5 comments about All God's Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence (Vintage).

1. I am a descendant of James Butler. For the record, that family is not Scotch-Irish, they were English and had been for hundreds of years. They went to Virginia from England in the 1600's not because they were poor or down trodden but because they were wealthy and well connected with the intentions of making more money.
   
   Shoddy research just makes me cringe.



2. On a cold wintry day in March 1978, Willie Bosket, a 15-year-old boy with an extensive juvenile record, shot and killed a middle-aged hospital worker in a New York City subway robbery. Eight days later, Willie robbed and killed another man under similar circumstances. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested, confessed, and was found guilty of these two homicides. He was given the maximum sentence for a juvenile of five years for the two murders. He felt not a whit of remorse for his actions, and was quoted as such in the papers.
   
   A few days later, New York Governor Hugh Carey, reading about the trial in the New York newspapers, became so incensed that he immediately called a special session of the state legislature in Albany. He proposed and was successful in passing a new law in record time, the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978. This law allowed kids as young as 13 to be tried in adult criminal courts for murder and receive the same penalties as adults. This law was a sharp reversal of 150 years of American tradition. New York became the first of many states to make this watershed change in juvenile justice policy. Willie Bosket had made history.
   
   If All God's Children were merely a harrowing recitation of the criminal life of Willie Bosket, it would be a fascinating chronicle of the "most dangerous prisoner in the history of the state of New York." But it is much more than that. It is also a multi-generational tale of the Bosket family dating back to 1834 in South Carolina. It in particular traces the interweaving stories of Willie Bosket and that of his father, Butch Bosket, with all that they held in common-genius-level IQs, a history of explosive anger, psychopathic tendencies and a conviction for two homicide.
   
   In telling this saga of the Bosket family, Butterfield has successfully woven together a sociological treatise on violence in America, a cautionary tale of the pernicious effects of slavery, and a genealogical study of a truly tragic family.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: A stunning read.



3. This book was indeed an eye-opener. I encourage all who are concerned about our society as a whole to study this book, and especially those who are in social services. Mr. Butterfield should be applauded for this work.



4. I'm not A reader of books. I was refered this one and I can't stop referencing it in everyday conversations. This book is not only a great history lesson of Racial tensions but also a great look into the history of violence in our Black Youth....



5. At first glance I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book. The story was non-fiction, which ultimately means that my mind immediately began thinking of Stephen Ambrose and his agonizing dry facts and boring narrative. While I could have easily set this book down and found a new book that looked more promising the title, "All God's Children," got my attention and caused me to pick it up. Upon reading this book half of my initial intuition was correct. The book was extremely boring but it was also incredibly fascinating.
   If I could give a review based solely on the information represented in this book I would give it a new perfect score but it is a book so it also needs to hold the readers' attention. I had a horrible time trying to push my way through the book due to some incredibly slow chapters. For example, the first chapter, "Bloody Edgefield" gathers semi-useful information and then takes forever to explain the meaning behind it. Beginning in the first chapter it is necessary to involve the reader in the story and "All God's Children nearly put me to sleep."
   Although I found this book to be boring the information and descriptions were excellent. The book traces the family tree of an incarcerated young man named Willie Bosket who has been named the most dangerous criminal alive. I found the story to be fascinating and through this book I could make conjectures as to whether Willie's nature was preconceived or if it was his environment.
   Also, though the book was boring the writing was superb. Every description was vivid portraying Fox Butterfield's massive vocabulary. The writing made the reader feel as if he or she were interacting with the story instead of looking back on it two hundred years later. Due to the fact that it was boring I gave the book three stars but it is still a worthwhile read to those interested in the story of Willie Bosket.

5 comments about Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times.

1. I am only marginally interested in his politics, but this book is really a great read for anyone. Willie Brown has had such a fascinating life that anyone could appreciate this candid biography of one of the great "movers and shakers" of our time. Willie is so incredibly witty, classy and intelligent. He is truely a great man!! This book is so fun and amazingly difficult to put down.



2. I always thought that Willie Brown was amazing, but Basic Brown shows that he is far more amazing than I could have imagined.
   I love the book!
   I originally borrowed it from the public library, but now I must have my own copy. My close friends share my views on the book. We love discussing, laughing about and learning so much from Basic Brown. May Willie Brown stay on the job for a long, long time to come!



3. I bought this book with great anticipation: I read the chapter about Willie's political dates with women who accompany him to political functions. I read that excerpt on NPR. In that excerpt. Willie was honest, straightforward, and scintillating in how he described his working a room while a date waits for his attention.
   
   So I expected the rest of the book to deliver on the promise of that excerpt: to be scintillating, honest, and straight-forward. Except the all other parts of the book are cautious. I had the feeling the Willie is still playing to his friends and because of that, he held back. I was disappointed. It seemed like Willie's caution was tempered by his not wanting to piss-off his friends in case he needs them in the future for some political task. I think the chapter about his relationship with women was much more bold because Willie did not perceive that boldness potentially harming in at some point in the future.
   
   The rest of the book is somewhat standard political fare: master the rules, work hard, be scrupously honest, work for justice, have fun, etc. But that sort of mundane advice is obvious. What I wanted from Willie was his take on how and why and what the system really is to him. How we can make it work for us rather than for Republican lobbyists. I love ya Willie, but the second part of your book is too timid. The book should be read but only after in comes out in paper.



4. Basic Brown is, without question, the most entertaining and engaging political autobiography I've ever read. Willie Brown is a political animal extraordinaire, and on every page he revels in the intrigue and dealmaking, the pomp and circumatance, and the sheer fun of big time politics. The book is loaded with many memorable antecdotes that not only place Willie Brown front and center in California politics of the last 40 years, but teach pithy lessons about the nature of modern politics. Throughout the narrative, Willie Brown is always right. He's always the most skilled, best dressed, most adroit politician in the room, whether it's in the backrooms and august chambers of the Capitol in Sacramento, or in San Francisco City Hall.
   
   Willie Brown often refers to himself in the third person, and wears his massive political ego on his sleeve. But his prose never gets long winded or boring. And, through it all, the reader gets a behind the scenes glimpse into how a master of modern politics plays The Game. Willie Brown came to San Franscico as a poor, undereducated teenager from the segregated south. Through the sheer force of this personality, and his shrewd intelligence he made his way to Speaker of the California Assembly and, later, Mayor of San Francisco. Luckily for us, he has no qualms about sharing his insights, unfettered and unvarnished, so that the rest of us can learn from the Master. What a terrific book.



5. Willie Brown, the unshakable Speaker of the House in California and then Mayor of San Francisco is one wild and crazy guy. I'm sure his off the cuff remarks and detailed recounting of political shenanigans will anger about as many as they amuse, but for the casual reader this is a very interesting glimpse into the world of politics. I'll never read coverage about the simple passage of a bill again without wondering what went on behind the scenes. Willie Brown was a gift to San Francisco who only expects everyone else to be as proud of the City as he is. PJ Corkerey has done a fine job of capturing Brown's energy and wit.

5 comments about In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose.

1. I often disagree with some things a writer chooses to share but those are small things that prove your thinking about what you've read and not just scanned the material. The one that stands out the most after 20 years is the piece on Cuba. Each piece however took me somewhere beyond my own thoughts. It is more than well written, it is thought provoking and at times peaceful.



2. and this is not exception. Her honesty, her heart and her story telling is excellent as ever. May she bless us with many, many more stories.



3. Alice Walker is insightful and thorough in her examination of literature. I especially enjoy her piece about Flannery O'Connor.



4. This book helped me gain my voice. I love it so much -- I have two copies of it and I would still not be willing to loan one out. Alice Walker is a powerful visual writer and a Gift to the Womanist Academy!



5. In her essay concerning post-Reconstruction African-American women, Alice Walker seeks to put a human face on what Americans may otherwise only remember as an unfortunate scar on our glorious history. She asks, "Who were the Saints? These crazy, loony, pitiful women?" And in answering herself, she replies in repetition, "our mothers and grandmothers." These are the human faces to which she has attributed all that is contemporary Black America.
   
   "Moving to music not yet written," Walker's image of the former female slave is one, not necessarily of a battered laborer, nor of a heifer being kept only because of her ability to breed valuable livestock, but rather as an artist ahead of her time. These women made beauty while amidst horrible conditions. These women were not merely ex-slaves, but they were "Poets, Novelists, Essayists, and Short-Story Writers" whose potential was never met, and dreams were never realized. For this reason, Walker attempts to embolden and even mobilize African-American women with the responsibility of realizing the potential of black creativity denied their ancestors.
   
   Walker asks, "Do you have a genius of a great-great-grandmother who died under some ignorant and depraved white overseers lash?" What an amazing question to ask. How many geniuses and artists were slain by the horror of slavery? Americans spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the economic, political, and social restrictions slavery imposed on African Americans, but I have never even heard elusions to the loss of black creativity due to slavery. I too have given more thought to the socioeconomic inequality within black America than I've ever given to the stifling of their creative ability. Perhaps, we should give this idea more thought, for it was the efforts of these "poets" in everyday life that transported black women to where they are today, and have arguably elevated the intellect, creativity, and soul of an entire nation.
   
   Thought provoking; this is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the effects of slavery, especially those effects that go beyond our typical understanding of oppression.

1 comments about Nat Turner.

1. This is easily one of the most stunning graphic novels of the past decade, and Baker might just be one of the most important graphic novelists around now. The book is virtually wordless, except for minimal sound effects and dialog, along with historical source notes. Baker doesn't ignore the violence of his source material, but his portrayal of one of the most controversial moments in the history of slavery in America is safe enough for even very young readers.

5 comments about Temptations, Updated.

1. Otis did a great job on this book. I appreciate and respect Otis for not really saying bad things about the group. I belive he could have told much more of their personal struggles and personal business, but he chose not to. I think it take a respectable man to write a book as well written as this one is about the Tempts and yet leave them their dignity intact. This show the love and respect Otis have for them. I tip my hat to him.
   
   Thanks Otis for going back and including Melvin(blue)in your book. He was wonderful.



2. This book is excellent. I think the 70's & the Temps were in the best era of all centuries!



3. I am in the process of reading the book and i like it so far but i love the moive sooooooo much i watch it like everyday its addicting! I'm probally the youngest temptations fan i'm 14 years old and love them ..... my favorites are eddie and david i think they are the best voices.
   
   
   
   
   
   let me close by saying the tempts willl never die and i thinkt their the best group ever! noone can top them



4. I love the Temptations, and this is an outstanding book. It gives you all of the history that wasn't in the movie. It is a must have for all Temptations fans.



5. I just finished reading the updated Temptations book which I bought at the Temptations concert at the Orleans Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on April 12th, 2007. I was fortunate to be in the 2nd row and Otis shook my hand at the end of the concert.
   
   I have seen the mini series several times and bought the dvd. I also bought the 'Get Ready' dvd with clips of various Temptations songs. One of my favorite video/songs is Paul Williams: "Don't look back"
   
   I really enjoyed Otis's book and especially the update. I do not agree that Otis dissed any of the other original Tempts as some reviewers claim. It is only natural that each person will have a somewhat different perspective of events.
   
   As a 60 year old white man who attended a high school in South Phoenix with a large African American population, I have seen the impact that Motown and especially the Temptations had on race relations.
   I have seen very prejudiced white guys who would change their attitudes as they related to Tempts music and lyrics. Otis was right when he said he thought their music had something to do with 'the rope' being taken down.
   
   I have a great deal of admiration for Otis Williams. He obviously is a very spiritual man who has endured many loses in his life. If not for his spiritual beliefs, he may have followed the path of David's self destruction.
   
   It was so cool at last month's concert to see many races of people singing, laughing, giving each other high fives. After the concert, many of us congregated outside the showroom lobby and shared memories and discussed our favorite Tempt songs.
   
   I just wanted to say that Ron Tyson in my opinion, is every bit a classic Temp.
   
   Terry Weeks must be channeling Paul Williams spirit. His dancing and moves certainly reminded me of Paul.
   
   Anyway thanks to Otis for keeping the Tempts music alive.

5 comments about A Place to Stand.

1. This book is Great. A must read true story--Great writing. You must buy this book, if you don't--your missing out on something Great!



2. Excellent service. This is avery haunting book. I attended one of his workshops in San Antonio. He is an outstanding poet. I am glad to have the opportunity to read this book.



3. I discovered JSBs work on the Modern American Poetry website. I loved the imagery and passion and redemption in his poem 'El Gato.' I cried. I have read a few of his collections and they are to poetry what Cormac McCarthy's works are to literature. I can't wait to get this book.



4. A Place To Stand, magnificent novel about the author, Jimmy Santiago Baca, and his career selling drugs, and prison. He talks about how he had to fight for his privileges to read. Then to write, all with the help of a nice old man named Harry. He also writes poems for other inmates for books. He tries to keep his rights and keep his life on track in prison.
   
   He talks about his mother dieing, which just thinking about telling strangers about that happening to my mother would kill me. He also has to deal with a lot of racism through the whole thing, from his mom, to the present day. This book will show you that no matter who you come from, or what, you can always know the best for your life, and do the best for your life.



5. I'm giving this book five stars, not because it is a literary masterpiece, but because it is a compelling memoir that I can't forget. I felt a gamut of emotions while reading this book, but for the most part I ached for Mr. Baca and the pain and anguish he suffered. I thank him for writing about his life so eloquently.

2 comments about One Day When I Was Lost (Vintage International).

1. This is a decent read, though not too learn anything about Malcolm x. It was written while Elijah Muhammad was still alive, so some of the seedier details of the story of their split are left out, probably out of a fear of villifying the NOI. The script that was eventually used for Spike Lee's film is an improvement, both dramatically and historically. Clearly, though, Baldwin deserved some credit in the film, as there were passages of dialogue and story elements that remain. He actually has credit in the film, but not on the promo work on the tape cover. All things told, I'd only recommend it to Baldwin and Malcolm X completists.



2. the beginning was powerful when he reveiwed his childhood. his speeches were a bit biased, but they told a good story about life. What is life? Is life, life? Are we life? Does the cookbook give the proper recipe for twice baked potatoes? Loving is Life. Malcolm X had trouble finding this realization, but his message was bold, powerful, and worth reading about. Cheese is good. Beef, it's what's for dinner.

5 comments about Blood in My Eye.

1. This monumental work encompassing politics, economics, history, military strategy, psycology, self-defense and critical analysis is one of the most important works written by an author of African descent. There are a select few books which I would honestly call timeless classics but this along with Carter G. Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro," are two which should be required reading for every New-Afrikan male. There are so many key points and observations made which are prevalent in todays society that it becomes clear as to the reason why the author was viewed as a threat to American society at large.
   
   This is George Jackson at his finest. Thirty years before the Bush era inspired fears of American fascism, this literary master-piece warned of the impending danger. George warned that "no facist regime "in power" would "advocate the abolition of any form of private ownership." Over the past 7 years we've seen blatant examples of this come to life in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Venenzuela, Liberia, Zimbabwe and countless other hotspots around the world. Viewing the mistakes of history Jackson from the confines of his cell was able to offer up such historically accurate assessments as "war taken to the point of diminishing return weakens rather than strengthens the participants."
   
   In the tradition of Malik El Hajj Shabazz, David Walker, Denmark Veasey, Nat Turner and countless others, the call for a unified, fearless resistance to oppression earned George L. Jackson a death sentence. How much of a threat was he, consider this. On December 12, 2005, Stanley "Tookie" Williams was denied clemency from the Govenor of California who pointed to his sighting of George Jackson as a hero of his, as evidence that Williams believed in armed rebellion and was thus a unworthy of clemency inspite of his work against gang violence.
   
   In facing the use of the title of Blood in My Eye by a quisling like Jahrule, my anger and disappointment was pacified only by the words found in this text in relation to "the black running dog." "Your main source of opposition is the black running dog...but it is unfair to automatically condemn a black person for not understanding economic and political subtleties...some are simply confused in an honest way.



2. I have not read this book yet, but it seems to be an interesting propaganda piece (in the original sense of the word) by somebody serving an unjust sentence.

   Nowadays, with Three Srikes and you're Out in CA, this is being repeated no doubt.

   My objection to this book (why it's not 5 stars) is that it appears to be a derivative work by somebody who studied the original leftist agitators.

   Also, this book is likely to be admired by prison radicals who actually do not mind being labeled evil. By that I mean prison gang diciples. This is the modern 21st century trend--in other words, people who do not care for a reconcilation with their oppressors, but relish the opportunity to make trouble.




3. Now I figured out where Ja Rule got the title for his new album from. Upon reading this book, it addressed the racial, sociatal, politcal, and emotional abuse that was going on in his life and towards blacks. I think it was not fair that he got one year to life in prison just for stealing $70.00 from a store. I think he should've served some prison time and community service. But being gave life in prison for a misdemeanor is definately wrong!. If he were white he would probly get 2 years in prison & probation. But they did not allow that for blacks back during that time. I thought the collection of essays & letters expressed his feelings or inner most thoughts. So I can see why Ja Rule named his album after this book's title



4. The life praxis of assassinated prison intellectual and revolutionary George Jackson embodies much of the radical possibility embodied by the work of radical prisoners. Incarcerated in 1960 at the age of eighteen for a $70 gas station robbery, Jackson was given an indeterminate sentence of one year to life. His staunch disobedience to prison rules and officials, along with his principled and visceral hatred of confinement, spurred Jackson's political and intellectual transformation within the prison. As his political stature among California inmates grew, Jackson became a liability to state authority through his profound effectiveness as an organizer and educator of fellow prisoners-in fact, one can still find many (formerly) imprisoned and free people who testify to Jackson's mentorship as integral to their political formation. This praxis essentially guaranteed that Jackson would never again see the light of the outside, and his brutal, open execution on the concrete ground of San Quentin prison emblazoned the logic of state repression in spectacular fashion. It is an ironic, perhaps fitting testament to Jackson's lasting political legacy that a wall in the San Quentin prison "museum" contains a mounted trophy case of the high-powered rifle that killed him on August 21, 1971, along with a bronze plaque enshrining the name of the guard who pulled the trigger.
   George Jackson was, in many ways, the personification of Frantz Fanon's paradigmatic "native intellectual." In Fanon's terms, Jackson's widely read Soledad Brother and Blood In My Eye became "literatures of combat," serving dual capacities as theoretical texts and mobilizing tools. Close analysis of Jackson's knowledge production reveals a general congruence with the third, revolutionary "phase" of Fanon's developmental conception of the revolutionary native intellectual:

   "Finally in the third phase, which is called the fighting phase, the native, after having tried to lose himself in the people and with the people, will on the contrary shake the people. Instead of according the people's lethargy an honored place in his esteem, he turns himself into an awakener of the people; hence comes a fighting literature, a revolutionary literature, and a national literature. During this phase a great many men and women who up till then would never have thought of producing a literary work, now that they find themselves in exceptional circumstances-in prison, with the Maquis, or on the eve of their execution-feel the need to speak to their nation, to compose the sentence which expresses the heart of the people, and to become the mouthpiece of a new reality in action."

   As Jackson found political agency in abrogating the image of the depersonalized, silent, debased prisoner, he recognized his own incarceration as the logical outcome of a collective plight. The destiny of human expendables, the surplus people left to languish under the advance of white supremacist capital, was death, addiction, unemployment, and mass warehousing. Jackson consistently articulated the tortured severity of his relation to the world in these terms, stating and re-stating the essential dialectic of capital that rendered antagonism, deviance, and disobedience the most generalized mode of existence for people like himself:

   "...that's the principal contradiction of monopoly capital's oppressive contract. The system produces outlaws. It also breeds contempt for the oppressed. Accrual of contempt is its fundamental survival technique. This leads to the excesses and destroys any hope of peace eventually being worked out between the two antagonistic classes, the haves and the have-nots. Coexistence is impossible, contempt breeds resistance, and resistance breeds brutality, the whole growing in spirals that must either end in the uneconomic destruction of the oppressed or the termination of oppression."

   This epistemology of resistance and antagonism structured Jackson's political praxis. It was precisely his refusal of an idealized, hopeful "peace" (along with a pedagogical willingness to articulate the grounds of his refusal) that may have made his political assassination virtually inevitable. Jackson believed that the structural inevitability of state repression formed a condition of resistance for prisoners and free people alike. Yet, embracing this condition could produce an existential suicide-the necessary condition for declaring war on power.

   "This monster-the monster they've engendered in me will return to torment its maker, from the grave, the pit, the profoundest pit. Hurl me into the next existence, the descent into hell won't turn me. I'll crawl back to dog his trail forever. They won't defeat my revenge, never, never. I'm part of a righteous people who anger slowly, but rage undamned. ...I'm going to charge them reparations in blood. ...This is one nigger who is positively displeased. I'll never forgive, I'll never forget, and if I'm guilty of anything at all it's of not leaning on them hard enough. War without terms."

   For George Jackson, the historic possibility of forging a utopic "new reality" could only emerge from the corporeal ashes of those who dared challenge the corporate state's programmatic killing of oppressed people in and outside the U.S. It was this imagination of a righteous political death, a glorified descent into hell mandated by a social formation that fed on the bodies of disobedients and disposables, that allowed for the creative rearticulation of the imminent, violent consequence of repression.




5. This book offers an excellent, honest portrayal of the day to day reality of 70s black revolutionairies and it can be promised that once you begin reading, you will rush to the end.

   This book takes you to the heart of the Black Power movement and is so intriguing because it is written by someone who lived, and died for a cause in which he believed.

   So often books or studies that focus on this specific facet of the civil rights era dillute the reality of the moment, because they are writing from a mere spectator's point of view, rather than from the perspective of actual participants.

   For this reason, this book should be a must read for anyone studying the Black Panther Party--if they want to know the principles, beliefs and hopes of the people.

5 comments about W. E. B. Du Bois, 1919-1963: The Fight for Equality and the American Century.

1. I just finished rereading DL Lewis's first DuBois biography, and am thinking about purchasing the second bio. I own a copy of the first, and did read the second bio as a library book. Reading the current reviewer comments for this book refreshed my memory somewhat about the second bio. I would agree with reader praise for the first bio; it is a splendid book, as good as historical biography can be. The second bio starts out well but ends up reading as having been rushed, which is probably what happened, Lewis rushing to meet a publishing deadline. We would all be well served if Mr. Lewis would consider reissuing the second bio when he has time to flesh it out.



2. W.E.B. DuBois was born 2 years after slavery was abolished, and died two years before the wide ranging civil rights acts of 1965 were enacted. During this century, America was transformed from a largely rural nation whose economy depended on agricultural production (not the least of which was the cotton grown in the south by slaves) to an urban nation with the world's largest economy, built on industrial production. Throughout most of this transformation, DuBois was the loudest and clearest voice proclaiming the injustices suffered by the nation's Blacks.

   DuBois voice took many forms. He was the nation's leading Black Sociologist, Political Scientist and Hstorian scholar for most of his life. He was among the giants, regardless of race, in each of these fields. This alone would have been remarkable, even had he not had to struggle against the burden of racism every step of the way. What makes DuBois' life truly amazing (an over used word, which is fully justified here) is that in addition to his academic leadership, DuBois was a newspaper columnist, speaker, and founded dozens of popular mass organizations (most famously, the NAACP). He was quite literally the mentor of virtually every leading Black scholar, lawyer, business man, politician, etc. that followed.

   Surprisingly, given the transformation of the rest of society, DuBois retained his leadership role in the country as his many competitors and detractors faded--Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Walter White, among others.

   Lewis has produced a masterful biography of this complex, vastly under rated man. Lewis keeps his writing interesting, as he traces the twists and turns DuBois was forced to follow in his battle against racism. He began with a traditional middle class, elite (which DuBois dubbed "the talented tenth") analysis which urged the white power structure to recognize that elite blacks were as crucial to the nation's future as were the elite of the white population. He ended as a communist, victim of McCarthy, having given up all hope of democratic change, living in exile in Ghana, where he was finally accorded the unstinting respect he was denied during the first 90 years of his life in America.

   Lewis gives DuBois final years short shrift. Lewis seems to agree with most of the contemporary civil rights leaders, who thought DuBois had simply lost his marbles in his dotage. Lewis therefore skims over the last two decades of DuBois life in a few all too brief pages.

   I beg to differ. I believe that DuBois' thinking was an entirely accurate reflection of the frustrations he had encountered. As Lewis hints at, but fails to explore, DuBois tried every conceivable means of combating America's deep seated racism. He was rejected at every turn. Despite apparent victories, many would have said that the plight of Blacks at the end of DuBois' long life was not very much improved over their plight at the beginning of his life. The white controlled governments, universities, financial instutions, and political parties had not embraced the black elite, and the black masses had yet to see any benefit from the legal victories won by Thurgood Marshall and the Inc, Fund in the late 50's.

   Lewis quotes DuBois aunt as chastizing DuBois for his attacks on Booker T. Washington as a quisling--DuBois may have grown up facing racism, but he did not have the whip marks of slavery on his back that Washington had suffered. Similarly, those who criticize DuBois for his emrace of communism had not suffered the frustrations of almost a century of struggle during which everything in America had changed--except its racism.

   As DuBois lay dying, virtually his last words were to the President of Ghana, apologizing for not living long enough to "finish" his work.

   I know of no one who was more reviled during his lifetime that better deserves the masterful biography Lewis has given us, and given to the ages.

   Everyone should not only read Lewis, but should go back and re-read some of DuBois own works. DuBois could not be given a higher honor, and deserves no less.




3. I agree with Schmerguls, above, that David Levering Lewis' vol. II of DuBois has too many typographical errors; the endnotes are a nightmare; and that it needs a bibliography. But the book is more than a flawed book about a flawed man. It is readable, in general; Lewis could have skipped some of the big words in favor of words that ordinary readers could understand without a dictionary simultaneously open. Lewis uses colorful, precise verbs in many cases and succeeds in bringing characters to life in one word descriptions. He humanizes DuBois by discussing his friendships and by examples (through verbs and description ) of DuBois's autocratic manner. If this biography does not deserve a Pulitzer, I am curious what biography Schmerguls would consider worthy? The Oakland reviewer, above, is more on the mark in that this is a thoroughly researched and keenly insightful recounting of the life of a towering figure. I, too, sorely miss a bibliography. And the last quarter of the book is indeed full of typographical errors which a careful copy editor should have caught. One hopes that there will be a revision someday with all corrections made. Still, this is a wonderful history of the times and of an amazing (though "flawed," like the rest of us) figure in American history. DuBois certainly provoked solid thought at a time when mainstream America was unsure that Negroes could think. I have heard David Levering Lewis speak on C-Span. He writes better than he speaks because he says "Uh-uh" too much as he searches for those big words. But I'm so grateful that his work on DuBois came to fruition in my lifetime so that I could read it.



4. It seems odd that Lewis's biography of W. E. B. DuBois should be felt to be entitled to two Pulitzer prizes. The author disapproves at least on the surface of some of DuBois's more outrageous positions, but yet Lewis's biases show thru, and one gets the idea that in general if Lewis had not had the benefit of what has happened in regard to Communism in the past 15 years Lewis would be even more approving of DuBois's opinions than he now indicates. As others have mentioned, it is disconcerting to have a book from a major publisher have so many typographical errors. One would think they could have been easily avoided. And the endnotes are a nightmare. Instead of footnotes there are page notes in the back, with no discernible system: some indicate sources, but I found them very user-unfriendly. There is no bibliography as such, and overall I thought the book poorly edited. But the book tells a story of interest, especially during the period from 1945 to 1963.



5. With volume two Lewis completes his magisterial work chronicling the life and times of the controversial W. E. B. Du Bois, and this second volume is every bit as fascinating and scholarly as the first one which won the Pulitzer Prize. This volume follows Du Bois' descent from a founder and spokesman for the NAACP to his self-imposed exile in Ghana in 1963. Throughout the journey Lewis thoroughly develops the changing viewpoints Du Bois put forth as solutions to the problems of racial discrimination and the powerlessness of people of color in this country and around the world. From an integrationist (who at the same time criticized the assimilationist attitude of Frederick Douglas), Du Bois moved into the Pan-Africa movement (although he disliked and opposed Marcus Garvey and his movement), and eventually supported Black separatism before settling on socialism and Marxism in the later years of his life. His "petty bourgeois" ideas concerning Black economic separatism were, of course, vehemently criticized by his Marxist friends. Many believed "Du Bois was a romantic, a racialist, and an old man given to dreams of a 'shopkeepers paradise' as a solution to the depression."

   Although Lewis soft-pedals Du Bois' deep character flaws which caused him to be constantly at odds with others who were "on his side" in the fight for racial equality, and permitted him to excuse the murder and outrages of Stalinism and the Japanese military aggression and ethnic cleansing in Asia, the author clearly reveals these facts of Du Bois' life. Lewis reveals how Du Bois' mind became so poisoned with a visceral hatred of White power, and its adjunct Western capitalism, that he eventually reached the point where he could look the other way or excuse the outrages committed by peoples or regimes opposed to Western interests (which he never seemed to quite grasp were really his own interests and those of the Negro in America). In the end Du Bois seemed opposed to almost any policy his country adopted and he supported any force in the world (be it Pan-Africanism, Bolshevism, Japanese militarism, or Chinese communism) that opposed the interests of the "White governments." Thus, did a brilliant social critic end up a confused mind destined to play the role of a pawn for regimes opposed to Western interests.

   Lewis is very good at highlighting Du Bois' conflict with Marcus Garvey of whom he draws a great character sketch. He points out that Garvey's early followers were often poor, less educated, and often of West Indian origins, while the more "elitist" Du Bois circulated among, and pretended to speak for, the Talented Tenth of the African American people. Du Bois was an elitist and intellectual who could not stomach the irrational pronouncements of Marcus Garvey. Du Bois' viewpoint was that of the Black urban, educated, professional.

   Lewis is also very strong with detail concerning Du Bois' widening differences with the NAACP leadership and the association's approach to fighting for equality. Du Bois was not a great fan of Walter White, Roy Wilkins, and Thurgood Marshall who, with their legalistic approach, stressed working within the "White system." As in volume one, Lewis does a good job of discussing Du Bois' many writings and shows how Du Bois himself (as witnessed by his "The Gift of Black Folks") never outgrew his own racial stereotyping. Lewis also soft-pedals Du Bois' many affairs with intellectual women, but he does document these relationships. He shows how Du Bois, a believer in the rights of women, virtually abandoned his wife Nina over a period of many years in almost every sense but financial (many of his friends and intellectual acquanitances never met his wife) and how he was less than a father to his unfortunate daughter Yolande (who was one of the great disappointments of his life.)

   Lewis' book is possibly most fascinating when he deals with the Harlem Renaissance and the various figures with whom Du Bois was familiar. He details Du Bois' eventual alienation from the creative people of this era who depicted the seediness of Black urban life and culture. This too realistic depiction of Black life by the Renaissance literary figures embarrassed and angered Du Bois who wanted to believe that the "Negro race" was destined for a special place in history and, as a race, manifest certain elements of racial superiority. Du Bois criticized the Harlem Renaissance writers, poets, and artists for not sharing his belief that art and culture should serve racial politics. As Lewis shows, "Du Bois's own deep anti-modernist taboos surfaced" in his criticism of the Renaissance literati. Lewis also spends a good deal of time on the historiography of the Reconstruction Era to enable his reader to grasp the importance of Du Bois' writings on the subject and how they served as a necessary correction (despite Du Bois' own one-sidedness and exaggerated claims) to the more traditional school of historical writing on the Reconstruction Era. He also reveals the extent to which Du Bois would never give up the ridiculous notion that the freed slaves saved democracy in America. He desperatly needed to find a special role for the African American in the history of the the great country. Despite Du Bois' brilliant intellect, it was his tendency to see "White" hatred of the Negro as the central paradigm of all modern history, that prevented him from being widely accepted as a scholar. For him, all historical understanding began with this simple fact. Often his own worst enemy, Du Bois, Lewis tells us, "managed to give the impression that racial discrimination had been invented soley to make his life miserable."

   In the end, Du Bois felt the American Negro had let him down and he lost his faith in the special role the Negro was to play in history. As he himself admitted, "I misinterpreted the age in which I lived." One has to think that this disillusionment played as much a role in his decision to leave the country as any other reason. All in all, Lewis' biography portrays Du Bois as not so much a heroic figure, as a tragic one; a brilliant mind warped by a troubled soul that was the reflection of much of the pain experienced by an educated African American in the first half of the twentieth century.

5 comments about Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain.

1. I must admit that I vacillated between sorrow and anger for Lori. She seemed to have such a hard time identifying with her Blackness and I didn't realize young Black people struggled with this identity crisis while coming of age in the '80's. Having lived through the turmoil of the '50's and '60's, I assumed that people of African descent living in America were Black and Proud.
   
   I'm happy that Lori is finally appreciating the blessing of being born Black, one manifestation of the Source of all of us.
   
   Now she will be able to impart to her children and others that on a spiritual plane, all of us share the same Source even though the multitude fails to realize that the breath of life, the air that sustains us all is the same. Many will go through life not realizing this simple fact and will continue to erect barriers/walls to separate us.
   
   Her memoir is a gratifying read and many will enjoy her awakening.



2. This memoir by Lori Tharps, who also the co-authored of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, was a nice, easy, lightweight coming-of-age story. The book got a little whiny at times as the author tried to reconcile the differences between the Spain of her imaginations and the real Spain especially as it related to the treatment, ideas and attitudes of Black people. But I was completely on-board as she struggled to figure out her identity as a Black person. She grew up in an area that was predominantly White and was never really confident in her Blackness especially when dealing with other Black people. As a first generation Nigerian born and raised in the states, that has been something I too have struggled with. If you speak English properly, enjoy reading and the Opera, well, then, you are not really Black. We know that's not true but I think it's something that many young, upwardly mobile, intelligent Black people face. What does it mean to be truly Black? Ms. Tharps story is inspirational in that she finds her own way to be authentically Black. I felt like she glossed over some things (like her children's birth and her practice of the Ba'hai faith) but these, I suppose, were not the focus of her book. She is, however, refreshingly honest about herself and her feelings/emotions in her page-turning memoir. I think it's that candor that makes you want to continue reading because there is nothing overly exciting going on in the book. It's her story. And it's just life. The ups. The downs. And the in-betweens.
   
   Great summer reading.



3. Tharps' story about her love-hate relationship with Spain was high on my list of must reads for this summer - and it turned out to be time well-spent. Tharps chronicles her youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was the only Black girl in her predominately white classes, to her undergrad days at Smith college, where she is one of the few Black women on campus. Tharps struggles to find herself and determine where she fits in. As a youth, she develops a strong love for Spain and vows to see this country that she has fallen so deeply for. Tharps takes her readers to Salamanca and we watch as her adoration for this country slowly turns to something else when she encounters its citizens and learns its hidden truths. This is simply a love story - and in the end, I think Tharps eventually learns to love the thing that is most important - herself.



4. I could not put down Kinky Gazpacho!!! Lori's delivery of her story was heartfelt and warm, as well as insightful and educational. It has made me even more determined to broaden my life experiences by travelling to other countries (including Spain!!), and immersing myself in different cultures. Kinky Gazpacho leaves the reader hopeful, inspired, and ready to engage life fully.



5. Lori Tharps describes herself on " My American Meltingpot ":
   
   * Gender: Female
   * Occupation: Writer/Teacher/Mom
   * Location: Mount Airy : USA
   
   Black-American Female. Wife of Spanish Male. Mother to 2 SpaNegro boys. Writer. Author. Teacher. Chameleon. People Person. Aspiring Icon.
   
   Kinky Gazpacho expands that information in a factually interesting, emotionally interesting way. She grew up in a white suburb of Milwaukee Wisconsin. For a reason she doesn't really explain, at an early age she decided her destiny lay in Spain. She didn't know anyone there, had never visited the country and barely spoke Spanish. (She equally unrevealing later in the book about why she joined the the Baha'i faith.)
   
   Part of her reason may for seeking an identity may lie in this passage about International Day from her grade school days:
   
   "The activities started at lunchtime. Our usual family-style meal was a smorgasbord of international flavors. We had bratwurst and apple turnovers, Swedish meatballs and some sort of Chinese stir-fry with crunchy noodles. No snails, though. After lunch we headed to the gym and were met with a riot of color and noise and information. We went around as a class first, visiting the different booths. Each booth represented a different country and was manned by volunteer parents in costumes. And then we were free to roam around, playing games, sampling sweets, and reading about distant lands. As I meandered around the gym, I completely forgot about my lack of heritage and just enjoyed all the activities with my friends. And then it was time for the parade of costumes, and I moved to the edge of the floor. I wasn't the only one without a costume, though. Other kids had forgotten or couldn't find anything to wear. I tried to act like I belonged with them.
   
   "By the time International Day was over, I felt like I had been holding my breath and I could finally let it go. All day long I had been praying nobody would ask me where I came from and why I wasn't wearing a costume. The fact that they didn't ask made me realize that they all probably knew and didn't want to make me feel bad. Everybody knew that Black people came from nothing."
   
   Tharps attended Smith College and spent a year studying in Spain. Her "innocent dreams of a place where race doesn't matter are shattered." She learned that southern Spain is a very racist area, with a long and complex history of Black slaves from Western Africa. Her researches indicated that the history of slavery is suppressed by the Spanish Government and forgotten by the Spanish public.
   
   On the personal side, she is chased down the street by kids and pointed at by adults. She learns that chocolate covered peanuts are packaged in "little plastic statues of a naked Pygmy with oversized red lips, bulging eyes and and a spear in his little hand" called " Conguitos ". [Google the word; it's almost shocking how the image leaps off the computer screen.] A Spanish mother struggling with her child, points to Tharps and says: "If you don't behave, I'll give you to that." An article in a Sunday paper discusses "the Black woman's hypersexuality through their intrinsically savage nature."
   
   Despite the culture shock, Tharps stays in Spain and eventually meets Manuel. One of the most moving passages describes how Manuel introduces Lori to his family. His grandmother spies on her; his grandfather is warm in his welcome, but tells her many racist jokes. Lori is careful to collect her hair in the bathroom after washing and drying it.
   
   Thaps's hair provides important insights. In an interview with "Ebony", Tharps says "I had just finished writing my first book, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, and it seemed everything about the Black experience in America could be traced back to our hair. I was joking with my husband that my next book would be the story of how we met and fell in love and that it should be called Kinky Gazpacho -- the Kinky referring to me and my kinky hair and the Gazpacho being the traditional tomato soup from Spain that my husband could not live without."
   
   This wonderful book is a memoir, a travelogue and most of all a love story. It taught me a great deal about the Black experience in the US, about slavery and racism in Spain, and about the human heart.