and you think the media would be treating this story just a little differently? I rest my case. But I digress.

This book is a dichotomy, since it is interesing and thought provoking at times (especially the first six chapters) yet also flawed, biased, and based on illogical preconceptions. It is very easy for two well paid white professors who live in the mostly rich, white suburb of Lexington to write a 700+ page book essentially telling black America to stop their whining. It's another thing to get me to believe them.

A Comprehensive Analysis of American Race Relations...
Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom's book is the most comprehensive survey of American race relations that I have ever read. The authors present important new information about the positive changes and improvements in the lives of African-Americans as a whole. They go on to argue, with tons of statistics to back them up, that the perception of serious racial divisions in our country are outdated, exaggerated, and dangerous. The reason for this, they show, is political: "it nurtures the mix of black anger and white shame and guilt that sustains the race-based social policies implemented since the late 1960s." Proponents of this status quo are afraid that calling attention, for example, to the rapidly-growing black middle class, "... would invite public complacency and undercut support for the affirmative action regime."

I was especially enthralled by the authors' analysis of the "War on Poverty" programs of the 1960's, particularly the expansion of welfare, and their horrifically negative effects on generations of black families since. Not only did the "War on Poverty" make things worse for the poor, but the expansion of welfare to include unwed women and children fostered a lifestyle of dependency and irresponsible behavior, and precipitated the downward trend in two-parent black families, that has left three generations of black Americans in dire straits ever since.

Liberals, especially black liberals, are terrified of books like this, and rightfully so. This book undercuts the blacks-as-perennial-victims/American-society-as-forever-racist rhetoric that keeps the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons, with support from the liberal media, in business. Along with the works of John McWhorter, Shelby Steele and Thomas Sowell, this books serves as a much-needed wake-up call on the issue of race; a cold dose of reality that no doubt makes most liberals cringe. ... Read more

Book Description

Television icon, New York Times bestselling author-and powerful example of the strength to overcome obstacles-Montel Williams reveals his true story of struggle and triumph in this compelling memoir that proves not only a fascinating read, but an inspiration.

In 1999, after almost twenty years of mysterious symptoms that he tried to ignore, Montel Williams, a decorated former Naval intelligence officer and Emmy(r) Award-winning talk show host, was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Like others suffering from the devastating and often disabling disease, which attacks the central nervous system, Montel was first struck with denial, fear, depression, and anger. Next came the emotional trial of informing friends and family, and finally going public with the news. What followed was a fierce determination not to be beaten down by MS, and to live the most vital and productive life possible while becoming a dedicated spokesperson and fundraiser for the disease.

Montel Williams's Climbing Higher is a penetrating and insightful look at a remarkable man, his extraordinary career, and the illuminating life that graced him with strong values, courage, and wisdom. Now he shares that wisdom in this uplifting book on the divergent roads a life can take, and recounts his own resourceful approach to the challenges he has faced. Deeply personal, Climbing Higher is as straight-forward, honest, inspiring, and motivating as its author. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

An Inspirational Example
Montel Williams is a successful talk show host in which he discusses serious topics such as devastating physical diseases, criminal behavior, and many other life problems with his guests. He recently wrote a book, Climbing Higher, in which he tells all of his readers that he has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He talks about his struggles with the disease and how he overcame them.

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease that causes demyelination in the brain. The myelin is a covering or insulation of the nerves. It helps transmit action potentials, which are the electrical impulses that the nerves use to communicate with each other. When the myelin is damaged do to MS severe pain and other unwanted symptoms can result.

In his book, Montel talks about how he has dealt with his pain. He had the option to have any pain medication he wanted, but he did not want to become addicted to drugs such as oxycontin or morphine. Instead, he chose to use medicinal marijuana. He feels that marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes only. Through his treatment with marijuana he has been able to cope with the pain and continue to go to work and make a difference in peoples' lives.

This book is well written, and Montel is open and honest with the emotional roller coaster he has taken when dealing with his disease. It is an inspirational book for those who have struggled in any area of life, especially those who have Multiple Sclerosis. It is a treat to see a celebrity humble himself or herself, becoming vulnerable in the process, to his fans and peers. I recommend this book to all people, and if a person gets a percentage of the satisfaction and joy out of reading this book, then he or she will have gotten his or her money's worth.

Great book!
I was recently diagnosed with MS, and have been wanting to find more information about the disease, and as Montel states, it is hard to find any type of concensus on this disease. His roundtable discussion at the end of the book was a stroke of genius, and I found it very informative.

Most of the book was great, and it made the best arguement for legalization of medical marijuana research that I have ever heard. Also, I happen to live in Utah, and I have had a great experience with my neurologist. Just wanted to let everyone know that not all Utah doctors are like the one that he had to deal with.

Overall, this is a great book. Another book I would recommend is Lance Armstrongs "It's Not About the Bike". Montel made me feel better because I could relate to his symptoms and feelings, however Lance's book is a great story of fighting for life, despite increadible odds. They are both great books that help people understand what it means to fight to overcome life threatening and/or debilitating diseases.

The..
I am not a fan of Montell at all, and I don't watch his show. I don't know what made me pick this book, but I'm glad I read it. The book was not what I expected at all. I had never heard of MS prior to reading this book. It was short and to the point. He makes some compelling arguments for the legalization of marijuana and the benefits and disadvantages of some other drugs. I felt his pain as I read the book. I felt every spasm, frustration, and fatigue episode. This will be a helpful read for MS sufferers. I hope a cure is found soon. I also hope that those who do not have MS will pick up the book and understand not just the nature of the ailment, but also those who live with it daily.

Research...........Accuracy.........but a fairly good read.
No one can deny the ravages of MS. My oldest daughter has MS. No one can deny Montel Williams success in life. He's earned it.

What made this book lack a bit of credibility was the lack of research and accuracy when describing weapons and military service branches. Possibly this is due to poor quality control as I'm sure Mr. Williams was a decorated veteran (many of us were).

My observations are based on a 22 year Marine Corps career and 8 years as a peace officer.

First off, I thought Montel was a Naval Intelligence Officer. How could he have a "doctor in 'the marines'"? What are 'the marines'? Does he mean the Marine Corps? There is NO such thing as a Marine Corps doctor. There ARE Navy Corpsmen who are assigned to the Marine Corps during deployments and combat operations. They are NOT doctors though they do a tremendous job and are HIGHLY under rated.

As to weapons:

What is a Sigsaur??? Does he mean a Sig Saur?
What's a 'cylinder gun'? Does he mean a Revolver?
What's a clip? Does he mean a magazine?

He states he has a 'lot of guns'. Nine is not a 'lot'.
He says the guns are 'All registered' 'All legal' In what context does he say that? Guns don't have to be 'registered' to be legal unless you live in an area where the basic Constitutional Rights are denied.

He mentions a "big semiautomatic 'handgun'". What's a 'handgun'? ALL personal firearms are handled with the 'hands'. Some are 'shoulder weapons' and some are 'sidearms' but ALL are 'handguns' if held with the hands.

Montel says that his 'big semiautomatic handgun' had so much kick that he was "afraid when I pulled the trigger it would slip from my hand and wouldn't make a big enough hole". Sorry, Montel, with the weapon so close to your body, you wouldn't have to worry about slippage OR making a 'big enough hole'. If Montel were any way at all AFRAID of his weapons, he shouldn't have them. Respect is another thing altogether. If he had RESPECT for his weapons, he wouldn't be thinking of using one in a suicide anyway, depressed or not.

Hydroshock rounds? Standard 'ball' would have done the same job and been neater.

Speed loaders?? How many 'speed loaders' does he think he would need if he used a .357 magnum? Why speed loaders in the first place? Was he in a hurry to load the weapon? He only needed ONE round to do the deed.

What WAS Montel anyway, A NAVAL Intelligence Officer OR a United States Marine. To clearify an important matter. The Marine Corps is NOT a part of the Navy. The Marine Corps and the Navy are SISTER services, both serving within the Nava