1 comments about Out of the Shadows: A Biographical History of African American Athletes.

1. Thirteen original essays provide an in-depth biographical focus on both famous and lesser-known Afro-American athletes from the 19th century to modern times, and is a key pick for college-level collections specializing in Afro-American studies or sports history. Here are surveys that link athletic endeavors to social issues and politics, examining the effects of segregation on ambition and achievement. Contributors are top sports history writers and their essays examine the close connections between race, prejudice, and sport.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

5 comments about Torn Between Two Cultures: An Afghan-American Woman Speaks Out (Capital Currents).

1. This book is an insightful look at the tragedies of war as well as the Muslim/Afghan plight in America.



2. I enjoyed reading this book. I'm always interested in reading books by authors who are from other countries. I was really glad that the author didn't have a lot of negative things to say about the country. I have a Afghan friend, who just moved here to the states, that gives a little different story on the treatment of women there than the author does but I really enjoyed the book and think that it will give all readers a look of what's it like to leave your country to move to a new country that's totally different than what you are use too.



3. If you only read the newspapers you'd assume that Islam is a religion to which only men subscribe. Maryam's book is therefore an invaluable contribution to the literature. Here is a smart, well-educated woman's personal account of her life and faith. It's not didactic or argumentative, it's simply a refreshingly candid, personal, and articulate account of how the world looks to an Afghan-American Muslim woman. This is a voice we don't hear much amidst the clamor of opinions currently raging about Islam and the West, and it's information we can't get from any "objective" source. Thank goodness for this insider who is willing to share.



4. Yes, I wish the author, Maryam Qudrat Aseel, could be on national TV on a regular basis, discussing the ongoing cultural rift between the U.S. and the Middle East. Her book is about the Afghan-American experience. Ironically, I picked up this book looking for experiences of Pakistani-Americans for a research project. I could not find one, but decided to start with this book.
   
   The author relates her experiences growing up in the U.S., visiting Afghanistan, and trying to hold Afghan traditions in a western culture. Being part of both is not an easy thing to do. This even-handed, well-written book clearly explains historical, cultural and present-day aspects of Afghanistan life and of being Afghan-American. I normally read fiction, and skim some nonfiction, but did not with this book. I was pleasantly surprised at her engaging, colorful writing.
   
   I half-expected some propaganda. However, I can honestly say the book seems highly objective. Maryam understands both the U.S. and Afghan side of the issues with an intelligent balance. While I had known some about the Islam faith, I learned a lot more. I also have a much better understanding of the role of women in Middle Eastern culture, the difference between Middle Eastern culture and Muslim beliefs, and the true relationship of the Taliban to the Afghan people.



5. very informative but almost feels like your reading a novel. a must read with so many stereotypes flying around these days

1 comments about Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989.

1. Stanley Crouch is an excellent essayist, and of his books, Notes of a Hanging Judge is the best I've read so far. That being said, some of the essays in this collection still anger me, some 8 years after I first read them.

   Much of his national exposure has seemingly been created by the gratuitous pot shots he takes at notable blacks, in efforts to knock them off some imagined pedestal. Two examples stand out. In the Rage of Race,(#34) one of two essays about James Baldwin, Crouch embarks on an acidic deconstruction; claiming that Baldwin's late-career work "sold out to rage, despair, self-righteousness and a will to scandalize." Crouch further wrote that Baldwin's mantle as black literary spokesman led him to neglect his craft, and eroded the impact of his subsequent work. To the contrary, there are numerous black artists, whose passion and activism did not lower the quality of their work(i.e. Paul Robeson; and Ishmael Reed-see Airing Dirty Laundry, and Writin' is Fightin). To Baldwin's credit, he defiantly refused to "sit in some ivory tower perfecting my craft" while events on the civil rights ground demanded his attention and participation. In "Nationalism of Fools(Essay #25)Crouch reduced Malcolm X to a purveyor of "a cockeyed racial vision of history which precluded any insights into human nature..." Crouch's willingness to adopt the mainstream consensus about Malcolm left him no room to study the true evolution of Malcolm's world view; it expanded beyond U.S. borders, transcended civil rights, and embraced human rights instead.

   With these criticisms, you may wonder why I gave this book 5 stars. I did so because I LEARNED SO MUCH!! Crouch introduced me to people I'd never heard of, and whose work I now enjoy. The best example is("Chitlins at the Waldorf"-Essay #6) his tribute to Albert Murray, who was a contemporary of Ralph Ellison. Murray's book, Stompin the Blues, is widely regarded as the definitive text about the meaning of jazz and the blues. Because of Crouch, I now have four of Charles Johnson's books. Crouch's essay, "Another Master" profiles Senegalese film maker Ousmane Sembene, who recently had a month-long festival of his films shown at NYC's Film Forum. For all the acerbity in some essays, Crouch also shows real compassion and empathy, as his essay about Lionel Mitchell attests.

   For the most part, I will never align myself politically with the conservatives with whom Crouch appears cozy. However, I will never stop reading his essays either, for they are rich, improvisational, educational and eclectic. Notes of a Hanging Judge is an intense,fascinating workout, which is at times fun. It is a truly worthwhile reading experience, and I highly recommend it!

5 comments about Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington.

1. Oh Dear Dinah, your life & music deserves more than a mere listing of your shows and records in such a big collage(awfully long to read)of a book! I guess it is well researched but are magazine writings reliable? Not really.
   I DO know more about Washington, for sure...
   It is not the 1st book of the kind I read, certainly not the last but hopefully, not another one like this in the near future...



2. Because no one has ever written about legendary Dinah Washington before (at least not published in Europe),I snatched this book immediately just to find it a bit overwhelming & too detailed.Where author dazzled in her previous book,this time she seems she wasn't sure is she writting about Washington or the whole afro-american society of post WW2 America.Sure,she had done her homework and reasearched high and low (future authors will have to rely on her) but after a while,the book turns into list of every concert performance Washington ever gave in her life,therefore a bit dry.Strange how vital and exciting singer like Washington ended up with such uninspired biographer! The little episodes,like the only time this overworked woman spent time with her family in Disneyland tell much more than all the concerts and recording dates.I love Washington dearly and thanks to her music legacy,for me she lives forever.Read the book if you are curious,but stick to the music.



3. Dinah Washington, like Etta James and Esther Phillips, is one of the underrated singers of the post WWII era, and very little has been written about her. So when I saw this book and who its author was,(Nadine Cohodas, who wrote a superb history of Chess Records,Spinning Blues Into Gold), I eagerly anticipated reading it.
   After finishing it, unfortunately I'm still waiting for the definitive biography of the Queen. It's very apparent that Cohodas did a lot of research, but the result was turned into a laundry list of club dates, recording sessions, clothes inventories, and rotating musicians and husbands which becomes numbing. What is missing is context and interpretation of these events aside from the repetitive assertion that Washington was narrowly promoted and marketed because of race. I wasn't looking for sensationalism or psychobiography from this book, but I was hoping to gain some insight into Dinah Washington's life, or music, and the lack of analysis left me still wondering both who she was and how she created such wonderful music.



4. 
   Born Ruth Lee Jones in 1924 in Alabama, singer Dinah Washington's family moved to Chicago where she became a local gospel star at fifteen - but she didn't stop there. When she was discovered by Lionel Hampton at eighteen, Dinah made her way to New York's Apollo Theatre and became a legend. Queen: The Life And Music Of Dinah Washington reviews her life and music, delving into her high and low moments alike. A fine insider's guide to the real Dinah.



5. Dinah Washington was a great human being as well as a great singer. Cohodas' limited writing skills and lack of insight result in an unwieldy, superficial account of dates, places and people in the life of this passionately human, outstanding artist who was decades ahead of her time. On the other hand, the book provides significant documentation for future biographers. The book gets one star for the excellent cover by Carol Devine Carson who also designed the cover of Bill Clinton's autobiography. Dinah would have loved it!
   
   Given Dinah's magnificent talent, deep spirituality, and complex personality, only a highly skilled writer capable of penetrating social and psychological insights and access to personal materials could craft a biography worthy of her. Someone of the caliber of Toni Morrison, or Maya Angelou at her best, could do her justice. Until then, the brilliant light of Dinah's talents, generosity and love will continue to shine upon the earth bestowed - solo - by the Queen.

4 comments about Solutions for Black America.

1. Solutions for Black America is a great book. I am extremely pleased that Jawanza Kunjufu has written it. This is basically a step by step analysis of each problem in the African American community, and a series of solutions to go with it. I particularly found the chapters on Education and parenting the most enlightening. And even though I don't agree with many things written here, I must still strongly recommend this to every black person as a must read.
   With that said, let me tell you about some of my issues with it. I'm not the type of guy who favors the 'racism is the reason for black failure' argument. But this is something that he has at the top of his solution list for many of the community's problems. He puts reducing racism and creating more equality at the top of his solution list for a number of different problems. I say it's as good as it's going to get. Many of us are succeeding, and even though it would be nice to get more equality, we're probably not going to get it, so deal with it. Yes, if we were treated as equal to whites from the start, we would not have our current issues of disproportionate poverty, poor health, and crime. But, there are too many black people succeeding in today's world for me to believe that racism can continue to prevent any of us from doing the minimum: Graduate from high school, don't commit crimes, and raise your children to be productive members of society. Personal responsibility for our own successes and failures as well as those of our children is what is going to elevate those blacks still lagging behind out of poverty and distress.
   My next issue is probably more a product of my own pessimism/realism, but I felt like I needed to say it as long as I have the audience. Mr Kunjufu has the idea of trying to repair the entire community through stimulating an African American network of businesses and commerce, enhancing our own sense of nationalism, while simultaneously eradicating our more self destructive cultural tendencies. I believe that none of this will ever happen. Nothing wrong with him writing it, nothing wrong with trying to put it in motion. After all, we should all shoot for something.. but it's not going to happen. We are what we are. And what is black culture anyway? Who knows? Too many people believe that it is whatever BET says it is, or whatever our lower income bretheren have made it out to be.
   Anyway, let me end this rant with this. As blacks I think a problem is that we see ourselves as individuals. Individuals who do the same things, live in the same places, and make the same mistakes. But, we don't see ourselves as a nation. Although this isn't ideal, we can use this to guide our strategy for improvement. Focus on teaching each individual to be their best, to value their education, to respect others, etc. (you know, the way parents often do with children)and we will be on the way to a better future.



2. Jawanza has laid it on the line, He has offered real world solutions for the problems plaguing our (the Black) community. He forces us to think and reconsider simply debating and discussing the problems. Most notable is when he articulates why we can not agree on what solutions should be used for our various problems and when we should offer those solutions. Brother Jawanaza writes we should never offer a solution until we agree on what the cause of the problem is. If we differ as to what we think is the cause of the problem we will be unable to come to a consensus as to what is the best solutions for the Problem. I recommend every thinking Black man and woman read this book if you are truly interested in reading about real world solutions to the problems plaguing the Black community.



3. It's a shame that Jawanza Kunjufu does not get more attention for his writings. His books are so powerful they make you want to take on the entire world all by yourself. His formula of Problem - Cause - Solution - Implementation is revolutionary. Every Black person in America should read this book. Who would've thought that we could purchase the answers to our struggles for only $16.



4. I was tired of hearing about Black people complain about the problems.This book gave me over 100 solutions and stategies.

5 comments about In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story.

1. I just finished Ghada Karmi's captivating autobiography. She is honest, poignant, funny and reflective. She takes you back to pivotal moments in history, while at the same time drawing you into her and her family's personal struggles. Many readers who have also grown up with traditional parents, whether they be Catholic, Muslim or Jewish, will be able to relate!
   
   But more importantly, she offers an insightful view of a much misunderstood dilemma. For anyone who has wondered, "Why don't the Palestinians just stop fighting?", you owe it to yourself to read this book!
   
   I admit to fact checking Karmi because I assumed since she was Palestinian, that some of the information she gave could have been exaggerated. She mentions the massacre at Deir Yassin, the bombing of the King David Hotel, and the booby trapping of the dead body of a British soldier. I was shocked to learn that armed Jewish groups did indeed carry out these and other acts of violence before 1948. What we are usually taught is that Israel always respects human rights, but the Arabs do not. Karmi gives another point of view.
   
   Yet she does not paint all Jewish people with the same brush. She differentiates between her Jewish friends she holds dear, the Jewish faith she respects, and the state of Israel which has robbed her of her homeland.
   
   This book is well worth your time!



2. In Search of Fatima is a beautifully written story, a true story, written by a woman with a real gift for writing. The whole experience of the Palestinian Catastrophe, know as the Nakba, comes alive in this book on a very personal level. The fear of the Palestinians as the events unfold during the years leading up to 1948 are so vividly expressed that you feel that you are there too, sharing the feelings of foreboding and horror.
   The second section of the book describes the difficulties in settling in a new country, with totally different customs, language, weather, everything. Her mother, incapable of adapting to a new life, makes a truly pitiable figure.
   
   Although this is the story of one person,the experience of the 1948 Nakba was shared by three quarters of a million others, yet we rarely hear about the terrible suffering inflicted on so many. This book fills a huge void.



3. This is truly an outstanding work. The search and confusion of identity is made even more difficult when one is a Palestinian refugee. Add to this the issue of gender and Ghada Karmi assertion of herself and her rights and you get a fascinating indeed thrilling mix. The first third of the book deals with the exodus from Jerusalem ..it is very moving and sad to see the events rushing to make little Ghada and her family refugees. In the next part we see Ghada the British emerging and finally with all the contradiction between home, school (with mostly Jewish friends) and the society at large especially with backdrop of the 1956 Suez war. The third and final part is the return and the contradictions of identities and the battle to assert herself as a single woman working for the cause. Ghada's move from the completely apolitical to the activist as part of her search of identity is very well nuanced and gives us a great insight into the meaning of being a Palestinian refugee.
   
   Ghada Karmi is a gifted writer. This work is fascinating enough even if it was given as bullet points in a PowerPoint presentation, but this is hardly the case. Karmi has a facility with prose and is able to get into great detail to transform the readers into her life; this was very much the case in the fist part of the book, the exodus from Jerusalem. You can almost picture Ghada abandoned dog as their car sped away from the house never to return.
   
   This is a thrilling work on par with Leila Ahmad Border Passage. Leila Ahmad an Egyptian American was not a refugee but here Tri-cultural experience in Egypt, England and America and her search of identity and issues of gender are very interesting and highly developed. Another highly recommended work of a Palestinian American is Nadia Captive of Hope, deals with exodus and gender issues and less so of identity.



4. This book is like a narrative of two different lives: the end of one and the beginning of another. Two lives that are not independent of each other though, as remnants of the one may not be overpowering to the point of eliminating the other, but are certainly powerful enough to haunt it, shape it, give it its final form.
   
   Although in essence totally overwhelmed by emotions, Karmi manages to almost detach and distance herself from her own being, leave her body and float above everything and everyone. That way she describes people, situations and feelings in a detailed and factual fashion, devoid of the empathy that would crush the reader, immerse him in a whirlwind of unfulfilled expectations and unrelieved tension, and ultimately leave him feeling nothing short of miserable and exhausted.
   
   Throughout the entire book, there's a marked emphasis on Karmi's relationships with other Jews, the friendships she formed and her refusal to see them in any other way than as individuals with traits that were or were not compatible, likable or acceptable to her. She almost goes out of her way to make clear that Jewishness never hindered her from befriending someone and not only that, but in an unfamiliar environment such as London was in the aftermath of the second World War, Palestinians and Jews that found themselves stranded there were entities that shared the misfortune of exile, and as such could indeed relate to one another. Moreover, the fact that Judaism was as much a respected as a familiar religion for Muslims, much more so than Christianity, played a role. As did the writer's initial stance, adopted by her parents and passed onto her from an early age, that it wasn't so much the Jews that were responsible for the Palestinians' fate and the violent takeover of their country, as ultimately the British, who as custodians of Palestine had the obligation to protect and safeguard the interests of the indigenous population. Instead, they forsook and betrayed them, and disposed of the Palestinian land -that was never theirs to dispose of in the first place- as served their purposes at the time.
   
   Karmi experiences an internal conflict, wavering between her British identity and her Arab origins, desperately longing to be accepted by and fit in either society. She often describes the war that rages inside of her, the opposite forces pushing and pulling, on the one hand the need to put everything behind her and lead as normal a life as possible, and on the other the need to seek out her roots and fight with all her might the injustice that was meted out to her.
   
   This book is so much more that a simple memoir, as it goes deep inside the mind of people who experience exile and dislocation, and gives a picture of the psychological turmoil they find themselves in and the void they will probably never be able to fill.



5. This is a wonderful book that shows the humnan tragedy of becoming a refugee. In this case, the book talks about a refugee of the 1948 war for Palestine. While the book explains how the creation of the state of Israel have shattered the lives of three quarter million palestnians, it tells the story of one of them. The story of personal conflicts that face any palestnian refugee now, then and in the future:
   - Can I return to Palestine and where is it now?
   - How can I stay palestnian and at the same time contribute to my current non-palestnian community?
   - Do I have the capacity to forgive israelies for what they did to my family and country?
   
   While Ghada's responses to these questions were positive, and she insisted to find an answer to these questions, it is the role of each palestnian to find his/her own answers. Also, it is the role of non-palestnians to understand the palestnian refugee before addressing their plight. Therefore I highly recommend this book.

No comments about My Soul Looks Back And Wonders... How I Got Over: A Narrative Account Regarding the George-Kennedy-Anderson-Cathey Collective of African Descent in Maury ... Tennessee 1810-1920 C.E. 191-301 A.B.A..

No comments about DK Readers: Free At Last, The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Level 4: Proficient Readers).

No comments about To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760-1865.

2 comments about Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson.

1. You can't find anything better if you're looking for information on the great Mr. Bojangles.



2. "Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson" not only serves as a crucial historical document, but also as a vivid portrait of a truly special man. An original in every sense of the word, Bill Robinson created a unique style of tap dancing, along with breaking the racist barriers of his time. This book superbly chronicles (with the help of first-hand source materials and interviews with people who knew him) the life of this incredible artist, entertainer, and humanitarian. You will not only learn what the world was like when Mr. Robinson struggled in his craft, but you will discover the values and convictions that drove him forward. You will be moved by the benevolence of this man's spirit--a spirit that could coin a phrase such as "Everything's Copasetic!" This is a touching and informative biography that informs the evolution of tap AND the human experience.