4 comments about Foster Care Odyssey: A Black Girl's Story (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography).

1. I am very touched by the events that the author of this book had to share. She is indeed a very strong person. The average person could not survive the various pitfalls and bouts of discouragement that she had to suffer. She was placed in foster care at very young age. Although she felt bitter, she later discovered that it was better then being with her real mother. This young lady searched and found her mother, by way of the grapevine network within the black community. To her disappointment she did not find a loving mother. She found a discouraging woman living in confusion and poverty.
   
   This was not the stopping point for the young lady in the book. She pushed herself. She even worked and saved her money. With the help of a kind social worker, she was able to go to college. I'm so proud of her.
   The foster care system, is often one void of real love. As a parent and one who loves children, I take the care of children personally. Any child placed in my home for whatever reason is my child. I feel like it's up to me to love and protect that child. The elements of life are harsh enough. Children have day to day challanges just like adults. Foster parents your young charges need you. You are their guardians. LOVE THEM, PROTECT THEM, TREAT THEM LIKE YOUR OWN CHILDREN.
   
   I was a bit surprised to find out how racially bias Buffalo, New York was. But the wonderful, wonderful thing is the good and positive life that the writer of this book is reaping. Hats Off to her. Keep On Pushing!



2. Theresa Cameron's difficult odyssey began when her biological mother did not make decisions with her daughter's best interests in mind. As difficult as it might have been for the mother to admit that adoption was the best route for her to follow, she simply abandoned a beautiful child and left her at the mercy of an inadequate system. As strong as Ms Cameron obviously is, as an unwilling participant in the foster care system, her childhood was unnecessarily harsh and often cruel. Rarely can we says such a story has meaning in all our lives. I recommend this book for all who face the irreversible decision of creating a child.



3. This book reveals the emotional impact of life in the foster care system for a black girl who was bounced from one foster home to another from birth until the age of 18. Except for the nationally publicized case of Baby Jessica, who was forcibly removed from her adoptive family at the age of two to be reunited with her birth mother and father, it is rare that the public gets a glimpse of the emotional damage done to the child. This book should be MUST reading for everyone involved in foster care.



4. This is a heartfelt, painfully true story of how one child can be forgotten in the "system". Even the cover itself is revealing...the only photograph the author has from her childhood and it does not even show her face.

   By far my favorite book of alltime. I recommend it to all socialworkers, teachers, counselors, mothers, fathers, ministers, politicians, EVERYONE! It is well-written and easy to read, although it caused me to lose sleep at night knowing children are out there--alone, forgotten by their caseworkers, and lacking the basic needs such as touch, hugs, encouragement, or even a smile from those whose care they are in.

   How Ms.Cameron did what she did all alone is beyond me. She is simply amazing.

   After reading this book I wanted to reach out and hug Ms. Cameron.
   She has made me a better mother.

No comments about Native America: Portrait of the Peoples.

5 comments about Aaliyah : More Than a Woman.

1. The author constantly goes off-topic, and the book is very boring. Aaliyah's life was not this boring, nobody's life is this boring!!
   
   Same thing goes for her another bio. HOW BORING WAS SHE???



2. I was very disappointed in this book. The author seemed more interested in writing about who he knew than about the rising star.



3. Aaliyah:More than a Women,written by Christopher John Farley,tells about the life of Aaliyah from when she first started acting and singing until her tragic death on August 25,2001.This book really tells the reader about Aaliyah's determination to become the best that she could be, and the way she strived to reach to the top .It explains about how she went to a school of the performing arts, and how she started acting when she was in the first grade in a production of Annie, and she would rehearse three hours a day, four days a week.Also the book tells how Aaliyah went to from a singer to an actress. The book also has quotes and stories,and memories about Aaliyah from many famous actors, producers, video and movie directors, music artists, and family members. I would recommend this book to Aaliyah fans. But I would also recommend this book to people who never thought about reading about Aaliyah because her life is really interesting. The only thing that I did not like about this book was that the author sometimes went off topic. The book is about Aaliyah, but he also started writing about other people, and subjects that didn't have anything to do with Aaliyah. But, besides that the book was pretty good.



4. For anyone who still feels the world's loss of Aaliyah, but isn't in to reading a long book, this is a great synopsis of her short life and all her accomplishments. I recommend to all of her fans.



5. Although, I thought that his Aaliyah Bio was'nt as bad as Kelly Kenyatta's, The downfall of Farley's book was that he failed to stay on the topic of Aaliyah-who was supposed to be the main subject of this book! It seemed liked veered off the subject to either fill pages because of lack of research; or because he just wanted to brag to the reader about all the rich and famous people that he knows. The highlight of this book was that the author was somewhat detailed about the details regarding the day of the crash and provided some nice publicity stills of Aaliyah-esp the ones from her last movie, "Queen of the Damned". I thought that he exaggerated a bit about this movies reviews, though.It may have earned alot of money in the first week, but ticket sales soon dropped after that when it was heard through word-of-mouth that although Aaliyah was playing the title role, her part was rather small, and she does'nt come into the story until towards the end and her character was then killed off. I'm a writer myself , and with the right "connections" and research, I know that I could 've written a much BETTER BOOK than both the authors Farley and Kenyatta put together. Bottom line: Check the book out of the library, But don't but it! It will be a waste of your money!

5 comments about Bad as I Wanna Be.

1. In my opinion, in his prime, Dennis Rodman was a better athlete than Michael Jordan in his prime. The event that convinced me of this was a playoff game many years ago when the Bulls were playing a team where Shaquille O'Neal was the opposing center. Luc Longley, the starting Bulls center was in foul trouble and on the bench. The backup Bulls center was getting completely overwhelmed by O'Neal and the Bulls went to Rodman in an attempt to stop him. Rodman is 6'7" and around 240 pounds and O'Neal is 7'1" and well over 300 pounds. And yet, the first time that O'Neal tried to bull Rodman out of the way, he just came to a halt and this was repeated. It amazed me that this relatively little man could so forcefully stand up to the most powerful man in the NBA.
   Dennis Rodman was a difficult person, yet he was very well liked, even admired by many people. He was outrageous, at times unstable, flippant, yet there is something very endearing about his approach to life. Much of what I admired about him on the court is that he was a very unselfish player who took an absolute beating in his battles for rebounds. He was also a very smart player, when his fellow players gave an honest appraisal; they were generally universal in extolling his depth of understanding of the game of basketball.
   This book continues that Rodman tradition, standing up for himself, making no excuses and not having a great deal of concern over what people think of him. He often uses segments of bolded text to make his points, as if we need to be shouted at in order to understand his statements. At times the book is disjointed, Rodman moves from point to point in a sequence of inconsistent phrases where it is often difficult to understand the connections between the statements.
   A rebel to the core, this book is Dennis Rodman's statement of "you can put it somewhere" to the world that criticizes him. It is entertaining to read, a glimpse into the mind of a man whose basketball and general intelligence is under appreciated due to his desire to stand out as a wild man with an attitude. If he had been born 100 years earlier, he, by his own admission, would have likely been lynched.



2. I lived in Chicago during the Bulls heyday during the 2nd run of their championships, and everyone I knew had this book, or knew someone who did. I didn't have a copy, but I read it during a break, and found it to be very tiresome and really boring. Even though it's not meant to be Tolstoy, Dickens, or even a dime novel, it's really a waste of time. The book now is completely dated, and Rodman is just a nobody again. All I remember from the book was a rant against David Robinson which started, in typical 90's fashion, "the problem with David Robinson is...". Rodman went off on how Robinson didn't have what it takes to win an NBA championship (Rodman was wrong. Robinson did eventually win a few). Rodman was one of the greatest rebounders of all time, but that's really the only thing he was ever good at. He was your typical celebrity. Obnoxious, rude, outrageous, "outspoken", filled with drugs, marrying stupid women (Carmen Electra in his case), and generally moronic behaviour. The media loved people like that in the 1990's. Rodman just loved to party and behave like an idiot. In other words, typical celebrity behaviour. He did a few bad movies, wrestled in WCW (now defunct), and went on Fear Factor, but he was never a great actor, star, or writer. Just a good athlete that like being a celebrity (hence all the ridiculous clothes, dye jobs, tattoos, etc., etc.).



3. i start loving the NBA because of dennis!! i saw him ones in tv in europe!! and i start to watch the NBA !! i was reaqding the book the first time 1997 in german!! i gave it to a friend and never got it back!! i love the story about his life and all the questin he ask people and what he have done before he was a superstar!!!
   i just can say thanks dennis !! if u are in basketball u must read this book!!



4. As a longtime basketball fan, I was at first anxious to see what I would find in a tell all novel of one of the best rebounders and all around defensive players of the game. What I found was horrible talk about women and other players. Rodman's racist comments against white people are enough to scoff at no matter what color a persons skin is. His comments of "black" players being better than whites is just a terrible shameful label to put upon all of those who play the game. Would have loved to hear what Larry Bird, John Stockton, and Jerry West had to say when they heard that one!
   
   Rodman does talk in depth of the family he lived with for some of his life and I commend him for that. The only downfall to this is the fact he didn't seem to learn from them anything about class or manners. If you are looking for a book about a "worm" then you've come to the right place. If your looking for a book about the wonderful game of basketball as told by one of it's greatest players, I suggest that you look elsewhere.



5. Dennis Rodman was a fascinating bad boy who wasn't afraid of mouthing off about anyone. His book is full of a very few good stories and plenty of complaints about fellow players, basketball management, coaches, everyone. He's bitter and angry, not full of interesting anecdotes. Most of this has ceased to be relevant as his heyday of shock value has passed. For someone not intimately involved in the mid to late 1990's basketball scene, none of the information retains relevancy as time passes. This might be good as a history book for a true fan, but if you lived through the Rodman heyday, you probably picked up his memoir back then.
   
   So much is done for pure shock value, and it gets tiresome.

2 comments about This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Civil Rights and the Struggle for Black Equality in the Twentieth Century).

1. Mills' biography is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the civil rights movement. The well-documented work explores the life of Ms. Hamer, an important figure in the '60s Deep-South struggles whose name may be unfamiliar to some.

   Fannie Lou Hamer was a poorly educated woman who, like most of her contemporaries growing up in pre-Depression Mississippi and beyond, endured virtual apartheid for a good portion of her life. Voting rights were essentially unknown to African-Americans in the state, which was controlled for decades by opponents of civil rights locally and through the state's federal representatives, most notably James O. Eastland, a senator who consistently stalled civil rights legislation through his control of the Judiciary Committee.

   Ms. Hamer was among the first African-Americans to challenge Mississippi's voting registration practices, which were designed to bar blacks from voting. For her troubles, she was arrested, detained in a small-town jail and beaten so severely that she sustained injuries that eventually shortened her life.

   Mills paints a vivid picture of Ms. Hamer's indomitable spirit, which was symbolized by her powerful singing voice, frequently employed to boost the courage of her local comrades and of the black and white workers who came to Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964 in an attempt to challenge the white supremacists who ran the state.

   Nowhere does her spirit come through more clearly than in Mills' account of the 1964 challenge Hamer and others leveled at the Democratic delegation sent to the presidential convention in Atlantic City. The challengers persuasively claimed that they represented thousands of disenfranchised African-Americans who had been denied their right to participate in the political process. The Democratic presidential candidate, Lyndon Johnson, and his running mate, Hubert Humphrey, Mills recounts, dragged their feet on addressing the challengers' claims, only belatedly offering a weak compromise that Hamer and some others fiercely opposed.

   "I question America," Hamer memorably said during hearings on her group's challenge of the white-only delegation. Mills is careful to explore the arguments and motivations of those within Hamer's delegation who argued in favor of accepting the compromise, but it is clear that her heart lies with Hamer's courageous stand.

   In the end, the 1964 challenge failed, but in 1968 another challenge succeeded and Hamer was seated, along with others, at that year's presidential convention. The victory, which deserves special mention in American history, was tempered and largely forgotten due to the street violence for which the 1968 convention is now largely remembered.

   Mills also does a fine job of relating Ms. Hamer's attention to the plight of the poor and her attempts to build political power for the impoverished. One gets a strong sense of the sacrifice that Hamer made to live a life committed to political struggle.

   It is only when Mills attempts to summarize the major events of the civil rights movement that the book's strength flags. I found the first couple of chapters negligible because I'm familiar with the big events of the movement and frankly they've been done better elsewhere.

   When she turns her attention to Ms. Hamer, however, Mills delivers a story worth telling in strong prose that reveals her admiration for her subject without sacrificing her critical judgment.




2. A well writen documentary of an inspirational woman. This book gives life to significant events taking place in the fight for civil rights. In particular, reading about her Freedom Ride on a bus through the American South gave chilling reality to the ordeal. Fannie Lou Hamer is a pivotal figure in American history.

3 comments about Harlem's Hell Fighters: The African-American 369th Infantry in World War I.

1. It is at long last that the world is made familiar with these brave warriors of the first world war. They stepped up to the challenge and proved themselves as true warriors and men. It is a splendid telling of a story too long overlooked. Very well done.



2. I see that the clerics in Iraq want to impose all kinds of contraints on what women can do in their society. They can't seem to understand that this eliminates half of the potential workforce in one step. And for many of our years we eliminated a large source of our workforce by arbitrarily holding down African-Americans.
   
   The truth is that African-Americans whatever they were called at the time played important parts in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War (10% or the Northern Army), and the Indian wars later on (the Buffalo Soldiers).
   
   This is the first book that I've seen that talks about an African-American combat unit in the First World War. It continues to astound me to see what they had to endure in the form of prejudice before they could even go over and die for their country.
   
   This is an important part of our military and cultural history that deserves wide telling. Highly Recommended.



3. Harris has done a magnificent job of illuminating an important aspect of American military history. His meticulous research has uncovered new information in the French archives as well as obscure family archives. His narrative style is enthralling and he is able to transport the reader to the place and time of events and still produce a fine piece of historical research. This is undoubtably the most comprehensive history of the 369th written, and deserves to be in the library of every student of African-American history as well as military historians and music historians. A fine companion piece to Harris other book on the 7th Regt, one hopes that he will continue to chronicle the exploits of all the NYNG during the First World War.

   Harlem's Hellfighters should be counted with Bernald Naulty's Strength for the Fight, and Barbeau's Unknown Soldiers. More than a military history, it is also a fine lesson in the sociology of the early 20th century and the paradoxes of US military race policy. His use of James Reese Europe as the centerpiece of his work provides a cultural touchstone as one reads the unfolding pages. A must have book.

5 comments about Tupac Shakur.

1. This piece of work created by the editors of Vibe Magazine could easily be appropriately titled "Essence of Tupac." In this collection of previous interviews and vivrant photos you truely get the feeling that you are holding a conversation with The ledgendary Tupac Shakur. This is a must have for all Tupac fans and for anyone wishing to know more about Pac's Life. Good job by the folks at Vibe Magazine.



2. When I discovered that my 3rd graders knew who Tupac was, even though he died the year they were born, I felt that I needed to know more about Tupac. This book is published by Vibe, the official scribes of hip hop. It is a collection on interviews and articles that appeared in Vibe and they document the rise and fall of Tupac.
   Tupac had "Thug Life" tatooed on his stomach and he lived the life of a misogynist thug. He was disrespectful to everyone around him. Perhaps, as Quincy Jones suggests in the forward, Tupac could've changed into a positive force had he lived past 25. However, this book, and his own words, show him to be a negative influence on everyone he had contact with. It is very sad that he died at such a young age. It is even sadder that so many youngesters know who he was but cannot tell you about the lives of people who have accomplished great things with their lives. I have my work cut out for me next school year.
   Mark Gast



3. As a massive fan of the late great Tupac Shakur, there are few publishings that capture as much information and insight into his life and career as this amazing book from the good people at Vibe Magazine. Consisting of every Vibe article and interview written on Shakur between 1994-97, this gives even the most casual of Pac's fans more information than they could ever dream of. With features on his early career, his signing to Death Row, and his infamous interview with Kevin Powell from inside Clinton Correctional Facility where he denounced "Thug Life", it's all here. This book also contains some of the most informative material on the feud between Death Row Records and Bad Boy. You'll get everyone's side of the story on the Can-Am Studio shooting. You'll hear what both Suge and Puffy had to say about the East vs. West saga. You will also get to hear Pac at his rawest and most candid. If you are even the least bit interested in the amazing story of Tupac Shakur, you should pick up this book.



4. 2pac is a legacy of our generation..he is and will always be the best, not only was he an awesome rapper, but he was also a good actor and poet. This book is very well done and covers so much. When he was shot the first time 5 times..and leading up to his unjustly death..i recommend this book to anyone if they want to learn about 2pac, he wasnt a bad man or a gangsta like most assume, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time..or he just got involved with the wrong ppl...and like he said live by the gun..die by the gun..and that is exactly what happened to this man...may he rest in peace



5. I my self am not a very big fan of rap music however i was intrigued to read this book after looking into some of the lyrics of 2pacs singles they seemed very in depth. After reading the lyrics i felt that his words had a lot of depth and soul attached to them which intrigued me to find out more about the rap star.

   I myself have a genuine interest in politics, philisophy and poetry similarly to 2pac and i felt that i could relate to some of the lyrics he wrote. This book on tupac gives a deeper insight to the rap artist not only his music and talent but to his life it shed light on many differant topics from differant aspects and i found it very inspirational. What i particularly liked about this book was the way it presented both sides of the story (with the rape case) and i felt this ruled out any bias.

   I would recommend this book to anyone who has a love for reading regardless of whether they have a genuine interest in rap this book not only looks at his career but looks at his inspiration, ambition, life and above all recognised him as more than a rap artist but as a human being and who he actually was!!!

3 comments about Four Lives in the Bebop Business.

1. This book is a great resource for someone looking for words to match the music of such greats as Ornette Coleman. Not only does it look at the lives and developments of these people as musicians, but also at the constant struggles such artists faced (still face?) in the music industry. I can't imagine there was any other book of its kind back when it was first published in 1966, but that aside, its still worth a read now that such important jazz figures are more widely appreciated. Spellman has a deep respect for the musicians he writes about. More than a respect, a reverence. This is particularly true of the section dedicated to Herbie Nichols. I picked this book up simply because I'm a huge Ornette Coleman fan, but I think my favorite parts of the book were the conversations with Cecil Taylor. His perspective on Stockhausen is priceless and pretty entertaining.



2. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. The four biographies were wonderful and deepened my understanding of the bebop era and what life is like for career musicians. I was at first drawn to this book because of the biography of Herbie Nichols; I own the complete works of Herbie Nichols on CD but until I read this book only knew that he was unappreciated during his lifetime. Now I really understand Mr. Nichols and my respect for him and ability to appreciate his music is much deeper. Same for Ornette Coleman, who until I read his biography here was to my mind merely an eccentric who had helped ruin the commercial viability of jazz. Thanks to this book I now understand how sincere and committed and courageous Ornette Coleman was. I bought this book on Amazon about a month ago and I do not understand why Amazon lists it, a month later, as "out of print". I urge anyone who wants to deepen his/her understanding of jazz music to read this wonderful book. People who want to learn jazz can no longer simply go to 52nd Street in NYC and learn from the masters directly. Books such as this book, videos, and CD's are the only way for the current and future generations to learn about the golden age of jazz. Thus, this book is *essential* for a sincere student of jazz. The book's high quality is worthy of the heavy responsibility it thus bears. By the way in the course of the four biographies it contains a lot of fascinating detailed insights about Theolonius Monk, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.



3. Spellman, a lucid analyst of the avant garde jazz movement in the '60s (see his liner notes, for example, on the original release of Coltrane's "Ascension"), has contributed with this book four compelling portraits of musicians who gave and have given their lives to jazz.

   "Four Lives in the Bebop Business" profiles two altoists, Jackie McLean and Ornette Coleman; and two pianists, Cecil Taylor and Herbie Nichols. Spellman skillfully crafts the narratives, while wisely allowing his subjects to tell large chunks of their stories in their own words.

   It becomes clear as one reads the book that it took a lot of guts to be a jazz musician during the '50s and '60s (and still does). All four of the musicians faced major obstacles in pursuing their art.

   McLean, who enjoyed the greatest amount of commercial success of the four, especially early on, battled drug addiction. Taylor and Coleman faced open hostility because of their challenging, groundbreaking approaches to playing their instruments. Nichols (the only one of the four who is not still alive) was just plain ignored, despite his brilliantly original playing (check out the two-disk Blue Note compilation of his music), and spent much of his all-too-brief career playing in Greenwich Village dives.

   In spite of bad accommodations, poor pay, public indifference, critical hostility and difficulty finding gigs, these artists, the book makes clear, would never play anything other than jazz. In this sense, the book has an underlying inspirational message. Still, it remains for America to fully embrace its only true indigenous art form, something which to this day has not occurred.

   The book also offers insights from the musicians on the creative process and about the historic changes in jazz that occurred during the '60s, from the perspective of men who were on the front lines of the battles between critics, musicians, and the listening public.

   Required reading for the serious jazz listener.

2 comments about Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African-Americans Taught Us to Laugh.

1. there is nothing like Black Comedians. I mean without Humor in this Country a Brother would truly be hopeless. through the struggle&all the Ism that went down back in the day&that still is happening now. laughter has always been the Best Medicine&it always hits the spot ten fold. this Book is tight. Interviews,etc... a Fantastic Book. very soulful&RIGHT ON!!



2. This book goes through the history of how black comedy became what we know it as today. Eddie Murphy, Sinbad, Cedric the Entertainer, Chris Rock, Damon Wayans...these are all successful black comedians that are common names around US households today. This book tells the stories of those that came before them. This book has wonderful quotes as well as short biographies of various comedians. It's a great read and I highly suggest this book to anyone who finds many of todays African-American comedians funny!

No comments about Get It Together: Readings About African-American Life.