1 comments about Adventures of an African Slaver.

1. A FAST PACED FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN THEODORE CANOT, TRADER IN GOLD, IVORY AND SLAVES ON THE COAST OF GUINEA CIRCA 1854. CAPT. CANOT HAD QUITE A LIFE AND THE BOOK IS WRITTEN IN A MANNER THAT SEEMS TO DEFY DATING IN THAT IT IS EASY TO READ; TO GET INVOLVED IN, AND GIVES ONE MAN'S VIEW OF AN ERA THAT PLAYED A LARGE PART IN HISTORY. NOT AS ROUGH AS ONE WOULD EXPECT.

5 comments about A Man of Letters.

1. Thomas Sowell is one of the best writers of modern day condition that I have read. From his columns in the local paper on occasion to his books, which I have all of his publications.... I just cannot get enough of this man's wisdom.
   
   To have a full education in economics and the greater understanding of what potential we have Dr. Sowell is number one on my reading list.



2. I am a long time T Sowell fan. My rating would no doubt be prejudiced. This book shows him to be a regular guy. His letters are straight forward. No big words, everything easy to grasp



3. Thomas Sowell is a really great writer. This "auto-biography" told by his correspondence over the years was most enjoyable.



4. Dr. Sowell continues his personal revelations through a series of letters sent and received. Because of Dr. Sowell's clear thinking and uncompromising honesty plus his sense of the ridiculous, these letters are a joy to read. However, they also offer a view of the evolvement of parts of society (i.e. the academic life) seldom examined so closely. Read this book! It will lead you to his other works which you will want to read. My favorites are "Conflict of Visions" and "Black Rednecks and White Liberals". I encourage everyone to read this book. It will awaken young people to new views and reassure the over 50 crowd that what they suspected was true.



5. His letters of the past 40 years gives us a glimpse to one of the greatest modern thinker's life. I have read Mr. Sowell's editorials many times and always find his commonsense to be refreshing. This book takes us through history as he recounts the current events of the time, from his unique perspective, with colleagues, students and policy-makers.

2 comments about Tuskegee Airman: The Biography of Charles E. McGee, Air Force Fighter Combat Record Holder.

1. History records major events that often changed or will change human events. History is packed with stories about famous people and places that every child knows about, from Washington to Lincoln to Kennedy. But what about those people in history that make a difference and never get noticed?

   Written by his daughter, what we find in this book is more than history its living history. Smith captures the reader with insight only a person this close to the subject can bring to life. Just the lessons about the Tuskegee Airmen is reason enough to read this book.

   Talk a walk through the 200-page life history of one of the greatest men in aviation history. Honored by a number of people, Charles McGee is a true national hero for all ages and all people. The sad part of the whole story is how the history books missed the group of men who changed aviation history.

   In a day when it is a sad reality that most American history books fail to portray any African American as a hero in the history books, it is great to know that people like Charlene McGee Smith can help us to remember that history is colorblind. Excellent reading for everyone!




2. This is a wonderful story that chronicles the life of Col. Charles McGee who holds the record for the highest three-war total of fighter combat missions in US Air Force history. It is told through the eyes of his daughter who captures both the military experience as well as the human side of this story. We learn of the perseverance of this Tuskegee Airman who was able to overcome racist experiences and become an American hero. Part of the delight of this book is the personal rememberances by family and friends. Col. McGee flew combat missions and navigated racist attitudes and biases throughout his life. This account is about more than a distinguished military career,it is about family and the significant influence he had on his eldest daughter. We learn about his bravery but more importantly lessons about the value of family, character, and education shape a powerful message for all of us.

3 comments about Daniel O'Donnell: My Story.

1. Book was in very good condition and was very enjoyable to read. I looked everywhere for this book but could only find it on Amazon. Thank You!



2. Received book on time. I enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Daniel.



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have been a fan of Daniel O'Donnell for a long time and it was enjoyable reading his life story. This book is worth reading if you are a fan of Daniel O'Donnell.

No comments about The Unfinished Agenda of the Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March (Landmarks in Civil Rights History).

No comments about Whites Confront Racism: Antiracists and their Paths to Action.

5 comments about Grace Will Lead Me Home.

1. Robin's book was more than I expected. It was very detailed and it held my interest throughout the whole book. You felt as if you could actually feel her pain, disappointment, anger, frustration and joy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would not hesitate to purchase another book of hers.



2. This book was okay. It started out very slowly, and took me awhile to get into it. I felt as though this book was very long, but it was a very good portrayal of how she fell for Tyson and all that entailed. I also liked the fact that she talked about her own projects, and what she was trying to accomplish in her life although it was so chaotic.



3. I'm not a fan of Ms. Givens and I don't know why I picked this book from the library shelf other than because I had heard about it and it was there. Ms. Givens covers a great deal of background in this book - from her grandmother, Grace, to her mother, Ruth - and then she weighs us down with the sordid details of her tumultuous life with Iron Mike Tyson. As much as I wanted to feel for Ms. Givens, the book did not make me sympathetic, nor did it really provide me with enough of Ms. Givens' story. She spent a great part of the book on her parentage and the drama with Mike, but never really detailed her life "after Mike." Sure, she gives us a brief paragraph or two about Brad Pitt, but what about her other relationships after Mike - how did her marriage and divorce affect how she dealt with her new relationships - and wasn't she married for a hot minute?
   
   She could have talked more about her career, more about her children - but I guess that wasn't the reason behind writing this book. I imagine this was cathartic for her and if that helps her put the past behind her, so be it. I don't know if I really expected this to be a tell-all as much as I hoped it would give more insight into her life and give me a reason to like her public persona. As a reader, I just didn't "feel" it. Worth a read and purchase, particularly if you're a fan; otherwise, get it from the library.



4. interesting, i got the feeling that all was not said in this book about what really went on but somethings are left unsaid, but what i truly believe is that this was a lesson robin givens learned and as a mom of 6 boys i believe this will make her a strong black mother for her kids you go girl and i am glad that mr tyson and camp are a thing of your past amen!!! p.s grace led you in the right place and keep the faith.



5. This an excellent book. I have a totally different view of Robin Givens. She truly loved Mike Tyson and was emotionally as well as physically battered in this relationship. Many women are in relationships with men who, because of their own pain cannot properly love a woman. This book shows that you can truimph over the heartache and live again.

5 comments about Ace of Spades: A Memoir.

1. I've written a lengthier review of the book on the hardcover link, but purchased the kindle version for my husband. There's little doubt that Matthews' story is harrowing, and indicative of life in 20th century america, in terms of race, but also class, and family. I would suggest to the reviewer above, who found it too difficult to look up words he/she didn't understand, to stick to less challenging material. This memoir is a challenging read, and the author seems to me to enjoy recruiting words from an earlier, more baroque era. A playful, "man out of time" feeling persists. And what, pardon my ignorance, determines a "fifty cent word?" Just because a word is unfamiliar, doesn't mean it doesn't have a specific meaning, and in Ace of Spades, words matter-- a lot. It is a book for those who love the written word and consider the english language a rich and varied treasure. Matthews employs words in a playful manner, confounding the readers' expectations. At least mine. Your mileage may vary. I for one, love to finish a book knowing more than I did when I began.
   Matthews asserts in the book that words, books, literally saved his life, so to my mind it's no sin if he chooses to use words from parts of the dictionary that others can't be bothered to mine.
   To dismiss a story as unique and heartbreaking as this one because it's an unabashedly literary--as opposed to movie of the week accessible--memoir, is intellectually lazy.
   By the "50 cent word to tell a five cent story" logic, if we extrapolate, then a chef who uses arucola instead of iceberg lettuce is making a nine dollar variation on what should be a 2.50 blue plate special. Words have value beyond their individual meanings. The way they sound, the way they look on the page, the way they create a sense of time, place, rhythm. They should not read like AP reports. David Matthews' story is important, and the telling is unforgettable. I could have done with two or three less footnotes, but Matthews is a writer who goes for it; and not many aspire to those heights these days. I highly recommend it to those who don't mind grabbing a thesaurus every once in a while. Words is good. Don't be afraid.



2. Not worth it. I'm sure Mr. Matthews has something to say, but I only made it to page #75 before I finally gave up on this book. If you don't have a dictionary to carry around with you while reading this book, you'll soon find out what I mean. Mr. Matthews uses $100 words far too much to tell a fifty cent story.



3. The last pages of this memoir are beautiful in their simplicity and completeness. The author wraps up the strands of numerous themes in a sentimental manner.
   
   That said, the anger he displays in thought and action in several incidents does cause the reader to wonder if he shares a few similarities with his mother. One of the most grotesque incidents is found on page 258 when he responds to a racial epithet from a child -- a child! -- with an imagined rape of the child.
   
   This is not just a book about racial identity;it is also a man's problem with anger that just as readily could have come from a place before race.



4. Ace of Spades is not the book I thought it would be, and surpassed my expectations. Often, memoirs are filled either with extraordinary stories, or with flashy, gimmicky writing to disguise what are actually unremarkable lives. This memoir is literature, in the truest sense, and it's a life-story/worldview unlike any I've ever read. It reminds me of James Baldwin mixed with Larry David mixed with Salinger. If you are looking for "The Color of Water," or some other "movie-of-the-week" account of growing up between racial identities: keep looking. If you are looking for for a story of growth, humor, heartbreak, alienation and hope, pick it up.



5. David Matthews is to be commended for a naked account of growing up straddling the old American color line in Baltimore, a de facto segregated city during the 70s and 80s. And his courage in confessing to sins in mind and deed, cross burning (which, for the record, I didn't believe), fantasies of raping a white child after his black parentage is revealed, the patent neglect suffered by the family dog, might be lauded except that, after a while, the forays into telling the whole truth and nothing but seem more like an exercise in self-indulgence rather than edification for the reader on the subject/s at hand.
   
   If only he wrote this book in the way he talks; I heard a radio interview with him where he proved himself to be a great and arresting story-teller, and whenever he decides to cover in his book the inner workings of someone passing for white/black, he is a fascinating subject, but when Matthews describes in excruciating detail, universally-experienced adolescent sexual yearnings, the book is painful to read and sometimes embarrassing. Matthews may be exceptional in his experiences of "passing" for white on the late 20th century color line, but he is no exotic when it comes to youthful animal lust. In this book, there's far too much of the latter, which is used as provocative filler to make up for a lack of material on the former.
   
   Having grown up lower middle class (but in New York City) during the same period of time as Matthews, and experienced post Civil Rights Era predation from blacks, and as a product of the white paternalist approach in public school education, as a latter-day multi-racial myself, I feel a bit let down by the absence of a real exercise into exploring the particular subject of race relations in modern day America.
   
   Matthews possesses a great skill for observation, of the kind that doesn't surface much in books these days, of the sense-memory, finely-detailed sort, covering both the mundane (too much) and extraordinary (too little), that one readily associates with recondite late 19th century literature. But, unfortunately, like the late 19th c. writers of said recondite literature, Matthews indulges in a bad habit of overwriting. A lot. His abuse of forgotten or underused words of the English language (like "anent" and "etiolate"), and also an inclination towards the Joycian habit of liberal use of classical foreign terms -- and in these modern times when strapped schools no longer offer French and German, along with the Latin and Italian, so that we may fully decipher Matthews' full meaning it seems a hostile act of author placing himself at an elitist distance from his reader -- the story is not then served as it should be. (I laughed out loud as I shook my head in wonderment, after suffering the inevitable reference to the schadenfreude, and the sprinklings of latin and french throughout, that he had the temerity to criticize a genuine German woman's use of the common word for backpack: rucksack!)
   
   After a while, his prose does not dazzle as the author surely intended --the story becoming bogged down in winking asides -- but reveals insecurity, and then it just irritates. And Matthews, whose self-love/loathing is always in evidence, comes across as an insufferable Grade A jerk. Take for example this statement about his black journo father, who, for the record, is never fully drawn in the story:
   
   "...nonetheless I bestowed a dim veneration upon my father's metier, the way one detachedly esteems a haberdasher, or a first timpanist."
   
   The narrative is chock full of such exhibitionism and head-scratching metaphors; I mean, did one ever detachedly esteem haberdashers? My understanding of history is that good haberdashers were held in high regard.
   
   I wish he'd not have opted for the footnotes containing opinions stated as fact, or a lazy impulse to provoke -- like lumping Hanukkah in with Kwanzaa and Earth Day as inferior holidays to Christmas.
   
   Matthews proves himself an able mimic. Does he ever stop to wonder why this might be? Mimickry was a form of survival in slavery times, for a variety of reasons and better discussed outside of this review, but this interesting trait is not explored, and Matthews doesn't seem to have much of an interest in his own backstory at all, which would have been an invaluable and redeeming addition to "Ace of Spades", nor does he have much of an interest in other members of his family as individuals, apart from his need or want of them. History is what's sorely lacking here, and it's a requirement for this story. As Bob Marley said, and I paraphrase, 'If you don't know your history, then you don't know where you're coming from, and then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the h*&^ do I think I am.' Why didn't he ever try to discover all his people so that he might better explain the inner workings within, and also understand better his experiences of life lived on the color line?
   
   There's a lost opportunity here. And this is a shame, for Matthews has all the right stuff, yes, he's a bright bulb indeed, and he's got material rich for mining. I have hopes for a reworked second edition, but judging by the other (glowing) reviews here, I am the loup seul and as such my words should be taken with un grain du sel.
   
   That said, I do wish Mr. Matthews much success. There's a dearth of material covering this important American social history out there.
   
   Bottomline: When revealing the unsettling state of black and white relations of the inner city environment in "Ace of Spades", Matthews is at the top of his form. There should be much more of that and less of the sexual yearning revelations in this modern memoir.

4 comments about Crabcakes: A Memoir.

1. I read Crabcakes almost right when it came out, because Jim McPherson is a writer I greatly admire, and because he was my teacher and friend at U of Iowa while I was there.

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

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

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

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

   I highly recommend this book.




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



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



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

5 comments about Harriet Jacobs: A Life.

1. I've always enjoyed reading Jean Fagan Yellin's work. She is a very clear writer without any of the foolish over complication of the academic writer, even in academic journals. She's firm in her beliefs. She's not neutral or oblivious to racism and injustice to oppression and exploition either in the historical worlds she has excavated or in her discussion of the present.
   
   While Yellin is accurate and in total possession of her subject, she is precise about what we and she do not know about Harriet Jacob's life.
   
   This is more than what many might have expected which is a fleshed out version of her explication of the true biological facts of Harriet Jacobs autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. This a biography of Harriet Jacobs as a Black woman facing the crises of her time, both in public political life and in personal and economic life.
   
   As such, as is her practice, Jacobs takes a broad view, so what we read about Jacobs is continually inserted into the changing events of the nation, of Black people, of women. What is most compelling is Jacob's struggle to involve herself in the antislavery movement by writing her book, and then the story of Jacob's struggles to fight for support to the freed slaves and war refugees. Finally, there is a very good explanation of the split between Afrian Americans and the white section of the women's movement as figures in this womens movement turned in such a racist direction, that women like Jacobs and her daughter Maltida could no longer function within it.
   
   Jacob's remarkable life after the civil war led her into contact with a number of the most notable white and African American literary and political figures including people you might never suspect like Henry James and William Monroe Trotter, so that anyone interested in womens, literary, and African American history from the 1850s until the 1890s would profit by reading this book. Yet, despite this prominence, it was assumed by most scholars as a Black woman she had not really written her book, until Yellin and other scholars proved this in the 1970s!
   
   Jacob's wrote so opens the struggle of my life. Yellin presents that life of struggle not for the seven years that Jacobs hid in her closet, but throughout the seven decades of her life.
   
   Again, Jean Fagan Yellin is a good readible, accurate writer who makes this a page turner without losing any of the dignity, scientific precision, and historic importance of this task.



2. The story of Harriet Jacobs is compelling. She was a fugitive in the North and in the South. Her autobiography, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL, was published prior to Emancipation.
   
   Her home town was Edenton, North Carolina. The text of INCIDENTS was authenticated through documents by the author and other researchers. In her lifetime Jacobs achieved some celebrity as the writer of INCIDENTS.
   
   Until she was six Harriet did not know she was a slave. She was born in Chowan County, North Carolina, in 1813. Prosperity in Edenton ended after the Revolution. In 1795 a hurricane closed Roanoke Inlet. A canal through the Great Dismal Swamp impoverished Edenton.
   
   Harriet's father was a carpenter. She learned to read and to write and to sew. A twelve Hatty was moved to another establishment. She had been willed to a three year old mistress. Next she learned that her father had died. He was buried In Providence, (rediscovered, cleared, and reconsecrated in February 2001). Hatty and her brother John were preoccupied with freedom. They knew of four people who took passage on a ship to Liberia from Elizabeth City. Hatty's grandmother became emancipated. The war of Hatty's life began as she opposed a Dr. Norcom. She formed an alliance with a person of greater reputation in the community with whom she had two children. It was a teenager's solution to vulnerability.
   
   At age 21 in 1835 she ran from Edenton but ended up spending seven years hiding out in the vicinity in very restricted quarters. In her cramped hiding place Harriet Jacobs experienced sensory deprivation. In 1842 she was taken by boat to Philadelphia. Workers in the anti-slavery movement were impressed with Hatty's beauty and with her efforts to overcome her isolation.
   
   Jacobs went to New York, and to Boston, and to England. She stayed in England for ten months. Later her freedom was purchased. Her venture into becoming a published writer began with a letter to a newspaper. Her autobiography was anonymous. L. Maria Child edited the manuscript and supplied an introduction.
   
   During the Civil War Harriet Jacobs worked in Washington, D.C. as a relief worker among the so-called contrabands, former slaves. After the war she and her daughter traveled to Savannah and later to England to raise money for some of the destitute former slaves. They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then went on to Washington, D.C., probably to enable the daughter to obtain a teaching position.



3. Jean Yellin?s Harriet Jacobs: A Life is readable, interesting and energetic narrative. It is a model biography that presents Jacobs in the context of her time. When Jacobs died in 1907, she was nearly forgotten, but Yellin?s biography restores an important woman to public scrutiny and well-deserved approbation. For most a century, Jacobs was unknown as the author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, but in 1985, Yellin?s edition of Incidents established Jacobs as its author. If there was any lingering doubt of authenticity, Yellin?s fine detailing of Jacobs? life conclusively settles the issue. We are immersed in Jacobs?s drama, provided with a compelling narrative of her life and given glimpses into her family, her children, and social life of the South and North before and after the Civil War. What Yellin does so well is to document the dignity and intrepid character that raises Jacobs above the wretchedness of slavery and racial prejudice wherever it surfaces. This is a fitting life of a woman whose soul burned for freedom and whose heart was steeled to suffer even death in the pursuit of liberty and equality for African Americans and women.



4. If you have ever read Harriet Jacobs's narrative, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", you will be gasping to know more about the lives of this extraordinary woman, her two children and the other players in the plot of her young life.

   Given the information available, Jean Fagan Yellin serves it up for us brilliantly thanks to her many and well presented, often extremely detailed accounts of Jacobs's movements after escape from North Carolina.

   It is clear from summation of events in Jacobs's life that not only was she an intensely loving, protective and self-sacrificing mother, and seemingly held in good regard by all she came into contact with, she was also an extremely dedicated and active ambassador to the poor, the weak, and the defenseless, travelling all over the country and abroad for this singular cause, remaining to her death a champion of her people.

   One of the great things about this book is that in detailing Jacobs's life, we get a better glimpse into the lives of the people important in her own life - her grandmother Molly Horniblow, her brother John S., her son Joseph and daughter Louisa, her half brother Elijah, the Norcoms and, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent, Sam Sawyer. By documenting aspects of the lives of those in Jacobs's immediate affairs, we are able to form a clearer understanding of her character, values, motives and relationships with others.

   Yellin's biography is a fascinating historical tome in its own right, capturing the political atmosphere and mood of Civil and post Civil War America. Yellin does a grand job documenting key events, attitudes and individuals to shape the pre war Abolishionist movement, post war reconstruction and emerging institutions, and the Suffragist movement for women and freed African Americans.




5. Above all else, there is a single conclusion to be drawn from this truly remarkable book.

   Anyone who has a sincere interest in the history of the United States should feel slighted that Harriet Jacobs? story isn?t already entrenched in the American consciousness alongside Harriet Tubman?s or Sojourner Truth?s. In HARRIET JACOBS A LIFE, Jean Fagan Yellin unequivocally reinvigorates a truly unique and vital American perspective all but lost to us.

   Here is the story of a woman born into slavery, fighting that condition with a resolve almost unprecedented in its selflessness. To save her children from the sexual torment she experienced as a girl, Jacobs hides in the crawl space over a store room for nearly six years, before finally escaping to the North.

   And though the boldness of her resistance is indeed characterized by such large singular acts of heroism, it is also made palpable by her persistent and unrelenting immersion in the mechanics of 19th century social activism, a mechanism not altogether ready for the sort of sexual realism she would air. She speaks plainly of that which the 19th century woman traditionally did not, and in doing so galvanizes a population by the raw horror of her experience as a chattel slave.

   Yellin?s biography not only places Jacobs? life in its proper historical, cultural, and political context, it does so with rich descriptions of the world she inhabited; the smell of the Edenton docks, the lecture halls and drawing rooms of Boston?s abolitionist movement, the grim specter of war torn Savannah, and the wizened frames of Freedmen refugees in the nation?s capital.

   This is what makes the book so compelling, the utter pervasiveness of Yellin?s research, fleshed out in masterful prose. And she is not content merely to paint the broad technicolor picture, but also to reduce the story of Jacobs? daily life to its very nuts and bolts, the struggle to keep food on the table, to keep herself and her family at the imparting end of charity. Here is a woman who in one hour effects the core of the anti-slavery movement while in the very next toils as a nursemaid, cook, or seamstress.
   
   The expression of that seeming dichotomy is the miracle of this book. And gives the modern reader precious little room to make any excuse for not standing up. Yellin?s book is an unforgettable biography of a remarkable woman, as well as an invaluable point of inspiration in troubling times.