3 comments about Being Sugar Ray: Sugar Ray Robinson, America's Greatest Boxer and First Celebrity Athlete.

1. This is one of the worst biographies I have ever read. The author, instead of giving us new information on Sugar Ray, compares his life and deeds to that of many other athletes, in many different sports, in many different eras. There are many bio's of Robinson available, all of them much better than this one.



2. Being Sugar Ray...The First Celebrity Athlete, is a read that provides an examination of the life and times of Sugar Ray and a studied insight into the superstar athletes of today. Although Charles Barkley and others resist the title of role model, Sugar Ray Robinson created the mold.
   Not in the sense of an athlete to be emulated by our youth, but in creating the vision for young athletes of what Celebrity entails and looks like and from whence it came. Shropshire deftly utilizes his years of experience in the sports world to bring us closer to understanding how and why today's athletes do what they do on and especially off the playing fields. More than understanding how to train to succeed in sports, the author seeks to shed some light upon the darkness of celebrity that many of today's star represent and continue to experience. It represents an intriguing guide to the inside of sports, athletes and their vulnerability to being in the spotlight that we cast upon them. A valuable addition to a sports fan library...especially for the young superstar in training!
   Bro2much
   
   
   
   
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   See what's free at AOL.com.



3. "Sugar Ray Robinson was the consummate professional, entertainer, and businessperson. How do today's athletes measure up compared to Sugar Ray Robinson?" And unfortunately for the focus of the book, author Kenneth Shropshire spends too much valuable space in the 220 pages trying to find Robinson's trifecta in the athletes of today.
   
   For nearly 190 of those pages Shropshire takes small snippets from Robinson's life and attempts to weave comparisons & contrasts through stars like Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Terrell Owens, Ron Artest, Randy Moss, Roger Federer, Pat Tillman, Mike Tyson, Shaq, Michael Jordan, Paul Pierce and Allen Iverson. It is oftentimes a very frustrating read as Shropshire fails to tie these loose strands together in so few pages.
   
   And, ultimately, Shropshire questions his approach in the closing paragraph: "There is no evidence that Sugar Ray consciously led the postsegregation celebrity athlete transition. Maybe athletes today are accomplishing something unconsciously. Time will tell."
   
   The book starts out with so much promise - chronicling Robinson's final farewell to boxing in December 1965 - and his years as an amateur fighter, with special emphasis on how he "found" his ring name and nickname. But the spotlight doesn't again fully focus on Robinson until the closing chapters of the too-often tragic boxing story of a former great champion; major financial problems to go along with severe physical debilitation from taking too many hard blows in a career lasting far too long.
   
   I would give Shropshire the benefit of the doubt of being overly-ambitious if only somewhere in the title describes how he theorizes the evolution of Walker Smith Jr. into Sugar Ray Robinson has impacted the new generation of celebrity athletes.
   
   "Suger Ray lived the moment," concludes Shropshire. It is too bad that Sugar Ray's moment is muddled in this book.

No comments about Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African Americans in the Armed Forces.

1 comments about Wink: The Incredible Life and Epic Journey of Jimmy Winkfield.

1. Jimmy Winkfield led an epic life as a champion jockey driven from America due to racism on and off the track while losing everything twice in Europe due to the world wars. But through it all, author Ed Hotaling shows a man driven to succeed no matter what barriers were placed in front of him.
   
   By the age of 23 in 1904, Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby champion and arguably the greatest jockey in the nation. But the ugliness of racism found Winkfield not being able to generate any interest from Thoroughbred owners and trainers. And before he - along with all black jockeys - were cast aside by hate, the rides were getting rougher with white jockeys trying to prevent wins through a variety of crass fouls, while judges looked the other way.
   
   Winkfield became a successful jockey in Europe - especially in the Czar's Russia - but the Bolshevik Revolution found Winkfield leading an expedition on horseback - many of the horses were champions of the turf - out of the country in a perilous journey of life & death. His career in the Thoroughbred industry was rebuilt after the war in France, but Winkfield again lost everything when he was driven from France during the early stages of the Nazi occupation.
   
   Though his grand achievements were largely forgotten as the years breezed by, Winkfield was slated to be honored late in his life in an event the evening before the Kentucky Derby. What happens when the champion jockey again meets the wall of racism brings his life as a jockey to a poignant coda.
   
   The Thoroughbred industry has been about as timely as Major League Baseball in dealing with the past racism in the sport. Winkfield has a minor stakes race named after him on the New York schedule, but it struggles to gate a full field.
   
   Hotaling does a magnificent job in delving into a history that has been buried for too many years. Winkfield lived an incredible life of triumph & heartbreak, and one does not have to be a Thoroughbred racing fan to appreciate his accomplishments under incredible odds.

1 comments about Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power.

1. Dr. Clark has struck a sensitive nerve in the consciousness of a nation in his 1965 study of black neighborhoods. Revised in 1989 with an introduction by William Julius Wilson, and a foreword by Gunnar Myrdal, it is apparent that other scholars respect Clark's work as well. I was particularly impressed by the self-honesty of his methodology -- he calls it his "involved observer" method, which shows much more concern for the subjects of the study than traditional "disinterested observer" approaches, espoused by so-called "value-free" social scientists. Also recommended are other books by Clark, and most anything by Cornel West, Lewis R. Gordon, Allen Spear, and Alex Kotlowitz. A related book to "Dark Ghetto" is "Racism & Psychiatry," by Alexander Thomas and Samuel Sillen, with an introduction by K. Clark.

2 comments about Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology).

1. Rayvon Fouche's Black Inventors In The Age Of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, And Shelby J. Davidson refutes the common notion that inventors were lone geniuses who worked in relative isolation in the late 19th-early 20th century world. Most indeed developed their ideas within industrial organizations that supported their experiments: for blacks, this meant real challenges in working on innovative designs while breaking social barriers. Fouche here uses the lives and works of Granville Woods, Lewis Latimer and Shelby Davidson to detail the social frustrations underlying their research.



2. Professor Fouche has written a fabulous book! Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation is clearly the most thoroughly researched book on black inventors to date. He provides a detailed account of how difficult it was for black inventors to succeed in a segregated society. His book describes the experiences of three black inventors and explains their importance to African American people in the twentieth century. This is a must read for anyone wanting to know more about black inventors, their inventions, and their lives, as well as those interested in African American history and the history of invention.

1 comments about On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier's Civil War Letters from the Front.

1. "On the Altar of Freedom" was an interesting book in that it compiled the letters sent to a newspaper by Corporal James Gooding of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (the "Glory" outfit). By reading the letters (ie the book), one can get a view of Civil War life from the view of a black Union soldier. The major drawback to the work is that Gooding was sending the letters to the newspaper for the express purpose of them being published. What would have been more interesting would have been to see his private (if any) correspondence. That way the reader would have been able to see the private man. This book is also an interesting read because of the mention of unapolgetic black CSA sharpshooters being captured by Union forces outside Fort Wagner.

No comments about The Martin Luther King, Jr., Encyclopedia.

No comments about Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself.

5 comments about Black in the White House: Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing.

1. 
   "Pulling into the lot behind the Transition Headquarters, I was startled to see several black SUVs parked with their motors running and earnest looking men peering out the open windows - my introduction to the United States Secret Service. My first glimpse of the Secret Service agents drove home the point that I was about to embark on a journey that, if successful, would put me in close proximity to some of the most powerful and important people in the world. Great, I thought, no pressure at all."
   
   Thus began Ron Christie's interview process for a position as a Deputy Assistant for domestic policy to Vice President-Elect Cheney. Throughout his page-turning book, Black in the White House, he weaves stories together from his three and one half year tenure in the White House that make it read more like a novel than a narrative. He provides a unique view of the Vice President, President and their respective staffs that is seldom, if ever, reported by the media. This book paints a portrait that reveals the true personalities of the leaders of the United States and the tremendous responsibilities they have.
   
   Although sometimes sophomoric, maudlin and perhaps even pandering, Christie tells his stories as if he were a child marveling in awe at the world's leaders for whom he was asked to work instead of as a trained attorney who had important work to do. As a Deputy Policy Advisor to Senator George Allen (son of Redskin's coach Allen) for eight years, he was asked by the Republican Committee in December of 2000 to be an observer of the Presidential recount vote in Jacksonville, Florida. Shortly after flying to Florida, the Supreme Court ruled in George Bush's favor, George Bush became Presidential-Elect Bush and Ron Christie was asked to interview as a Deputy Assistant for domestic policy for Vice President-Elect Cheney.
   
   During the waiting process after his interview, Christie candidly reveals his feelings of nervousness and uncertainty regarding his appointment. Waiting for the phone to ring, not sleeping at night, unable to think lucidly, he is no more than an average person waiting to hear the decision about their interview. Throughout the book he demonstrates his role as a normal person who is honored to serve the Vice President, President and his country by easily blending his responsibilities with his humbleness. He also makes it clear that the principals of President Bush's transition team (who would later become the cabinet and advisors after the inauguration) are extremely intelligent individuals who espouse a tremendous work ethnic in serving the Vice-President and President. Concurrently he also divulges their human and compassionate sides that few are privileged to see.
   
   Christie worked intimately with Vice President Cheney's staff including Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, Dan McGrath, Mary Matalin and even Vice President Cheney himself. He tells tales of their dedication, character and wit. In one instance Christie was asked to attend a meeting with Vice President Cheney and noted historian Stephen Ambrose, who
   
   was attempting to restore the Missouri River to resemble its appearance in time to celebrate the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's expedition. Ambrose indicated that his plan to dam the river was supported in Missouri and in several states downstream. Christie knew that Ambrose's assertion was erroneous and the Vice President, always with razor sharp perception, realized that Christie was uncomfortable and asked him if he had any questions. Christie questioned Ambrose why the Missouri House of Representatives voted 138-0 to denounce the plans and why Governor Bob Holden joined several other governors to write a letter to President Bush voicing their opposition. Not accustomed to being questioned, Ambrose probably expected VP Cheney to chastise Christie. Instead, Cheney asked Christie to draft a letter to Ambrose in which the VP would "express his inability to advocate Ambrose' plan to President Bush".
   
   September 11, 2001 was a day that most Americans will never forget. For Christie and the White House staff it was a day of horror. Not only was the horror expressed for the victims in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon but it also extended to the White House staff that was literally in the direct line of fire. After it was clear that the crashes were an attack and not an accident, the White House staff was immediately escorted out of the building by the Secret Service and told to leave. Unfortunately most of them could not return to their homes since Washington was in pandemonium and all roads were completely blocked; many stayed at friends within the city. Two days later when it was safe to enter the White House the horror was repeated when they again had to be evacuated, this time due to a bomb scare. In essence, the security and comfort that was indicative of the White House had been indelibly shattered. Although terrified to return to the White House, the staff was reminded by Andy Card that they represented the President and now was the time to fight back by going about their business and not being intimidated by fear. Indeed, the urgency at hand changed the course of President Bush's presidency. Christie relates how difficult it was for all the members of the White House to continue to run the country.
   
   In early 2002 Christie was asked to be the Special Assistant to the President to help run the USA Freedom Corps. Although honored to work directly for the President, Christie was torn by the thought of accepting the offer due to his loyalty to Vice President Cheney and also to his aversion of governmental programs, particularly those initiated by former President Clinton. However, after numerous discussions with the staffs of both the Vice President and the President, he learned that the President was a genuine supporter of the volunteerism movement in America after 9/11 and wanted to capitalize on the spirit running through the country during that time. He therefore accepted the commission. Thus began his association with the President of the United States. From Christie's vantage point, in opposition to the media, he saw the President as the leader of staff meetings who utilized the expertise of his cabinet, including the Vice President, for advice. The bottom line was that President Bush was the man in charge of the White House, not Vice President Cheney or anyone else. Period.
   
   
   
   
   Christie did not turn his back on his black heritage and in fact almost resigned due to an incident by Mississippi Senator Trent Lott during Thanksgiving in 2002. While Christie was at his brother's home, Senator Lott was featured on CNN at Senator Strom Thurmond's one-hundredth birthday party. Lott was recalling Thurmond's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1948 and lamented that Mississippi, which was opposed to integration, was only one of four states that supported him. Lott went on to say, "We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either". Christie and his family were stunned. During the next few days in which the White House said nothing, Christie's parents asked him how could he work at the White House for a man who had refused to repudiate Lott's statement. Christie, wrestling with his admiration for President Bush and his agenda, could not sit by silently. Knowing it could cost him his job, he wrote a note to Andy Card expressing his dismay that the comment was not rebuked by the White House. Card, the Chief of Staff to President Bush and known in the White House for both his intense intelligence and hilarious practical jokes, invited Christie to a private meeting to discuss the relationship between blacks and the Republican Party. When asked to present his thoughts, Christie proposed that Republicans "should not be traveling to black neighborhoods and talking about crime, welfare reform and drugs" but should talk about "tax reform, school choice and home ownership". Rather that "bringing in the gospel choir to sing and sway in the East Wing during Black History month can't we do more than pander to those folks who then start criticizing us the second they leave the building"? Christie suggested that the President "should visit with small business leaders, doctors and investors who support his vision and happen to be black". Andy Card, displaying his honesty and sincerity, became an active participant and devoted significant amounts of his time to find ways in which the President's agenda could resonate with those who were skeptical about his policies.
   
   Black in the White House made me feel that I was actually observing the leaders of the country on a personal level without the critical remonstrations of the media promoting their anti-Bush rhetoric. I was able to see, through Christie's eyes, the leaders in President Bush's cabinet as thoughtful, intelligent and sincere individuals who are honored to spend a few years of their lives dedicated to the President and the country. Although not intended to be an historical document, the book represents a view of the White House and the Presidency that is seldom revealed. It was refreshing to observe the White House from the perspective of someone who loves to be there rather than from someone who is there to condemn it.



2. This book is one of my favorites. Ron Christie's persective of the White House workings kept my attention from cover to cover. I have to tell you...his thoughts on some things made me laugh out loud and others made me cry. Thank you for the book Mr. Christie--and you are definitely not a "wart on history's nose". :-)



3. I suppose that if you are a guileless, hard-core reactionary, then you'll really love Ron Christie's no-fault treatise on everything good about W's Whitehouse.
   
   While I am an AA (African-American) with moderate political views, there is something simultaneously self-satisfied and self-hating about Mr. Christie's over-the-top conservative tome in which he anecdotes countless situations in which he is the only person of color in the room (one would not count Conde Rice). Here he finds few faults with the Bush administration while describing his Horatio Algers' climb to middle management in the Republican Guard.
   
   He breathlessly reports of his adventures in becoming one of the youngest African Americans to navigate his way into the echelons of republican politics, without any self-acknowledgment that he may, in fact, just be a "token".
   
   I'd say it was an interesting read if you want to understand how the Republican Party simultaneously manages to find no real value in diversity, while exploiting - in a nominal way - the value of having a symbolic representative.
   
   This is a smug account of his interactions with politicos in the West Wing and it reads like a report on "What I Did Over my Summer Vacation".



4. If you are looking for the proverbial "fly on the wall" perspective of the White House, this might fit the bill nicely. Christie gives a very...accessible account of what it's like to work for the President. Unfortunately, Christie's experiences (as he presents them anyway) come across as though he had about as much impact on meaningful policy as a real fly on the wall. Certain passages made me cringe as the author described being nearly paralyzed with awe every time he met high profile people for the first time.
   
   I surely hope this was an editing error that slipped through but on page 233 Christie describes Karl Rove as being "thought by many to be the most powerful man in the White House other than the VP". If that was supposed to be a dig at Bush it's pretty unbecoming considering the way Christie fawns over W through the rest of the book. I STRONGLY suspect a junior proof-reader at publisher Nelson Current let her political views enter into her work and introduced the error as a prank. Pretty funny.
   
   I wouldn't recommend this for those learning about politics, government and the executive branch either. It is too lean on how various departments and individuals work together to implement policy. Also lacking is any insight on how one gets to such a position.



5. I read Ron Christie's new book as I was looking to find some insight into how the Bush White House works. Having seen the author on a number of tv programs he comes across as earnest, forthright and dedicated to the conservative cause. Unfortunately, he hasn't been in the top echelon of decision-making to warrant a good book. It's too low-level.
   
   I wish Mr. Christie well.....there's nothing more in his book that we already know, would care to know or will find out sooner or later.

No comments about Is It Nation Time?: Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism.