3 comments about Fools Crow.

1. After reading Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power (which is one of my all time favorite books!), I was naturally drawn to reading the biography of Fools Crow. Alas, I found the book a bit tedious and disappointing. I am sure Thomas Mails wrote an accurate account, but his style and the points he emphasizes make for a plodding read.

   Despite these troubles, I found the book to be informative of life on the 20th century Pine Ridge Reservation. The problems outlined in this book are not going away, and if this book raises concerns about what must be done to correct these terrible issues it has done a great service.

   This book is also very good in regards to giving a history of the Sioux since the Great Sioux War of 1876. So often the history of this great nation is placed in the background to the white culture making it difficult to see with any degree of accuracy. This book is from the vantage point of a Sioux elder and tells the sad tale of an oppressed people.




2. This is the story of Frank Foolscrow: The Ceremonial chief of the Teton Sioux:

   I very much enjoyed the story of the politics on the reservation.

   I do have several problems with this book.

   1. The story was recorded by Thomas E. Mails a Lutheran, and I found it disconcerting that in some places the Term "God" is used, and in others the Sioux term "Wakan Tanka" is used.

   2. On page 100 Mr. Mails equates the tobacco ties as a rosary. The Tobacco ties had nothing with a rosary. They were simply offerings to his 405 helpers.

   3. On page 107 Mr. Mails implies that Frank Foolscrow was a Catholic. It is clear that he retained his spirituality.

   4. I am VERY disturbed by what he calls "The Kettle Dance". I am not from that culture, and do not know what it represents to the people. So I have no right to judge it.

   5. The colors associated with the directions are wrong. I don't know if Mr. Mails got this wrong, or Mr. Foolscrow believed this information was too sacred to share. The accurate colors for the Sioux medicine wheel is.

   Black in the West and represents Earth. White in the North and represents Air. Red in the East and represents Fire. Yellow in the South and represents Water Green in the Center and represents Spirit

   You can see the accurate layout of the Sioux medicine wheel on the cover of "Native Wisdom" by Ed McGaa.

   Questions or comments. E-Mail me. Two Bears

   Wah doh Ogedoda




3. This book is the counterpoint to Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power. It is more a retelling of his life story, there is less description of his worldview which is more the focus of Wisdom and Power. One feels reading this that he could have gone on and on about the politics at the reservation, he doesn't and for me seeing how he expresses his views about this situation while keeping a gentle ad moderate tone is quite revealing of his personality. There is a fascinating account of his exerience at Bear Butte, which is the highlight of the book.

5 comments about Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement.

1. I thought I was pretty well informed on the subject of black history but that was an eye-opening book. Kareem did a great job with this book. I am proud to see a great athlete show his skills as a great scholar. Thanks for sharing these powerful profiles. I stand taller with this new knowledge of my heritage.



2. I bought this book in hardcover when it first came out and since then have bought several copies to give to other people, both black and white, both young and old. Without fail, this book has impacted people, and every one of them has told me how much they learned from this wonderful book.
   
   Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did a masterful job in gathering these inspiring stories from what has been, unfortunately, the footnotes of history, if they were acknowledged at all. The achievements by black Americans and their contributions to this country have been largely ignored by historians until recently. And even today, many black Americans who were not taught as young people about their heritage remain oblivious to what should be a matter of great pride.
   
   We have taken great steps to equalize human rights, but we still have a way to go to completely obliterate the racial prejudice many of us grew up with. Books like this by people with the stature of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will help get us to where we should be--respecting people of all races, colors and creeds.



3. I found this book to be very informative and very well writen! I particularly enjoyed learning true historical facts that have long been misrepresented, or clouded with partial information. I highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys history and is interested in learning truth.



4. What's more remarkable than the informative nature of this text is how it came to be...
   An African American sport icon who gained success through one of the primary avenues African Americans have to reach affluence (sports and entertainment) just to use it as an avenue to actually uplift the intellectual level of his community. Well done!
   I can't tell you how many tears it brings to my eyes to see a brother who achieve greatness through the stereotypical avenue of sports and actually use his greatness to do the truly great...uplift his people. Though there have been lists and books previous to his on the same subject, it has rarely been done by a person with such influence among youth, and for that I credit him unlike other past atheletes who simply use their stardom to sell grills, orange juice, or try and become rappers.
   
   Peace to the God



5. I don't know about the book, but the author brings an entire new meaning to the term, "head up".

   Call me Ishmal......

5 comments about By Any Means Necessary (Malcolm X Speeches & Writings).

1. This was my very first book about Malcolm X based on his own speeches and interviews and it won't be my last. As a young African American male I find his way of thinking radical (in a good way) and enlightening. Its great to see a man with a genuine passion and a will to [...] to do something about what he is passionate for. Malcolm loved people but he hated the evile thoughts and actions that people enforced onto others. I believe books like these are great educating tools. People always will have a negative view of Malcolm X, they will continue to call him a racist, bigot, etc etc. That is all hearsay and most of those comments are based on ignorant, racist and bigoted perspectives. You will never fully understand an individual unless you put yourself into their culture, environment and mind. Malcolm X is a great inspiration and leader for everyone willing to sacarifice their lives for sincere and realistic equal society.



2. This collection of writings and speeches by Malcolm X deals with the last year of his life and contains some really interesting material. M/X goes off on some ideas that would still make many people squirm, such as his idea that "Any Black person who registers as a Democrat or a Republican is a traitor to his people." What Black politican today would say this? He also stresses that the main thing for African-Americans to do is to undo the damage to the self-esteem of Black people done by slavery and Jim Crow (another capital idea seldom heard-but needed to be said-today). He warns against reactionary picketing against foolish and symbolic issues and bluntly states that if it's an idea that you aren't worth dying for, then you shouldn't demonstrate at all!
   
   Ideas tof this kind are seldom heald even from so-called "militant" leaders of today, who thrive on theatrics and shock value as opposed to concrete ideas for the betterment of the masses. I also like his take on white liberals ("John Brown should be your standard") although I disagree to an extent with a few ideas (such as his take on Rev. Bruce Klunder, a Cleveland martyr) but one does not have to agree with someone 100% to recognize sincerity and brilliance. Read it and think!



3. I think the best way to describe this great book is a few excerpts.
   
   "... by any means necessary. That's our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary."
   
   "We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out."
   
   "Those who claim to be enemies of the system were on their hands and knees waiting for [Democratic president] Johnson to get elected because he's supposed to be a man of peace; and he has troops invading the Congo [in Africa] right now and invading Saigon [Vietnam]...."
   
   "This political, economic, and social system of America was produced from the enslavement of the black man and that particular system is capable only of reproducing that out of which itself was produced."
   
   "No, you have got no friends in Washington, D.C.... You've got friends in Africa, friends in Asia, friends in Latin America."
   
   "[The] thing that I would like to impress upon every Afro-American leader is that no kind of action in this country is ever going to bear fruit unless that action is tied in with the overall international struggle."
   
   (In one of his speeches, Malcolm read the founding statement of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) which he led, adding his own comments. Malcolm didn't write the statement himself; it was developed by a committee of the new group.)
   
   "[quoting OAAU] 'A first step in the program to end the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the [New York city] schools the Board of Education will not include in its [desegregation] plan be turned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.'"
   
   "[quoting OAAU] 'The [Black] community must ... wage an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.'"
   
   "Wherever you have organized crime, that type of crime cannot exist other than with the consent of the police, the knowledge of the police and the cooperation of the police.... [Criminals] pay the police off so that they will not get arrested. I know what I'm talking about - I used to be out there."
   
   "[quoting OAAU] 'We propose to support and organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.' We don't support any black man who is controlled by the white power structure."
   
   I also recommend "Malcolm X Talks to Young People". (See my review.)
   
   I recommend the ads in the back of the book. Pathfinder Press is defined by a political goal, not commercial success. It aims to provide a platform for revolutionary leaders speaking in their own words. If you like one book, you will probably like others.



4. This wonderful biography on Malcom X is an intriguing book talking about Malcom's life and greatest triumphs. It describes his life as a child, on the streets, in prison, and as a leader. It told me almost everything I wanted to know about his life, with a some interesting tidbits to keep it from getting boring, but not too many so it isn't a foot thick. The book starts out nicely, with a story about when Malcom made sure that a young African American man captured by the police is kept in good health. Although, after reading this grabbing article, the book slows down a little bit, don't stop, because ahead of you is a fun and informative novel containing everything you wanted to know about this wonderful leader.



5. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious as to who Malcom X is. It is not a biography, but a collection of interviews and speeches that reveal the essence of a natural born leader. Malcom X lived in a time where his people where treated as second class citizens, where every genuine attempt to counter the mistreatment of blacks was met with opposition, either by supremacist groups or the Government's inability to protect the rights of his people.
   Naturally he develops a militant stand against the injustice, as every other measure seemed futile. The militancy undeniably made him notorious in the media circles and he was often misunderstood of misquoted by the establishment. By objectively reading his words as they are transcribed, one cannot help but agree that he is indeed a revolutionary philosopher and activist, unafraid and eager to change his views as he learns more about the struggle for universal human rights.
   This is a must read for people who are curious to learn more about the real civil rights struggle, a stark contrast from the rosy pictures that are painted every year in Febuary.

5 comments about Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration.

1. Close to the Knives is David Wojnarowicz's masterpiece. He was an accomplished artist but I think this writing is where he really turned it out.



2. David Wojnarowicz reveals his backstory in layers, throughout the course of this essay collection. Eventually a complete picture is conjured, of Wojnarowicz' dysfunctional family, his youth on the streets, prostitution, and same-sex lust. His writing is very natural; alternating at first between his sexual and suicidal fantasies, before unleashing his wrath for the American politicians who are deliberately withholding information about AIDS from the public (a condition which Wojnarowicz himself is battling.) The information imparted here is shocking; the insidious influence of the church in American government is uncovered here lucidly, and David gets personal -- introducing one of his dearest friends who eventually dies from AIDS. His grief takes on a political significance, as he has lost many friends to the disease, and is aware that this suffering is unnecessary, and could have been prevented.
   
   This book is very intense, and David Wojnarowicz' prose is potent and often original, but towards the end it starts to unravel. He begins using more experimental techniques, such as dream sequences, interviews, and motifs ("Smell the flowers while you can"), as well as alternating between two seperate narratives, which I found self-indulgent and wearisome. Maybe it was cathartic for him as a writer, but from the reader's point of view, tying together these seemingly (and perhaps actually) unrelated threads just ultimately wasn't worth the effort. After being seduced by Wojnarowicz' prose initially, the final impression left on me wasn't particularly positive, as the message had been hammered home quite well enough by then, and I had to force myself to get to the end.



3. CLOSE TO THE KNIVES is simply one of the most important books ever written by one of the most brilliant creative minds of the era. This is an AMAZING, STUNNING and thoroughly SUPERB collage of essays surrounding Mr. Wojnarowicz's battle with HIV, dealing with the politics and bureaucracy of the disease, justice, history, the ranking of lives as "important" and "unimportant" by the powers that be, and life in general. FIERCE, POETIC, and INSIGHTFUL these pieces compose a whole that packs an awesome whollop and is nothing short of GENIUS. This book lights fires and breaths fire with the energy of the words literally screaming from the page at points. CLOSE TO THE KNIVES is also sad proof of yet another life lost before it's time due to the AIDS pandemic. It is a call to action with a message that has not dimmed one iota since it's writing. More timely and pertinent than ever.



4. I first discovered Wojnarowicz in a "Village Voice" article in 1990. Everything about his work intrigued me. He had a passion for life, and a sort of well-placed fury that is invigorating without being negative and worked in almost every type of art medium possible. I did a Master's thesis on his works that include photography and writing in 1994.

   I first picked up _Close to the Knives_ over 10 years ago and I've thumbed through it many times since. It's a combination of stories, essays, talks, and catalogue entries. The beginning is a bit difficult because there isn't a lot of punctuation. But the stories begin to slowly make sense, and get more grammatically correct. Throughout his writing wanders from being angry, scathingly funny, to erotic and back again.

   I'd recommend him to anyone interested in gay/lesbian writing, outsider art, the history of AIDS and the anti-NEA battles in the early 90s. Apparently his estate is releasing more writings as time goes on, so I'm not up to date on everything available. But _Memories That Smell Like Gasoline_ is good, although depressing.

   Books on his visual art are _Fever_ and _Tongues of Flame_ (both museum catalogues), and _Brush Fires in the Social Landscape_ (a book with essays by friends and great photos published by Aperture photography magazine). I can't easily describe his visual work, but he had a great visual style, a wonderful sense of composition. Early on he exhibited graffiti type paintings, and explored photography/writing more from the late 80s onwards. I like his photography the best, usually including his writing. He died of an AIDS-related illness July 22, 1992.




5. Enter the young male prostitute, performance artist, author, street monger, and angry prophet. He was all of these things and more until AIDS finally claimed him. But with Close to the Knives, he has left us all a very precious legacy--a frame of reference that begs us to truly witness the politics of suffering in American society and become more compassionate in the process. His omnivorous approach to our culture is dizzying, enraging, mysterious, beautiful, dangerous, heartbreaking, and very very necessary. When I finished reading it, I turned it over and started again. I will never be the same.....I have been galvanized.

2 comments about The Interesting Narrative in the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Norton Critical Editions).

1. This review is neither of Equiano's text itself, nor of the editorial material (both are excellent for teaching). When I ordered this text for my class, I was dismayed to discover numerous proofreading errors which generated some confusion among students. These tend not to be mispellings, but much worse: substitutions of one word for another, or omissions of important words, as though the whole text had only been run through a spell-checker. Some of these are embarrassing (Equiano's report of "the mortifying circumference of not daring to eat with the free-born children" [33-34]) and others more serious (the omitted word in the crucial sentence "I own offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant" in the first paragraph). There is probably one major error for every page of this text. I don't think this has to do with fidelity to the London first edition of 1789, although I haven't checked. The errors seem to have been introduced at Norton. So, sadly, despite Werner Sollors's excellent introduction and the useful maps prefacing the text, I can't recommend this book until Norton gets its act together. Use the texts in either Henry Louis Gates's "Pioneers of the Black Atlantic" or Vincent Carretta's "Unchained Voices" instead--the notes to the latter make it the teaching edition of choice.



2. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudiah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, written by Himself" is the story of an African man, Olaudiah Equiano (slave name: Gustavus Vassa) who was (evidently) born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria. He was captured by African slave traders, taken to the Atlantic coast, and sold into the slave trade. He was taken to the Caribbean, then Virginia, and eventually Europe. He served a ship's captain and sailed the Mediterranean and on a voyage to explore the North Pole (Greenland). He obtained his freedom and became an author and early anti-slavery activist. The publication of this book made him the best-selling black African author ever (up to that time). This book became a prototype of the "up-from-slavery" autobiography (typified by Frederick Douglass) and is a classic among Atlantic slave narratives.

   The book is autobiographical and arranged chronologically, the author detailing events of his African childhood and his years as a slave and eventual self-emancipation. One notable thing about the book is the extent to which it is a travelogue: Equiano clearly enjoys telling travel tales more than decrying the horrors of slavery. His depictions of being a "stranger in a strange land" (e.g., the first time he encounters a clock, a painted portrait, books) are memorable.

   The Norton edition is filled with related texts pertaining to Equiano and his times: articles and excerts by other writers about Africa, slavery, abolition, Equiano's birthplace, his literary influences; a useful map; a diagram of a sailing ship, etc. A good choice among several editions of Equiano's book.

5 comments about House Calls and Hitching Posts.

1. This is an excellent book. I have recommended it to one of my colleagues who is a recognized authority on the history of medicine. Dr. Lehman comes across as a realist and a caring professional. His practice is/was heavy on births and traumatic farm injuries. While there are many examples of these in the text, they never become tedious.
   
   The book also gives a warm glimpse into the lives of the Amish people and their lifestyle and beliefs. One enlightening incident involved an elderly farm woman who had sustained a stroke at home in bed. Her husband sent for the doctor. Dr. Lehman recognized that the woman had little time left. The husband asks, "Is there anything the hospital could do for her that we can't do here?" The answer came back, "Essentially 'No." The woman passed away a few hours later in familiar surroundings, in her own bed, with her family and friends at her bedside. All of us readers can only hope for so peaceful an ending ourselves.



2. I've always been interested in the Amish People and this book is good learning for anyone who is interested in the Amish. I've read this book 2 times already and I hope there will be a sequel.



3. If you are interested in Amish culture, this is a great book to read to get a snapshot of what types of challenges, ethical and medical, on a typical Amish farm. The writing style is easy to follow and very descriptive. The Amish people have such a strong faith and are very family oriented which is a refreshing change to read. If you are a nurse or a physician, you would really appreciate the ingenuity that is needed when dealing with blunt force trauma from a farming accident or just the challenge of getting to someone's rural home in 6 feet of snow.



4. This was a wonderful book . Once I started reading it I could not put it down. It is amazing to realize that there are still Dr.'s out in the world that care so much for their patients.



5. If you enjoy reading and learning about the Amish, you will enjoy this book.

5 comments about Paper Daughter: A Memoir.

1. I loved this book and found it immensely readable. The writing carried you along without you wanting to stop. I have met many Asian immigrants and read many Asian immigrants books, but this is the most stark and informative in it's revelations of what it can be like for such children and their families encountering a different and sometimes unwelcoming USA culture. I do hope this author continues to write as she is a superb and unforgettable storyteller.



2. Although much of the focus of Elaine Mar's memoir could be written by anyone who experienced childhood teasing, discrimination, loneliness, poverty, low self-esteem; it is important to find the core of her plight, a battle with parents resisting a change into their new country. But even that story can be retold by many.
   
   Two countries in one household.
   Elaine was very young upon arriving from Hong Kong with her mother to join her father. The parents didn't accommodate to the U.S. well. They didn't learn English or customary ways. Her mother was mentally and physically abusive and spoke to her daughter in a degrading manner, and often repeated to the daughter that it was a waste of their time raising her.
   
   I didn't feel what she had to say was any different that what many people experience as children. But then, I understood the conflict being raised as an American, but challenged by Hong Kong parents with their strong ties to that culture and beliefs.
   
   Money vs no money.
   That she could not buy the right clothes to fit in was moreso, poverty vs. money rather than a cultural aspect. And many Americans are forced to work in the family business their entire youth; it is not just a Hong Kong thing.
   
   Unanswered Questions
   I was left with questions unanswered. Her parents worked in a restaurant with relatives, and a feud caused them to leave the home (basement) and the father to be out of work. She never elaborates on what caused this feud that forced them to make changes and how did the feud end, since there was a reunion.
   
   Also, aside from some typographical errors, toward the end, there is a chapter titled "When Father Lived in Wichita", but it has nothing to do with the content. The father lived there before she came to the U.S. Another chapter regarding college life is titled TASPS, but nowhere do we get an explanation what this stands for.
   
   Graphic Detail - the sexual experience.
   We learn of her sexual experience with a white boy from the restaurant, and I do say; we learn this through graphic detail for several pages.....several. A page would have done for me.
   
   Well-written, holding my interest, living in Denver, and, my fascination with a different look at how two cultures collided.
   
   One has to admire her tenacity to get where she did! ......MzRizz



3. Some people who've posted reviews here feel this book is not significant but I think we can all relate to being teased at school and trying to get by as a child. I loved this memoir and recommend it to anyone else who also loves memoirs or autobiographies.



4. I read somewhere that the events in a person's life are only interesting to that person. So true in this case. Yeah, yeah, Asian girl picked on my American classmates. Asian girl must learn proper American table manners. blah blah blah. The flowery, overly-detailed descriptions were lame and contrived. It could have been a good story if it wasn't so full of self-pity and a narcissistic attitude. Poor child, auntie won't hug her. Poor dear, she can't date outside her ethnic background. It seems more like the diary of a confused and angry adolescent. Now, Amy Tan, that's an interesting writer!



5. The book opens with a sensuous description of a Hong Kong child eating chicken bones, crushing them between her teeth to release the clotted marrow within. The author later contrasts this earthy and primal experience with the manner in which Americans eat fried chicken, delicately nibbling away from the bone, oblivious to the rich marrow within. I found this broad metaphor thought-provoking, contrasting the sterility of American suburban life with the riotous, crowded Hong Kong environs where the author lived her earliest years.

   I was very impressed with the sensual detail in the book, the descriptions of textures and scents hinting of mystery, such as the jars of dried mushrooms and spices that her mother stored in the tiny room that was the author's first home.

   The criticism that many reviewers have expressed is that the memoir fails to be reflective. I did not find that to be the case. I prefer to have the author use metaphor and selectiveness of memory to present her view, as she deftly does, than to read pages of exposition detailing why she felt her mother treated her coldly. I believe the author is trusting to the intelligence of the reader to puzzle out the motivations of each character. It would be less than artful to be as obvious as some readers apparently wish.

   That said, I did not always sympathize with the author, especially as she grew into adolescence and became increasingly disrespectful of her parents. However, it took courage for the author to sometimes portray herself in a less than attractive manner. One was left to wonder if her adolescent angst would have been similar if she had never left Hong Kong.

   I felt the memoir's legitimate focus was her childhood and formative years. Some have expressed the wish that the author would have continued, describing her college years in greater detail. I disagree, as that would have moved the story away from the focus on family. Family is used to define the author throughout the memoir; as she seperates from her family, the story ends. Therefore, I found the break logical.

   My one criticism would be that it is slightly facile to believe that a Harvard education somehow has elevated the author beyond her family. The first severing was one of language. Education was secondary. I disliked the implication that the education she strove for somehow delivered her from an intolerable life. The author seemed to be overly impressed with herself for being accepted into Harvard, as if this were the grandest achievement attainable. She also failed to criticize, or if she did, it was too subtle for my tastes, the adolescent mentalities and delusions of genius, which were apparently common amongst the students at the Cornell summer program she attended. Nor could I tell if she felt the psychiatrist who interviewed her for the program was rather pompous and shallow, as I did. My assumption, though, is that the author has chosen to leave this unsaid and that this scene was yet another instance of her trying to fit into one sub-group or another, posing as an intellectual rather than as a typical American teenager.

   The author progresses from dutiful Chinese daughter, to bewildered immigrant, to essential interlocutor for her family, to sullen teenager, to burgeoning "intellectual". I felt that most of these transitions were beautifully described and that the varying experiences and motivations of the different family members contributed greatly to the richness of the story. I was a little off-put by her eventual move to Cambridge and Harvard, because I felt that the author's motivations were more about belonging to an "elite" group and progressing socially than any educational goals. However, my opinion is belied by the elegant and moving memoir that she later wrote, which implies that her maturity has progressed greatly beyond the last stage described in the book, that of a self-centered teenager eager to break from her family.

   Overall, I found this memoir to be very worthwhile reading.

5 comments about All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs.

1. Elie Wiesel may be best known as the author of "Night", his harrowing and sparse account of his time spent in the concentration camps. His literary works have focused around the events that shaped Holocaust survivors and the questions those survivors had about their faith afterwards. His life's work is heavily imbued by those events early in his life, his novels vast testaments to making sure the world never forgets the atrocities man inflicted upon man.
   
   Yet there are many sides to this amazing man, which can often be forgotten when one dwells solely on his literary works. The first volume of Wiesel's memoirs, "All Rivers Run to the Sea", is a brilliant introduction and elucidation of the author. He relates quickly his early childhood and his time in the camps, but moves onto and focuses on his path after those events. As he forges a career as a journalist, meeting statesmen and celebrities, he finds himself and what causes he is willing to fight for. As a stateless person, his life is often difficult as he arouses suspicion, and he struggles constantly to make ends meet. Reading about his personal adventures, the reader sees how he is passionate, full of empathy, timid and captivating, a brilliant man with many stories to tell.
   
   For anyone who has read Wiesel's writings, the style of "All Rivers Run to the Sea" will be just as familiar: while it is divided into sections, his reminiscenses are as tangential as his fictional stories. Learning about his real-life adventures, readers can easily see how Wiesel has woven his experiences into all of his fictional works. The praises and accolades he has received are more than well deserved, for as long as he writes, his people will have a testimony to their past and to their faith.



2. This spectacular memoir of Elie Wiesel, the great author and voice of conscience, begins with his boyhood in the small Transylvanian village of Sighet.
   
   A pious child, with a great thirst for Jewish knowledge, a student of Torah and Talmud, and fascinated with the Kabbalah. Elie is swept into the Nazi ghetto and then death cams where he loses his parents and his beautiful little blond sister Tzipora, all of whom perished in the Nazi furnaces.
   
   He writes in memory of his losses:
   
   "If only I could recapture my father's wisdom, my little sister's innocent grace. If only I could recapture the rage of the resistance fighter, the suffering of the mystic dreamer, the solitude of the orphan in a sealed cattle car, the death of each and every one of them. If only I could step out of myself and merge with them".
   
   Wiesel writes of the prophecy told to his mother by the Wizhnitz Rabbi that her son would become a gadol b'Israel (a great man in Israel) but that she would not live to see it.
   
   Wiesel records some of the horrors he witnessed in the death camps such as live children being thrown into furnaces by the Nazis, and laments the inaction by the Allies to do anything about the extermination they knew was taking place of the Jews- saving Jews was not a priority for the Allies either.
   
   He mentions that most of the Jews who collaborated with the Nazis were intellectuals- not surprising in light of the fact hat most Jews who have thrown themselves into the campaign of hate against their fellow Jews in Israel.
   
   He writes about the liberation of the death camps by the Allies after the war, and how one of the youngest child survivors of Buchenwald was eight year old Israel Meir Lau, later to be the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel. In his section of his travels around the world as a young man during the early 1950s he writes of his great compassion at the plight of poverty-stricken children in India.
   
   Wiesel records his life in a youth home for Jewish refugees in Paris and the fate of displaced Jews after World War II, his life as a journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot for whom he covered the Eichmann trial, civil rights struggles, the Six Day War, the 1968 Student insurrections in France, and other world events.
   
   He has always been greatly interested in philosophy and parapsychology and writes of his discussions with such great leaders as Golda Meir and David
   Ben-Gurion, as well as the greatest thinkers of the day. He writes of his great love for Israel and it's people for which he has been attacked by the hate-filled bigots of the International Left. He also took a strong stand for persecuted Soviet Jewry during the 1960s and 1970s. Elie Wiesel also writes of his great compassion for humanity as a whole, such as his pain at seeing the suffering of destitute children during his travels in India. But unlike certain Jews of the Left, he does not see a contradiction between this and his great love of Israel and the Jewish people- Ahavat Israel.
   
   He writes with great compassion, passion, anger, sadness and hope.
   In a plea for the plight of his own people today, especially the youth and children of Israel today targeted by terror and forces of genocide (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Ahmadinejad regime- as well as all who are sympathetic to these anti-Jewish elements) he penned an open letter to President Bush stating: "Please remember that the maps on Arafat's uniform and in Palestinian children's textbooks show a Palestine encompassing not only all of the West Bank but all of Israel, while Palestinian leaders loudly proclaim that 'Palestine extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, from Rosh Hanikra (in the North) to Rafah (in Gaza). Please remember Danielle Shefi, a little girl in Israel. Danielle was five. When the murderers came, she hid under her bed. Palestinian gunmen found and killed her anyway. Think of all the other victims of terror in the Holy Land. With rare exceptions, the targets were young people, children and families. Please remember that Israel--having lost too many sons and daughters, mothers and fathers--desperately wants peace. It has learned to trust its enemies' threats more than the empty promises of 'neutral' governments".
   Elie Wiesel is a true voice of truth and conscience.



3. I found this a very compelling read, lasting over several readings. It's true the author did not stick tightly to chronological order, but anyone who has read his fiction knows his style tends to be very esoteric and rather free-floating (I personally do not care for his fiction, which I admit I do find to go over my head). However, as a reader, I certainly got a feel for emotions he felt throughout different experiences in his life. I found the last scene describing his emotions before and during his wedding to be really profound. It's true that there is a lot of Jewish content in this book, which may cause some of his analogies etc. to be less accessible to someone from a different background. However, for someone who wants to read a first-hand Holocaust experience without very strong graphic details, I do recommend it. (As a side note, just last week I actually attended a speech by Mr. Wiesel, and he is really a personable, funny, self-effacing and sweet man, not the really sad and somber person you might expect from his writings. I was surprised by this, pleasantly so!)



4. I would strongly recommend that all readers on Amazon read the review whose title caption is ' Remember'. It is far more extensive and far better than the small remarks I am about to post.
   Elie Weisel is the one human being who more than any other has helped the world understand the horror of the Shoah , the Holocaust the Nazi destruction of one - third of the Jewish people six million human beings.
   For this he should always have a place in the historical consciousness of both the Jewish people and mankind.
   His memoir is at times very moving .For those who know his other work and his masterpiece ' Night' there will be much familiar here, though here the story is enriched by greater detail.
   I find myself whenever I am reading Weisel unable to really judge in abstract or purely literary terms. His significance as a human being, as a witness as one who has spoken to me in my own life is so great that my feeling is closer to reverence than anything else.
   I read this book with the idea that any additional detail about his life and work, any additional understanding of his thought about Man's relation to G-d would be worthwhile. I read this work as I will read all his future works as an admiring student of a great teacher.
   May he be blessed by many more years of great creative work.



5. This is one of the times when I think we should be able to go higher than 5 stars. Elie Wiesel's All Rivers Run to the Sea gave us a more in-depth look to the concentration camp survivor. He really gives us a rich experience in weaving together the threads of his past, from his days in school to the horror in the concentration camps, right up to his days of being a journalist, and ending with him as a groom. You really get a feel for the type of person he is as well - a wonderful, compassionate, and intelligent man. If you've read Night already, you're definitely going to want to check this out.

5 comments about Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression.

1. This is definately an excellent read. I originally had to read this book for school but now that I have read the book, I purchased the book to add to my personal collection. Excellent depiction of what a black woman encounters when she suspects that she has depression.



2. After experiencing several bouts with depression throughout my 30s--I am now 38 and the daily battle continues, this book caught my attention from another message board. I checked it out from my local library and finished it within 2 days. I could so relate to the author. Her story was very poignant and I appreciated her honesty. While medication has not worked for me I am trying a daily balance of selfcare to work with my depression. This is a book I will buy. Continued success to the author, her family and circle of friends.



3. I bought this book and didn't want to read it at first. I thought it would be too sad. But I read it anyway. I am sure glad I did. This book gave me the courage I needed to go find help for my own depression. Thanks Meri.



4. Reading the excerpts of this book on your web site got me thinking deeply about my wife, who is presently looking for a place of her own. I just sent her the url to the excerpts and hope she will read it and change her mind and stay. Thanks for saving my marriage!



5. I read this book after going through a bad break-up with my fiance. It's wonderful to read about a black woman being totally honest about her emotions, her illness and her reality. I appreciated Meri telling her story without wearing the "Superwoman" mask mainstream America forces on black women. This was an eye-opening book and it helped me to realize that I don't have to wear the superwoman mask. It inspired me to be brave enough to be honest about my own emotions and vulnerabilities! Black women and men should read this book, and everybody else should too! Dispel the myths!

1 comments about Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers.

1. Who was Richard Allen? Among other things, he was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, first black author to be granted federal copyright and spiritual leader of early black America.
   
   Richard Newman has delivered a compelling account of Allen's ascension to leadership, his symbolic representation of black religion and his personal sacrifice to the cause of justice. Through humanizing anecdote, well crafted prose and lucid analysis, this book has succeeded in its goals:
   
   1.) The story keeps coming back to the meaning of black leadership through the lens of Richard Allen's work. "Black prophetic leadership has historically critiqued American glorification in favor of a broader vision of national salvation." (Newman, 297) With this in mind, Newman observes that Allen uses his faith, the print press, and access to power in the nations capital to achieve his goals--or more specifically God's goals. Newman takes care to avoid reducing Allen's faith to ideology. The suggestion that Allen inaugurates a tradition of abolitionism in the media is quite powerful adding layers to Allen's image as a black founding father.
   
   2.) Allen is something of an untarnished historical figure. Newman makes it clear that many found Allen to be overbearing, and annoyingly persistent as an individual. Not to mitigate his historical importance, but to shed light on personal characteristics.
   
   3.) Newman's treatment of the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic with respect to Richard Allen's leadership is a brilliant description of an understudied and underappreciated, but defining moment in American history.