No comments about The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957-December 1958 (Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr).

No comments about Servants of the People: The 1960s Legacy of African American Leadership.

No comments about The Seed of Sally Good'N: A Black Family in Arkansas, 1833-1953.

5 comments about The Book of Sarahs: A Family in Parts.

1. This book touched me to the core! Catherine's story is searingly honest, human, passionate and moving. Inspite of being extremely busy I could not put it down from the time it was delivered until 3am when I had finished it. This tour de force not only addresses issues of adoption, identity, race and prejudice but also how one's environment and circumstances affect one's own perception of events and experiences. It is the best book I have read in years!



2. Catherine went searching for the truth and she found it. It was reality and not a made up story with a happy ending. I believe that she was very self serving in telling the story. I felt she did not really appreciate the parents who raised her, until the very end. I wondered how they felt after reading this book. She certainly laid out all her complaints about them. I personally could relate to her mother, who was doing the very best she could for a rather unappreciative daughter.
   On the other hand, I think I gained some insight to what it was like to grow up black in a white world, not easy at all. I'm glad she was able to tell this story with as much depth and clarity as she did.
   This story also brings to light the plight of the children of a middle class woman who had several children and didn't choose to acknowledge or care for them. What about birth control? Yes, she was mentally ill, but I wonder if we can excuse her for that.
   
   In the last several years I have done the research that reunited my husband (in his 60's) with the birth mother who gave him up. The search was very interesting and it was a miracle how it all came together. The story has a bittersweet ending, since his birth mother passed away within a year of their reunion.
   
   This is a great story and I couldn't put it down.



3. It can be hard enough to come to terms with family and identity when one is not adopted. Imagine growing up the transracial adoptee of a white family in a tiny working class town in rural Massachusetts (read: all white). Moreover, you are biracial and subject to putdowns and jibes by "full-blooded" members of your race. This background makes up the first part of Catherine McKinley's compulsively readable memoir. The second part is her search for her roots, and her reckoning when she finds those roots and they are not quite what she expected.

   McKinley has a superb ear for dialogue and mood. Moreover, The Book of Sarahs is so full of suprises that sometimes it's like reading a thriller. McKinley starts out by giving us her fantasy of her birth mother that carried her through her youth (most adoptees have one)...and part of the fun of the book is seeing just how different reality is from her fantasy, again and again. McKinley also writes with wonderful humor and subtle characterizations that make it difficult to dislike anyone in her book despite their foibles. Finally, I can't agree with other reviewers that McKinley was cruel to her adoptive family. Her adoptive parents clearly understood her journey, and by the end of the book she intimated that she had resolved her issues with them.

   Don't miss this one...one of the best I've read this year!




4. This book tells the tale of Catherine McKinley's search for her birth parents. McKinley, who is biracial, was adopted at birth. Brought up in a White family, she found herself drawn towards African American culture in her search for building her own identity. As an adult, questions about who she was and how she came to be gradually took over the focus of her life. In this book, she details how she searched for her birth parents and eventually found them, as well as other family members.

   From reading the blurb on the back cover of the book, I had expected the book to focus more on McKinley's experiences of growing up as an adopted biracial child. I have very little experience myself with issues relating to adoption, and I had no idea how consuming the questions of identity and family can be for an adopted child. Prospective adoptive parents might learn quite a bit from this book about how adopted children may have an unquenchable thirst for knowing their birth parents, a thirst that can taint relationships between them and their adopted family members if not handled appropriately. Adoptees, on the other hand, may be quite interested to read how McKinley proceeded in her search, and how the results of her search compared with her dreams. The emotional issues concerning adoption are never easy to reconcile; after all, every adoption starts with a tragedy that has resulted in parents having to give up their children. The children and all of their parents, both adopted and birth, must spend the remainder of their lives putting the pieces back together.




5. I beg to differ with some of the other customer reviews posted for The Book of Sarahs. Reality is messy. Members of the adoption triad--birthparents, adoptees, and adoptive parents--share a complicated, emotionally charged relationship from the moment the adoptee is born. There are one thousand and one reasons why birthmothers feel that relinquishment is the best possible choice for their child; there are just as many reasons why adoptive parents choose to raise a non-biological child. But the adoptee has the most to gain or lose. In my twenty-six years as a birthmother, I am continually amazed by the infinite variety of paths triad members have traveled, yet we're all connected by the same feelings of uncertainty, wistfulness, and longing for what might have been. Thankfully, adoption today is much more open, kinder, gentler; many studies have documented the impact of adoption on all triad members, and there are fewer black holes than there were a generation or more ago. Catherine McKinley's personal story of life as an adopted Black child raised in a white family and predominately white community will captivate readers. One does not have to a member of the adoption community to appreciate her search for self. Ms. McKinley's prose is a pleasure to read, a beautifully, richly written story of relationships that readers will find hard to put down.

1 comments about A Fly in a Pail of Milk: The Herb Carnegie Story.

1. "Fly in a Pail of Milk" is the autobiography of Herb Carnegie, the 3-time, Senior League MVP and career minor leaguer, who should have broken the NHL color barrier 20 years before Boston Bruin Willie O'Ree. Despite being referred to as "the best that never played," the Ontario native never realized his dream of playing in the NHL for his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs, most said, because of the color of his skin. Though the pacing, at times, is a bit slow, the book is a worthwhile read, primarily because Carnegie is rarely mentioned in hockey history books, and few of even the most versed hockey fans could tell you who he is.

1 comments about Flight: The Story of Virgil Richardson, A Tuskegee Airman in Mexico.

1. As a fan of the 1956 tv show "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" starring Irish McCalla, I wanted to read about the character actor who played many parts in the series. It was very interesting to learn Virgil served in World War II and started his own theate company. Plus the history of Mexico as a refuge for African Americans was enlighting.
   For fans of the Sheena tv show, it was worth reading.

5 comments about First Coming (Library of Contemporary Thought).

1. It should be obvious to anyone who has read Feinstein's articles and books on Tiger that he has an axe to grind. If you are looking for a fair and unbaised read on Tiger Woods - avoid this at all costs.
   
   To the reviewer below who regarded Tiger's success as hype -- the man has 12 majors as of 2006, 2nd only to the Golden Bear and I THINK Tiger has a few more years of good golf left. If you think that is HYPE you must not think much of the other golfing greats like Palmer, Hogan, Player... I could go on... but I think Tiger is saying it better than I ever could.



2. Of all of the Tiger Woods books that have been written this one is the worst I have encountered. Why? Instead of giving a thought provoking analysis of Tiger Woods as a player and his personal impact upon the sporting world, you end up reading a personal vendetta that the author has against Team Tiger.

   John Feinstein starts out with the question of who is Tiger Woods and then proceeds to break the myths surrounding the personality. There isn't anything wrong with breaking myths except Feinstein has nothing good to say about Tiger (except for his game). He accuses Earl Woods of exploiting his famous son, he castigates IMG for being Tiger's management agency, and shows his hatred for Tiger's agent, Hughes Norton. He paints a portrait of Tiger being immature, greedy and totally insensitive to his fans. If that is the case, why bother slapping together a work dealing with the greatest player in the golf world?

   In all fairness to the author, he does expose Tiger for what he was at the time; a young immature player who makes mistakes. He also shows the myths that the media have perpetuated about the young man. He also points out how greedy sponsors and management agencies can ruin the careers of young players. That is good information in understanding Tiger Woods the icon but says little about him as a person.

   What is lacking in the book is Feinstein not really knowing Tiger personally. His diatribes against the player and his cohorts have prevented him from getting to know the other side of the young man who will make a great contribution to golf. Feinstein is caught up in an axe to grind against Tiger's handlers and misses the champion. You don't gain any insight from his musings. If you are a Tiger fan and want to collect books about him regardless of what is said about Tiger by all means pick up a copy. Otherwise leave it on the shelf.




3. I submit Feinstein would be better served to consider Woods' family dynamics, rather than skewer them. And no, you can not consider them by skewering them.



4. If Mr. Feinstein thought this deliberately self-serving effort to drag Tiger's name (and his family's) through the mud would gain favor throughout the sporting world, and throw Tiger off his game, he thought dead-wrong. Tiger's string of top-10 finishes in 1998 (his worst year, when this book was released), his $7-million 1999 season, and now the biggest blowout in majors history (winning by 15 strokes at the 2000 U.S. Open, the only one under par), is an absolutely fitting response, by Tiger, to Feinstein's effort to manufacture scandal from almost nothing. One guy said it best when he said that there are other golfers on tour who are no different, if not worse. Amazing, it seems, that we haven't heard from Feinstein since Tiger's 1999 PGA Championship win. His crow is getting cold.



5. If Mr. Feinstein thought this deliberately self-serving effort to drag Tiger's name (and his family's) through the mud would gain favor throughout the sporting world, and throw Tiger off his game, he thought dead-wrong. Tiger's string of top-10 finishes in 1998 (his worst year, when this book was released), his $7-million 1999 season, and now the biggest blowout in majors history (winning by 15 strokes at the 2000 U.S. Open, the only one under par), is an absolutely fitting response, by Tiger, to Feinstein's effort to manufacture scandal from almost nothing. One guy said it best when he said that there are other golfers on tour who are no different, if not worse. Amazing, it seems, that we haven't heard from Feinstein since Tiger's 1999 PGA Championship win. His crow is getting cold.

No comments about Brown Face, Big Master (Caribbean Classics).

2 comments about Black-Eyed Peas for the Soul: Tales to Strengthen the African American Spirit and Encourage the Heart.

1. If you are a fan of the Chicken soup books, You'll love Black-eyed peas for the soul, a collection of inspirationl, and stories of hope from african americans of every wake of life.



2. This unique book carries the reader into many worlds through the experiences of the writers. A reader is inspired by stories of faithfulness in varied relationships. Lessons about the kind of persistence that leads to life altering achievement are included from unexpected authors like George Washington Carver. It is good to read perspectives from African-Americans from many different disciplies and philosophies. I don't think we have heard enough about the presence of this book in the literary world. My suggeston to everyone is read it and improve the quality of your life. BLACK-EYED PEAS FOR THE SOUL IS A TREASURE.

No comments about Clarity as Concept: A Poet's Perspective.