No comments about Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-TradingDynasty in U.S. History.

5 comments about Gonna Do Great Things: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr..

1. This is an exceedingly well researched glimpse into the early, middle, and later life of the brilliant and God-gifted Sammy Davis Jr.- each period of his genius life very well explored. From birth onwards, SD went through stuff we never dreamed, and did stuff we never knew, but this book gives the whole story, warts and all. A very good read, full of fascinating insights and some tasty dish too. As a longtime Hollywood journalist myself (who had many interactions with Sammy) I found quite a few minor errors (Fishgall called Michael Cole of Mod Squad "Peter Cole",) but most people won't notice these, and will really enjoy this thorough look inside a truly amazing life. Congrats to the author!
   
   Barbara Sternig, Hollywood



2. I personally have not read any other book written around the life of Sammy Davis Jr. I was interested after all this time, for I heard so much surrounding such a well known and honored Entertainer. Reading this story at times I found to be tedious and boring, too many descriptors of movies, the theatre and surroundings in the environment of which Sammy Davis Jr. lived. The best part of this story in the last few chapters which captures the essence of ones personal life, unfortunately it surrounds the deterioration of a magnificient man. The story is well written and leads you to believe that the author has researched and thoroughly done his homework. I must say that I am very surprised at the lifestyle that Sammy Davis Jr lead and I feel for his loved ones, because this story of how he was and how he treated his family, his wives, is really terrible and they had to see and want something deeply to have stayed involved and connected to Sammy Davis Jr. I guess also that you have to understand the drugs and addiction and need for stardom to really understand how Altovise, May, his children and his close friends really dealt with him. Truthfully by the count of what this author has documented the only ones who truly benefitted from Sammy Davis Jr. legacy is the World who wanted to be entertained. Those who went to the theatre, to Vegas shows. His wives were just pawns and lived their lives through his status (never getting much from him) and his children, well I am surprised they refer to him as daddy, 'cause it seems as if he was just Sammy in their lives. Truthfully this book is really a very sad story of a man that was... did he really every love his family, it seems as if his only love was the Stage. I think that the author could have written less and got the point across....maybe his aim was to also get you to read the Autobiography, but it also seems like the author capture the essence of all the other material that has been written on this entertainer. I rated it a 3 for interest only, and there were probably 4 good chapters in this book. Authors writing ability I give him 2 thumbs up for research and documentation, footnotes etc... Content and interest to the avid reader, less descriptors and explanation of other characters. I felt at some points in the book that it was more about Frank Sinatra and others then Sammy Davis Jr.



3. i was a fan before i m a bigger fan now. excellent pacing beautifully written and really tells the story of a truly remarkable man i very easliy could have read this in one sitting but i savored every page. highly recommended



4. 
   
   This is the only biography I've read about Sammy Davis Jr.I am retired and though born about 10 years after him,it seems to me he was around forever.This biography jives exactly with how I saw his career over the years.The one great enlightenment I got from this book was the personal details;which obviously were new to me,and I suppose would be to anyone who reads it.Every page presented something new and in a very readible style.
   Davis did so much and interacted with so many people over so long a period that the author had a huge task to cover it all in such a short biography;I feel what he has done is a supurb job to say the least.
   The author makes you feel like you are traveling right along side as Davis pursues his life and career;what more can one ask for in a biogrphy?
   If you enjoyed Sammy,you'll surely enjoy this book.



5. . . .you'll enjoy this one as well. I wasn't sure I could take another Sammy Davis, Jr. biography so soon after Will Haygood's recent (and excellent) biography, but the brisk pacing and clear writing drew me in. Fishgall sticks to the major events in Sammy's life and doesn't go overboard with the historical background, but a clear picture of the man and his time emerges. I felt an inordinate amount of attention was paid to Sammy's later years and television appearances, but I appreciated learning more about his children and his third marriage. If you can only read one, read "In Black and White." If you're still interested, read Sammy's own books, and include this strong, fair biography.

2 comments about A Matter of Law: A Memoir of Struggle in the Cause of Equal Rights.

1. Judge Robert Carter gives a blow by blow account of the legal fronts of the civil rights struggle: the personalities involved, the infighting among them, the battles won, lost, and nearly neglected. Brown v. Board is well-told elsewhere, while other struggles receive overdue attention (e.g., the battle for the NAACP to preserve its member lists from scrutiny by officials striving to break the organization's back).
   
   Carter perceives himself as the uncharismatic technocrat of the struggle, an unheralded leader in a fight who was unceremoniously jettisoned from its core despite his impressive contributions.
   Accordingly, his account is that of a dutiful documentarian, rather than a labor of love, and the writing suffers for a dearth of passion.



2. When reading about the history of the NAACP's and the Legal Defense Fund's struggle for human rights, we tend to hear more about Thurgood Marshall and not enough about Robert Carter, who was a integral part of the fight. After many years, Robert Carter has shared his perspective with us.
   
   Tales from Carter's childhood and schooling are simply stated. Given the discrimination and hardship with which he grew up, these tales are more aptly labeled, "simply understated. His accomplishments through adversity are clearly laudable, but we don't get all the detail we would hope for. He does discuss a falling out between Marshall and him, and he also discusses grabs for power as Thurgood left. However, we don't get this level of detail on the cases.
   
   Regardless of the level of detail, this is a very informative read. I would recommend that anyone wanting to know more about our continuing struggle with civil rights should read this book.

No comments about African-American Firsts: Famous, Little-Known and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America.

1 comments about Bricktop.

1. I bought the book for a friend Yve Evans thet was playing Bricktop in a stage play. It was very helpful. Yve enjoyed the book and it helped her better understand the woman she was playing.....

5 comments about A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr..

1. This set of Dr. King's sermons/speeches is a dream come true. To hear his powerful words coming from his own mouth is so inspirational. I'm really glad I purchased these. Arthur Dunklin, Ph.D.



2. It's hard to believe Martin Luther King was 39 when he died. His eloquence can be heard in his famous speeches but the fullness of who he was, his spiritual depth, can only be heard in his sermons. These CDs are inspiring and profoundly moving. He is one of the greatest American preachers of all time and the greatest in the twentieth century.



3. I have had A Knock at Midnight in book and cassette tape form for many years, and at least twice a year I listen to them. The sermons are timeless, and make clear that we were in the presence of greatness when Dr. King was alive. Listening to this CD truly is inspirational. I have given them as gifts for years, and always receive heartfelt thanks.



4. What a blessing to listen to these sermons of my brother in Christ Dr. King. Never throughout my life did I hear these. Why?
   
   America, wake up!!! You are a great nation, because of the freedom bestowed upon us by none other than Jesus, the Messiah (Christ).
   
   And those people, brought here as slaves (believe me I've heard it ad nauseam going through school, but just listen), have helped make us a great nation!
   
   Now listen - we are ALL slaves - every one of us. To who? To ourselves!
   
   If you think I'm a religious zealot - absolutely, freakin' not. I am a former slave, that's all. No more, no less. Saved by the blood of the Lamb. And now filled with the love of His Spirit, and loving my fellow man, regardless of color or background.
   
   I look forward to meeting you in heaven Dr. King!
   
   (Let's pray for Dr. King's constituents, that they would come to know the Lord, and love all, black and white, and gain God's strength as Dr. King did.... and keep loving one another, faults and all - 'cause we know we all got faults, but our hearts should be turned towards perfection! Thank you Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords!!!)



5. The sermon series is awesome!!! Each sermon has an introduction that gives the listener valuable tidbits about the sermon. You can feel the effect of MLK's powerful oration abilities. All of the sermons are still relevant today and anyone who has a pulse can benefit from listening to the set.

2 comments about Tuskegee Airman Fighter Pilot: A Story of an Original Tuskegee Pilot Lt. Col. Hiram E. Mann.

1. The reader shall find a very thorough, detailed and thought provoking piece. Lt. Col. Mann has paved the way for individuals like myself to have had unlimited opportunity in the military, and unlimited opportunity to pursue my dreams of aviation both in and out of the military. I am proud to share with those that read this review, that I am a veteran of the United States Air Force, Licensed Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. A heart felt thanks to you Lt.Col. Mann, and your fellow Tuskegee Airmen. Thank you Dr. Coggins for your lifelong commitment towards our education. A PHI...



2. This riveting book on Lt. Col. Mann's life provides a clear sense of personal achievements and the military battles that he and fellow pilots experienced during World War II. The epistle are a source of hope for overcoming prejudice and discrimination. A must read for all...

5 comments about Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler.

1. I had a newspaper cut out of the picture that is on the cover of this book for years. It is faded and delicate but I never rid myself of it because I found the beautiful face that was on it so enchanting. All I knew was that this girl was called Philippa. I thought she was Indian or an old Bollywood star. Then I saw the photo again but on the cover of a biography in a bookshop called Foyles in London.
   
   Composition in Black and White: Life of Philippa Schuyler by Kathryn M. Talalay is a very well written and comprehensively researched biography about a child prodigy. The opening chapters are compelling and written with such confidence that it suggests that this biography is going to be a classic. Unfortunatly the subject matter lets Talalay down as the middle section of the book demonstrates because it is simply an extended list of her engagements and travels. That said the book sparks back into to life in the later chapters as the mature Philippa is explored. I would like to have known when she had her first real sexual encounter, as this would have put the later exploration into her sex life into context.
   
   There are some questions that are left unresolved which I supposed adds too the mystery of this difficult character. Also as Philippa grows she becomes more selfish and self-centred. Less sympathetic. Her world really does revolve around her and only her even if she is in a war-zone. My personal view is that in latter life she became something of a Machiavellian sexual predator. I can't see how she can be labelled a humanitarian. Her main concerns were solely for herself. She had an abortion simply because the baby came from a Blackman. Yes she was brave, talented and beautiful yet she was also cruel, stupid and brutal. Someone who had too much emotion baggage to be around for long.
   
   Where is Philippa's music now? Was it really any good? Are there any recordings of it?
   
   I can find none available. Maybe that speaks for itself.



2. Richard Powers puts Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967) to the centre of his novel "The time of our singing". Halle Berry (this time as a producer instead of as an actress) wants to film her life ["Composition in Black and White"] and has found Alicia Keys as a principal actor -- also a coloured pianist and an admirer of Philippa Schuyler by whom Alicia feels deeply inspired. These two current marginal notes should already unlock us to read this book written by Kathryn Talalay about Philippa Schuyler. If one has started to explore the facts of this extraordinary biography, then one quite surely will be tied up of what this exemplarily strong woman experienced: At the beginning of her life she was, aged 11, on tour as a "child prodigy" celebrated on concert stages in about 80 countries -- also America needs his Mozarts (at first the present U.S. Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice was on this track, too, before she still discovered more essential). Philippa Schuyler (got adult) changed her name because of the racialist injustices , which made the USA particularly to the axis of the bad in the Mccarthy era -- for children from mixing marriages absolutely also. Philippa Schuyler tried to award a South American Spanish touch to herself with the pseudonym Felipa Monterro. (Jennifer Lopez today is an example, too, that this sort of identity absolutely gets more acceptance than a clear origin from a black American ghetto. ) Philippa Schuyler started with a second life as a (very successful) journalist, getting more awake for political discussions. She, an "American Sheroe" -- she died at the age of 35 years... at a report refund over Vietnam during a helicopter crash in 1967.



3. This book is PACKED with details. The author really did her homework on this book. The author takes you on a journey beginning with the lives of her parents, Phillipa crossing the world on adventures and finally ending in pure tragedy. Phillipa was a very gifted child pianist. She grew up in New York as a multi-racial child. Her mother was a white southern heiress, her father was a talented black journalist. The two fell in love in a time where inter-racial couples were worse than taboo.
   
   Phillipa traveled the world performing for royalty. Sometimes at dilapidated venues in fourth world counties. Although some times were rough for Phillipa (when she was older) she continued touring to get away from her demanding mother.
   
   The book is packed with dates, locations, pictures and names. You can tell that the author, Kathryn Talalay, put a lot of effort into this book to give you the full picture of this girl's life. This is the reason why I gave it 3 stars and not 4 or 5. From reading so much info the book kind of lost its momentum.
   
   NOTE: Be on the look out for the motion picture of "Composition in Black and White" staring Alicia Keys as Phillipa.



4. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Very well written and researched. Philippa Schulyer was a fascinating woman! I highly recommend this book.



5. As a social historian and african-american writer I enthralled when I read the NY Times Book Review of Kathryn Talalay's bio of phillippa Schuyler. Schuyler made her mark as a musical child prodigy and later, as an adult, a celebrated composer-pianist. Schuyler's life as an international performer in one sense mirrors that of another but more recognized "tragic mulatoo", Dorthy Dandridge. And her last career as a grounbreaking war correspondent in South Vietnam is particularly entriguing. Overall, Talalay's book is marvelous but the high brow and sordid realities of Schuyler's life are especially deserving of a major made-for-cable TV treatment. Similiarly to what recently afforded Dandridge. That way Talalay's thought provoking examination of Schuyler's achievements could be made accessible to a greater number of african-americans and others alike.

5 comments about Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality and Identity.

1. Although the first half of the book is really boring, the second half makes up for the slow and banal start. The first half focuses on Japanese-American tribulations during the Pearl Harbor era, which through composition and writing style, certainly not topic, is a miserable read. The book doesn't begin to redeem itself until the author goes into his own personal struggles of sexual identity, which is great because most books that I've encountered in Asian-American issues usually goes into differences in food, domestic tribulations, or are too scholastic to enjoy on a personal level. On this point I felt it was a great read despite the first half. Though in hind sight, the first half seems integral for the continuity of which the book is based on; how history and experiences leave a residue of meaning that dissolves into reoccurring memories; these memories that keep coming back to shape our lives-these traces of identities. In this aspect it was hard for me to rate this book, which I struggled between a 3 or 4 star rating. I will say however, that it is a definite must read for any one who is familiar with Asian-American issues. Thank you David Mura for having the balls to write this book; it was worth the whole production despite the criticisms.



2. David Mura's book, as the subtitle suggests, spans some fairly heavy issues. For more than a few readers in my Asian American Literature class, this book was a little too explicit, but for anyone in search of a frank and personal account of the sansei experience, this may be it. Mura discusses the problems he inherits through his inculcation of the model minority myth, and the mantra on which he was raised: "Act like everybody else and you will BE like everybody else." The book charts Mura's dawning consciousness of his racial identity, as well as his deep addiction to promiscuity and pornography--an addiction that Mura identifies as stemming from the standards of white beauty trained in him since boyhood. His discussion of what pornography does to the male psyche are particularly interesting, and his assessment of his addiction in terms of his racial identity is not one that I have heard anywhere else.

   The book certainly met with criticism from those who would rather emphasize race unity for the fact that by the end, Mura seems to distill every aspect of his life and his identity into a race issue. However, it was equally applauded in my class for the same issues. The explicit nature of the book seemed as much a pro as a con in discussion as well. Whatever the case, this is book that sparked a great deal of controversy at my university, and generated a great deal of conversation. If you are interested in the Asian American experience, this is certainly worth the read. You will have opinions about this book, I can guarantee you that, and no matter what they are, you will find plenty of people willing to argue them with you.




3. I'm an American of Korean descent (2nd generation), born and raised in the Deep South. I bought this book two years ago, based on Mura's reputation and a sense that this book would speak to my emerging consciousness as an Asian American male. It sat on my shelf for 2 years until last week, and now I can see why. This is a painful read.

   Other reviewers have branded this book as "self absorbed" and "tedious," which to me are the characteristics of the journey towards wholeness and healing. Read it if you are Asian or love someone who is.




4. Sometimes I felt that this book did not have much relevance to me. Then Mura really foes into discussing the struggles of Asian-Americans today. Problems of fitting in, and sexual stereotypes. His description of the Asian male being this country's eunuch really hit home. He put words to very deep, very vague feelings that I have carried and that a lot of asians growing up in this society probably have as well.



5. Mr. Mura leaves much to be desired with this literary piece. At times extremely frustrating, at others poignant, Mura's vision of the world might be judged simply as lacking in any type of insight into the world that surrounds him, but incredibly intuitive at describing issues arising out of his personal emotions and relations. There is danger here, pedantic rants at the treatment of Japanese-Americans in American history and contemporary culture are presented without mention of the xenophobia and the abuse of other Asian nationalities by the "home" archipelago. And yet the occassional awareness of the absurdity of his formed cosmology saves Mr. Mura's work, the descent from the fictional renderings of the internment camps that his forefathers endured to the sexual frustration of a spoiled, egotistical privileged Asian-American from the Chicago suburbs who found love in the cornfields of Grinnell, make this a story of a relatively interesting person who has not/ will not make much of a mark on the world. While I disagree profusely with Mr. Mura's commentary on racial dynamics in middle America, I read the book from cover to cover and feel little remorse for the time spent. It is rare that Asian-American Grinnell alumnists get a chance to gain this much access into the life of a fellow student; it is unfortunate that this is our one opportunity.

4 comments about You Ain't Got No Easter Clothes: A Memoir.

1. I loved this book; it was moving and written with an elegant grace, despite its dark content. It's difficult to write about mental illness with humor and charm, but Laura Love succeeds here where many others have failed. Excellent.



2. I love a good memoir, and this book is among my favorites. The story of Laura Love and her sister Lisa is one I won't soon forget. Held hostage by a mentally unstable mother, the girls learn to tolerate a childhood of extreme poverty and insanity. The author has such a way with words, you feel as if you know her. With parts so emotionally overwhelming; I literally burst out into uncontrollable laughter, for lack of more appropriate emotions. A must read for all women or all races. A breathtaking glimpse into hell.



3. This book was like nothing I had read before. When I first picked it up I thought that I wouldn't be interested in it, however, once I started reading I couldn't stop. The things that happened to these little girls just breaks my heart and I had to know where their lives ended up.



4. I've always found Laura Love's music and song lyrics to be thoughtful and profound, so it was no surprise to find this was a shocking but gripping true story. Frankly, I couldn't stop reading until finished and wished she had written more.
   
   It's not a story for the fainthearted reader, because she tells all - warts and all. It's amazing that a woman could live through these experiences, yet end up with such a warm and compassionate sense of self! I also found it interesting to read about the times of Bobby Kennedy's assassination, the effects of race riots, and so many memories of the `60s and `70s from her perspective. Truly enjoyed the baby boomer nostalgia type memories. I would highly recommend this memoir!