5 comments about Chief Bender's Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star.

1. "Chief Bender's Burden" by Tom Swift is a great story, well written about a Native American baseball player turn of the century into the middle teens of the 20th century. He played for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and they were world champions for a number of years. Bender was a big game,money pitcher who was at his best in pivotal late season and post season games, ie ( Lew Burdette, Milwaukee Braves; Curt Schilling Arizona d-backs, Boston Red Sox). Baseball was truly a national pastime then, where every community with enough people to field a team, had one. Swift does a great job trying to be accurate in every detail. However, it was the era of Grantland Rice and other great writers whose descriptions were the only reports, other than box scores, of the games. Swift includes fantastic examples of their writings. A compelling read about baseball and society during that time in our country.



2. This book was a delight to read. It is both informative and entertaining. Although it is a work of history it is a very easy and interesting read. Tom Swift has done his homework as the book is filled with many details describing the life and times of this hall of famer. I recommend it to all fans of baseball history and eagerly look forward to his future works.



3. This is the best biography I have read. It provides important details about an player important in baseball history, and also illuminates the history of many Native Americans and how they were assimilated into society in the late 19th early 20th centuries. This is one to purchase and keep.



4. A great book on an early 20th Century forgotten Baseball pitcher who is in the Hall of Fame. "Chief" Bender was one of the mainstays of those early great Philadelphia A's teams. This is a about a native American player who excelled in Major League Baseball in spite of all the racial comments, taunts and low expectations of Native Americans. There is information about his days at the Carlisle School. Tom Swift also uses the racially charged quotes from the papers of those years to demonstrate what he had to live with. His real name was Charles and like Baseball in those days everyone had a nickname some weren't too flattering like "Chief", "Rube" and "Dummy" While this is not a movie where the character has flashbacks of his past, Tom Swift starts with the 1914 World Series game 1 in which the "Chief" lost and continues to go back to that game leading off of many of the chapters of the events surrounding that game. I don't understand by discussing all the racial sterotypes on the man why then does the author keep going back to that same unsuccessful game? To me it is slamning the man all over again. If you can get past this stupid movie technique then the book is a worth while read.



5. When I saw there was a new biography of the great Chief Bender, I grabbed it up. Tom Swift has done a great service by bringing the life of Charles Bender to print. He is one of the all-time greats and should not be overlooked.
   
   Swift also lets the reader get to know the man behind the legend, and the Chief was a Hall-of-Famer in nearly every aspect of his life. He was a great man and a great pitcher. Connie Mack said that if he had to win one big game, there is no one he'd rather have on the mound. And Connie Mack saw them all, from the 1880s to the 1950s -- from Cy Young to Walter Johnson to Lefty Grove to Whitey Ford.
   
   There are a few problems with the book, which keeps it, at least in my mind, from meriting five stars. Swift begins his book with the opening game of the 1914 World Series, and then he keeps coming back to it throughout. This doesn't work for a number of reasons, especially since this is the "big game" the Chief lost (the A's were swept in the series by the "Miracle" Boston Braves). There are also occasional problems with Swift's prose. He uses sentence fragments to good effect in some cases, but in most instances, they just confuse the issue and make it seem as though he doesn't realize that a fragment is not a complete sentence. I also felt that many of his similes were weak.
   
   Lastly, a book about a baseball star should include that player's career statistics, but this Swift fails to do. I found myself going to a web site to view the Chief's stats.
   
   Overall, however, I enjoyed getting to know the great Charles Bender a little better.

3 comments about Madumo, a Man Bewitched.

1. The complexity and problems in the lives of South Africans in the newly minted post-apartheid state are richly interpreted in Madumo, both by westerners like Adam Ashforth and Africans he has known in Soweto. Witchcraft is taken up by both westerners and South Africans as an active encapsulation of these struggles, and the relevance of witchcraft to a modern life and a modern future is debated.
   As Ashforth says, "Despite the dawning of democracy, people were still suffering. Yet the task of interpreting the meaning of misfortune was becoming more complex." (9)

   Madumo describes the conflict of a modern man trying to honor his ancestors: "the problem with us that we Africans, when life picks up and things are going smooth for us, we normally forget about our ancestors. Because we are trying to follow western culture." (24). The youth are ignorant of tradition, especially in an era of rural exodus, and a plethora of dangerously creative witchdoctors reflects this. The elder members of the society are still expected to govern and judge the plans of youth, however: one witchdoctor, Dr. Zonki, reflects that in the normal course of events, but especially with regards to witchcraft, Madumo must "approach the elders of [his] family and do this in the proper way" (199). This shows a more resilient side of ancestor worship, and witchcraftýs role in preserving tradition, however shabbily.

   The recent "deluge of witchcraft" (98-99) points out just how people use bewitchment to come to grips with living in a new South Africa. As a tool, it not only reinforces gender roles and traditional life, it has proven capable of innovation and has been profitable for many. It has also survived the secularism of the new South Africa; Dr. Zonki himself mixed potions for the fighting Inkatha in the hostel of Soweto, and yet has no trouble because of this past in the new pluralistic state. A space for the interpretation of social and physical ills, as attributable to malevolent forces outside of ones control, has survived the fall of apartheid as well.
   "For all the talk of ubuntu, or ýAfrican humanismý by the new African elite, on the streets of Soweto the practice of everyday life was tending ever more towards the dog-eat-dog"(232).

   The new era puts blacks in conflict over housing and electricity, which are no longer free as a concession of the apartheid government against violence. The difficulty of everyday pursuits is reflected in the "university-thing" comments of Madumoýs relatives, who are impatient with his pursuit of his new opportunities. These sentiments might be echoed by any working family struggling with a devalued Rand and the expensive prospect of academics (17). The rise in witchings and witch doctors is also related to the emergence of AIDS, which is sweeping the country.

   Ashford notes that "none of the dispositions of professionals writing about Africa seemed to make much sense" (244). While I might agree with him, I want to hear more about how he sees the western tradition, which itself is based upon histories of occultism and itself has religions grounded in the invisible and the transubstantiated, as reflecting possible egress from the problems facing these South Africans. Should we come down upon "folk wisdom" which anchors witchcraft, or should we subscribe a movement towards the "folk wisdom" of Western modernity (245) which supports secularism and "enlightenment"? Ashforth gives us a detailed and localized view of witchcraft as an institution and inescapable fact of South African life, but the modern era and its changes are probably having an increasingly positive and liberalizing effect upon this tradition.

   Although this is perhaps equally as much memoir of Ashforth as it is social history of Sowetan bewitchment,
   the book is fairly straightforward, and the writing is succinct and modest. We may find ourselves wondering just how useful this book is, however, as something beyond candid reportage. Can we really understand what motivates the ongoing crisis of identity in Africa? Ashforth is right at least in that we should, because the implications of African demise will affect us all in coming years, from AIDS to terrorism. It is also worth considering, as this book does, what tradition can really do for people.




2. Although he is now a professor in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Adam Ashforth has spent much of the past ten years in Soweto, living there full time until the elections of 1994, and then going back for three months each year. He has friends there, so he goes to South Africa for his vacations. _Madumo: A Man Bewitched_ (University of Chicago Press) tells the story of one such friend, and the extraordinary lengths toward which friendship goes. It is a warm, generally happy book blending memoir, reportage, and sociology. It is steeped in witchcraft. Madumo, a friend from Ashforth's first stay in Soweto, has been thrown out of his house because a prophet of the Zion Christian Church told Madumo's younger brother that Madumo had used witchcraft to murder their mother, and Madumo had been thrown out of the family home.

   Much of the book has to do with the counter-witchcraft Ashforth helps Madumo hire, through a medicine man named Mr. Zondi. Madumo has to be washed with herbs and earth from Madumo's mother's grave. There is a ritual cutting of Madumo's hands and legs, with mercury rubbed into the cuts. A white hen is slaughtered in a pre-feast to assure the ancestors of goodwill and more to come. Other herbs induce vomiting, the sort of purgative that has been favored in folk medicine for centuries, but which makes Madumo seriously ill. Ashforth tells a surgeon friend about what Madumo is going through, and the surgeon explains the danger. The vomiting can cause dehydration, kidney failure, and bleeding from the esophagus. Ashforth seriously worries if he had been too simple-minded in endorsing the Zondi cure.

   The treatments bring improvement for Madumo. The improvement can't promise him a new place in his family, or within the South African economy, however; the strange daily life and business ways of the Sowetan community are a constant theme in this unique memoir. The main theme is, of course, the pervasive belief in witchcraft, and Ashforth explains how as a form of belief in the supernatural it takes its place with other religious ideas as a way of trying to make sense of the world. Ashforth is often asked if he believes in witchcraft, and he resoundingly doesn't. But he also knows that there are no arguments persuasive enough to make believers think that Madumo's treatment is placebo any more than those who pray can be convinced that prayer is not a real interaction with the divine. Trying to argue Madumo out of his beliefs would have availed Ashforth nothing, while paying for the treatment did give his friend a new life. Thus the materialist harnessed counter-witchcraft to help a bewitched friend, and brought results.




3. Maduma is a young South African accused of using witchcraft to kill his mother - his act falls under the local police's special 'Occult-related Crimes Unit' and his friend, author Ashforth, helps him search for a solution. Spiritual and social issues blend in a fascinating biographical and cultural coverage.

5 comments about Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond.

1. **MILD SPOILERS**
   
   Like many, I was rather disgusted at the posthumous revelation of notorious racist Strom Thurmond's illegitimate daughter.
   Like many I doubted that in Jim Crow South of the 20's & 30's that an underage African American girl financially dependent on the family could actually have a relationship of equals. Like many I assumed there was probably some coercion (finanical if not physical force). I also assumed that he paid the daughter to keep his hypocrisy quiet.
   
   The book taught me not to make assumptions, that the truth is more complex. And the truth was almost sadder and more amazing than my preconceptions. To read that her mother loved Strom hopelessly. To know that she herself felt obligated to keep quiet. I was blown away.
   
   It's also just an interesting story of growing up black in the 30's, 40's and 50's in the North (Pennsylvania and NYC) where there was more 'freedom'. And her time (and reasons for returning) in South Carolina is also compelling reading.
   
   The descriptions of meetings with her father are fascinating. Her descriptions of her father's views of himself are astounding (he honestly did not think he was racist, he claimed he was tring to "help" the blacks (so long as they kept secret). It's these brief glimpses we get into Strom Thurmon'd personal life and views (mediated through his daughter) that kept me glued to the book in amazement.
   
   I could really empathize with what this woman went through.
   And I applaud her for finally coming foward and sharing her story with others.
   I highly recommend this!



2. MOST INTERESTING READING. READ IT OVER ONE WEEKEND. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
   STROM THRUMOND COULD'VE PLAYED HARDBALL AND THREATENED HER MOTHER, BUT INSTEAD FINANICIALLY SUPPORTED HER THROUGH THE YEARS AND PAID FOR HER COLLEGE EDUCATION. Remember, segregation was well alive down South in those days.



3. It provided a provocative insight into the lives and times before the civil rights movement through the eyes of a publically unrecognized daughter of a prominent man. It also provided a refreshing new slant on their relationship. Although I had held the "racist" senator in much contempt at the time, after reading this book, I found my feelings for him somewhat mitigated and softened.



4. I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. Was it just another "tell all" book by someone capitalizing on a scandal? But I was curious about this "secret" Black daughter of the notorious Southern Senator, so I opened the book. I'm glad I did because reading it took me back to another time, another era, another mind-set where a man could love a Black woman he had to keep hidden and care about the daughter they made together, care enough to see her regularly and to generously provide for her needs. Yet father and daughter never shared a meal together.
   
   How did Essie Mae Washington-Williams survive such a life and keep Strom Thurmond's secret her whole life, until the Senator finally died at age 100 and she was an old woman? She did it because, despite everything, she loved him and respected him. He was her father.
   
   I found her stories of the South in the late 1930s and 1940s a revelation, as she related the reality of segregation and her father's firm and apparently sincerely-held belief that "separate but equal" was the right way for Black and White to relate to each other. It's an amazing story: Growing up in Coatesville Pennsylvania, thinking her aunt was her mother, meeting her real mother (a beautiful woman, she tells us), taking a trip back to her mother's roots in South Carolina, and meeting her father for the first time, as a shy teen-ager.
   
   Her shyness with her father kept her from challenging him on his public statements, but eventually that timidity broke down as Essie Mae grew to adulthood, got married, and raised a family. Finally she could tell him that black people hated him and considered him their enemy. But by then he had moved away from the "Dixiecrat" creed that had led him to challenge Harry Truman in 1948 in a presidential election in which he carried four Southern states. He insisted it was not about segregation, but about states' rights.
   
   Woven into her story are all the political and cultural events of the 1950s, the 1960s and beyond. We read about having to sit in the balcony at movie theaters, attending the all-black college in South Carolina, riding in the back of the bus (and once, when she was pregnant, refusing to give up her seat, just like Rosa Parks), her cross-country trip with children in the early 50s when there were few motels or even gas stations that would serve "coloreds."
   
   We marvel as we wonder why she kept his secret, why she didn't tell the world she was Strom Thurmond's daughter? Was it the money he generously gave her each time they saw one another? Was this "hush money," as her husband Julius would later say? She insists her father never told her to keep quiet, but she wanted to have a father and in her own way was proud of being the daughter of such a powerful and intelligent man. Could she risk losing what little of him he gave her?
   
   How strange that Strom Thurmond thought the world would think less of him if they knew of his secret daughter! How could he care for Essie Mae's mother, but not want the world to know? How could people have had such values? Essie Mae tells us of the Confederate flags that flew everywhere in South Carolina, the statues to Civil War heroes who fought for the Confederacy, the disdain for the federal government, and the painful aftermath of the Civil War that continued to simmer. It was a different time, and Strom Thurmond was a complicated man. If his own daughter, who he refused to acknowledge in public, could defend him (as she most certainly does in this book), then maybe we all need to consider that nothing is as simple as it seems.



5. Can you really love and respect a person whose ethics and moral principles you abhor? Well, after reading "Dear Senator," I believe Essie Mae, did. This was quite a revealing read about the relationship between Essie Mae and her father, Strom Thurmond. Imagine for 16 years living with the people who you think are your parents, then finding out that the woman you think is your mother really isn't your birth mother and that your birth father is really Strom Thurmond.
   
   So, what do you do? Do you run out and tell the world that this man who is a political god in the state of South Carolina is your father or do you keep the secret for decades - only revealing it after the man dies? Do you continue to long to be accepted by your father and your father's family or just accept that "it is what it is?" Do you justify keeping your father's secret as a sign of respect for him? Do you continue to accept his "child support" payments and convince yourself that it's his way of showing that he cares? Do you keep the secret of your parentage from your husband and children until "the time is right to tell them?"
   
   Oh, such are the dilemmas for Ms. Washington-Williams. Her journey is one that makes for a noteworthy read as she moves through life carrying this remarkable secret that, if told, could have ruined the political career of a man who made his mark as a staunch opponent of Black civil rights.
   
   I'm glad Ms. Washington-Williams was finally able to have this burden lifted.
   
   3.5 Stars - the .5 for the mention of my alma mater, NCA&T!

5 comments about Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh.

1. I am an ancient history buff (reading mainly about ancient Egypt and Rome) and have read this book twice so far. I love reading about Ramesses II in particular. It is a pretty quick read but that is because Tyldesley does such a wonderful job of describing Ramesses the Great. And great he was during his 66 year reign. His architectural, political, militaristic and personal endeavors have been unparalleled by any previous or subsequent human being. Tyldesley's book is very well written and accessible to all; I recommend it to even those who think history books are dry and boring. There is nothing boring about Ramesses the Great.
   
   Here are the chapter titles for those that are interested:
   1-Introducing Ramesses
   2-A New Beginning: Life Before Ramesses
   3-Ramesses the Warrior
   4-Ramesses the God
   5-Ramesses the Husband
   6-Ramesses the Father
   7-Ramesses the Mortal
   8-Decline and Decay: The last Ramesses
   
   The book also includes many photographs, figures, and maps.
   
   Other books from Joyce Tyldesley that I have read so far and would also recommend:
   Nefertiti : Egypt's Sun Queen
   Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt
   Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh
   Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt



2. I had to read this book for my college history class, and I have to say I couldn't even get through the entire thing. I love reading, and I'm enthralled with Ancient Egyptian history, so it was not as though I was going into it not even knowing the content. I already knew much about the man known as Ramesses II, his wives and children, and much of what he had accomplished in Egypt during his reign, including Abu Simbel, Karnak and the Ramesseum (his mortuary temple), but this book just drug on and on. I knew names, so that never confused me, but I think for people (especially in my class) who had to read this book and are not familiar with many of the previous reigning Egyptian pharaohs or their names, including pronunciation, it can be an extremely confusing read. Tyldesley goes into too much detail of other pharaohs, using their names much too often, and as I said, for people who do not know Egypt, it can be extremely hard to follow. Even I, being an Egypt lover, would get confused from time to time as to whom exactly she was talking about. I would think that she was describing Ramesses at one point, but when I would read it over again, I would find that she was describing Seti or Amenhotep or Ramesses I. I thought this book was going to be a piece of cake, considering it was less than 207 pages, I am a fast reader (I read Anne Rice books and get done with them in a couple of weeks, if they're long... 500+ pages), and also because, as I said before, I already have a decent amount of knowledge in Ancient Egyptian history so I thought I would enjoy it, but I found that it was a very slow read for me, and it became dull after the first chapter. As I said, I had to get this book for my college history class, but even being an Egypt lover, I might have seen it in a bookstore and bought it just because it deals with the most fascinating civilization our world has ever known (in my opinion), but I even regret buying it for required reading. I had also checked out Tyldesley's biography of Queen Hatshepsut from the library for a project in the same class, and even from the little bit that I read of that, I can tell that it is her style of writing, not just the Ramesses book, that I do not like. Overall I found Ramesses to be a waste of money.



3. Although the book is indeed a somewhat "quick read" as it as been dubbed before, this book is quite insightful on the very man who revolutionized Egypt and it's well being. This is only the main ideas one can find on the great pharaoh. There is more info on Ramesses out there; this primarily focuses on the "improtant" information you need to know about Ramesses. The book includes many things that made Ramesses so great including description of his tomb, his life as a warrior and head of the military, his alliance with adjacent kingdoms, his following of religion especially his loyalty to Re, and even describes the Pharaohs before and after Ramesses including his father Seti.
   
   Even though a lot more could have been said about this great man, it is a very insightful book and should be a must for anyone who has interest in Egyptian history (since Ramesses reigned for nearly 60 years this book covers a lot of ground in terms of history). This is an intriguing book on Ramesses and the best and most complete one I have seen.



4. Joyce Tyldesley's 2000 book on this great Pharaoh is a nice update on KA Kitchen's 1982 "Pharaoh Triumphant on the same Pharaoh. Ms Tyldesley's prose, while scholarly, is warm and engaging and at all not cold or repetitious. She discusses what life was like in Ancient Egypt during the Egyptian New Kingdom era with the massive statues of Ramesses II covering the land from the Mediterranean coast southwards into Abu Simbel deep in Nubia and this king's popularity with his subjects.
   
   The author updates our knowledge of Rameses II's monumental construction including the rediscovery of the massive royal tomb KV5 in 1995 by Kent Weeks which proved to house over 150 passageways and chambers to house this king's many sons who predeceased their father, and the discovery of a Year 56 stela from his reign near Damascus. The location of the stela hints to Egyptian military activity in support of their new Hittite allies in Syria and the Levant after the signing of the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty in Year 21 of Ramesses II.
   
   Tyldesley notes that Ramesses II was a risk taker from the very beginning of his reign. Despite the spectacular failure of Akhenaten's decision to shift Egypt's political capital to a new city called Akhetaten (modern day El-Amarna), Ramesses proceeded to transform his father's summer palace in the Delta into a splendid new city called Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu or the "House of Ramesses-Great-of-Victories." This city was about 60 miles northeast of modern day Cairo and served as both a military fortress, a springboard for his military campaigns into the Levant and a link to this region which was his family's spiritual heartland. (Ramesses II's family were northerners from the Delta) Ramesses' efforts was a great success unlike the fate which befell Akhenaten's isolated and ultimately doomed city of Akhetaten which was cut off from both Thebes and Memphis, Egypt's two great administrive centres. Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu is likely the prominent Egyptian "treasure" city of 'Raamses' that the Ancient Israelites slaved in and eventually left behind in their great exodus to the Holy Land under Moses. (Exodus 1:11)
   
   In summary, Tyldesley's book is an excellent study of the man who dominated Egyptian's lives for an unprecedented reign of 66 years. It is a real page turner and one must be amazed at how the Egyptian's reacted to the death of this larger than life figure who had provided them with so many decades of stability and wealth. To her credit, Tyldesley does not neglect to highlight the gradual and painful decline in Egypt's fortunes in the later Twentieth Dynasty under a whole host of kings named Rameses from III to XI. However, it appears that little of the blame for these events can be placed directly upon Ramses II and more on mother nature as the continuous eruption of the Thera Volcano in Iceland from 1159-1140 BC depressed Egypt's agricultural production leading to severe economic difficulties in conjuction with the arrival of the aggressive Sea Peoples and Libyan invaders on Egypt's shores during the later reign of Ramesses III. Ramses II's reputation among his subject's remained solidly intact and his accession date of III Shemu day 27 was declared a public holiday during the 20th Dynasty so that all Egyptians could pay homage to his memory.



5. Lest you be led astray by the Book Description, Nefertiti was the wife of Akhenaten. Nerfertari was the wife of Ramesses II. If you are interested in Nefertiti, check out books about Akhenaten.

5 comments about Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.

1. This book has to rank right up there with the best autobiographies of the last 100 years, next to Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and others. Mamie Till and Benson were a perfect team and together her and Emmett's story is so moving because she has made it so real. They come off as such everyday people but then Emmett seemed so extraordinary for a boy of his time as well. The book is many things but one thing it is not is this: Mamie is not asking for your pity, your sympathy, or even your donations. She is simply telling her story. Yet, as she tells her story one cannot help but feel all of those emotions along with it. It is such an enjoyable read about the incredible bond between a mother in son that you will hardly dwell on the awful crime that was committed aganist this young man.



2. WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE DEATH OF EMMETT TILL IT WAS ABOUT 4 YEARS AGO EVEN THOUGH THE MURDER HAPPENED OVER FORTY YEARS AGO. I READ ABOUT IT IN AN ISSUE OF "JET" MAGAZINE. JUST WITH READING ONE ARTICLE I HAD TO GET THE FULL STORY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. THATS WHEN I PURCHASED "DEATH OF INNOCENCE". THE BOOK IS A FIRST HAND LOOK AT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED FROM BEGINNING TO END. IT IS WRITTEN BY EMMETT'S MOTHER MAMIE TILL MOBLEY. SHE SHARES HER HEART FELT STORY. THIS BOOK WILL TUG AT YOUR EMOTIONS, BECAUSE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FEEL THE ANGER, SADNESS, FRUSTRATION AND MANY OTHER EMOTIONS SHE FELT WHILE GOING THROUGH SUCH A HORRIFIC EVENT . THIS IS A GREAT BOOK THAT I WOULD RECOMMENED TO ANYONE LOOKING TO GET MORE INFO ON THE EMMIT TILL MURDER AND THE CASE THAT FOLLOWED.



3. This is one of the saddest books I have ever read. The fact those two evil beasts got away with it is appalling. The fact they apparently did not bother repenting of the crime is even worse. Had they no remorse at all (one wonders the same of the jury and others involved with the csae, including the odious Sheriff Strider)? I wonder how it was for them on their deathbeds...did they suffer? One would hope they did...at the least, perhaps the spirit of Emmett Till came to them in their last hour of life and frightened the wits out of them the way even God's wrath on Judgment day did not appear to. I have never been to Mississippi and never shall, and am in the middle of writing a novel that concerns this tragic moment in the pitiful history of my people here in these United States of America.



4. Mother Mamie Till-Mobley will forever be remembered as a paragon of love, forgiveness, and indomitable strength. This moving memoir was told as only a mother could tell it with both tenderness and the maternal fervor that is so distinctly and universally "Mother." She paints for the reader a portrait of who Emmett was from the time of his birth up to his brutal death, and beyond. For the manner in which this 14-year-old boy was murdered so affected the consciousness of this nation that Emmett became a symbol of how hatred and racism in America not only doesn't exempt Black children, but demonstrates that they are so disposible as human beings that crimes against them go unpunished. The Emmett Till tragedy will forever serve as a shameful commentary on race relations in America, and how the sin of racism has left a permanent stain on the very flag that we say represents "liberty and justice for all."
   
   Mother Mobley gives the reader delicious slices of her own backstory: her close relationship with her mother, her religious upbringing, and the demise of her first marriage (to Louis Till, Emmett's father), and subsequent marriage to Gene Mobley. The book draws you into the life of Mamie Till-Mobley and her family; the love and dedication shown to her by her own mother is almost tangible. The essence of who she was comes off the page. Throughout the pages you can sense her warmth, gentleness, and her strength. From the very beginning of the book, the reader gets to know Mamie as a woman of great strength and stoicism for early on her husband, Louis Till, was lynched while on a tour of duty in the U.S. Army. She goes on to raise her son alone for a season, teaching him responsibility and strict moral values. He turns out to be an obedient and responsible son who loves and respects his mother and grandmother.
   
   The most moving passage was when Emmett's body is shipped back to Chicago. Mother Mobley along with members of the Black clergy, go to Union Station to retrieve her son's remains. She describes in detail the look of the ghastly box that held her 14-year-old baby; the awful stench that emanated from the box; and the emotion that she felt during this horrible juncture. You could feel the wrenching agony of this mother's soul when she describes her screams at the sight of the terrifying box that held her child. She, the funeral director, and her other relatives were ordered by Mississippi law officials not to open the box or there would be consequences. Naturally, this mother ignores this insane command vowing to pry the box open herself if need be. Once Emmett's body arrives at A.A. Raynor Funeral Parlour, Mother Mobley (against the strict admonition of law authorities)meticulously examines the body of her son. So grotesque were his remains, the funeral director suggested a closed casket service. However, Mother Mobley insists that her son's battered and monstrously bloated body be put on display for the world to see. She decribes how she started the examination of Emmett at his toes, and inch by inch she painstakingly worked her way up his thighs, middle, chest, ears one of which had been cut off, his pertruding tongue, and eventually to his enormously swollen head. She decribes his knees with reminisces of how they had been when he was an infant. She decribes her relief that his manhood hadn't been severed for castration was the all-too-familiar calling card of a lynch mob. She exercises grace and modesty when she examines his private parts, explaining how "Emmett would have a fit if he knew [she] was looking at him like this." She had such a connection to her son that even while examining his corpse, she respected his privacy as would any other mother of her adolescent son.
   
   Mamie Till-Mobley's story takes the reader on a journey of love, tragedy, and forgiveness. This woman's faith is evident in the pages of this book. She relies on her faith and is able to forgive the vicious beasts who mutilated her boy. She forgives a country and a justice system that not only acquitted these killers, but reprehensibly subjected her to ridicule and various indignities during that farce they called a trial. And she forgives a president who shows cold indifference when she turns to him for help after having exhausted all legal channels trying to get justice for Emmett. Her strength knew no boundaries. In her later years she dedicated herself to mothering the children of others by first becoming a public school teacher, serving as a church mother in her local church, and establishing a drama group for children. She traveled the country speaking out against hatred and violence. Her healing came through the avenue of giving and not allowing this tragedy, painful as it was, to cause her to withhold her love. She never gave up the fight to get justice for her son; she was in her eighties when she departed this life in January 2003, and she fought for Emmett until the very end. She showed the tenacity and the depth of a mother's love--a love so great, only God's is greater. She was a remarkable woman--a remarkable mother. This was a remarkable story.



5. Mamie Till Mobley is the mother of the Civil Rights Movement. I wish I had been able to give her a hug. This book should be required reading in every History class. I hope that the recent exhumation of Emmett's body will find evidence to bring some kind of justice to this most horrific tragedy.

5 comments about Long Life, Honey in the Heart.

1. Prechtel's prose is beautiful but this is difficult to get your teeth into. If you can persist with it, then it is rewarding as it travels the gamut of shamanic experience, and is wildly entertaining at times. However, there are drawbacks. It is very long, and the pace sometimes tedious. It's a pity this wasn't edited better. Overall, a good introduction to shamanism. I would recommend starting with Patrice Some instead.



2. Modern society has us born and abandonded. It does not take any interest in us unless we make lots of money or achieve some kind of fame. We have little purpose in it except to make money for others and that is pretty much the extent of it: nothing else is demanded of us.
   
   Martin Prechtel's book describes a society where giving is more important than receiving, working together for a common cause of spiritual value rather than material value, opposed on both sides by the materialist communists and capitalists, neither of whom can see any value in their old ways of initiation.
   
   Yet the initition creates a person of far greater value than those who sought to destroy it. Whether or not the reader can share the beliefs of the Tzutujil Maya, and for a modern reader it is of course difficult, the result of this system of society is the creation of real human beings, lives not devoid of meaning and afloat on a sea of worthlessness, but deeply intertwined with the living processes of the world, each one feeling that they contribute to the story of life, that they have value and love.
   
   The difficult and dangerous passage of initiation that the adolescents of the village undergo to bring the goddess back to life gives them an inner power and wisdom that stays with them for the rest of their lives, meaning that they don't become disruptive, lost and alienated from the world but an integral part.
   
   It is a shame to me that our modern societies, whatever their political system, cannot operate more in this way. Not to live exactly like they used to - before the modern societies imposed themselves - but to realise what they achieved and how it can benefit our cast-adrift generations.
   
   I have given this book five stars because it offers a way out of the ever-tightening spiral of anguish that drives even the pleasures of modern life and it does so without preaching or spite. There are humourous passages throughout as well as more serious tracts. It is about the joy and beauty of life.



3. This is the third book I've read by Martin Prechtel. I wish there were 5 more to read. He is an excellent wordsmith and his experience with the Maya people of Lake Atitlan is much needed in these troubled times.



4. We saw Martin speak in Ashland, Oregon, and bought his books. they are nectar foods for the soul. nothing else like his writing, he will transport you with language to a place in your brain beyond language. Savory, delicious, honest, wildly reverent. but it and read it. then quit your job.



5. Prechtel's retelling of his life as a part of a society based on ancient tribal traditions. It gives a rare glimpse of mankind caring for its own. A tale of a culture striving for health and balance between neighbors, generations, mankind and nature. It is a beautiful tale of human beauty dashed by the motion of time in the hands of modern man. As sad as it is to see the outcome I find these people living within me as a reminder of what society can accomplish when it is rooted in respect, dignity and love.

2 comments about Reyita: The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the Twentieth Century.

1. Reyita describes her life as a black woman, being born in 1902 and growing up through all the violence and poverty of Cuba in the twentieth century.
   
   In 1912 Reyita, was living with her godfather and his wife, the latter being terribly abusive. This lady was also head of the women's section of the local branch of the leading Afro-Cuban political party, the PIC. The PIC had been formed in 1908 in order to fight against racial discrimination. It was been banned by the Cuban government in 1910 on the false ground that it was anti-white. As a result of what Reyita claims was a trap laid by the Cuban president Jose Miguel Gomez, the PIC launched a revolt. The Cuban military responded by executing and torturing thousands of ordinary Afro-Cubans. Reyita's aunt was arrested on bogus charges and thrown into prison.
   
   Reyita spends a great deal of time in this book discoursing her use of herbal remedies and other home-grown medicine to cure various ailments of her neighbors. In this way, as a medicine woman, also as one with a reputation as receiving accurate visions from the spirit world, she found a certain niche for herself in Cuba's patriarchal culture.
   
   Reyita was alert to any opening in Cuba's political sphere which might serve as veichle to better the condition of her people. The PIC seemed to offer a ray of hope and Reyita tried her best as a young girl to support her neighborhood chapter. After the PIC was crushed, Afro-Cubans were virtually terrorized into submission. The biggest attraction after this was the fatalistic "Back-to-Africa" movement of Marcus Garvey, which Reyita was enthusiastic for, roughly, in the 1918-22 era. This movement was also repressed by the Cuban state. Then there was Reyita's involvement with the Cuban Communist Party, the PSP, in the early 1940's....
   
   Reyita married a white man who was virtually disowned by his family as a result of this inter-racial marriage and had problems with some of his neighbors in places they lived. Her husband, of course, never brought Reyita along when he was invited to dinner at the houses of his bosses at his factory. Reyita admits that she married this man in order to produce light skinned children who would have a considerably easier time of it in Cuban society than she did growing up. In spite of his steadfast commitment to his marriage to Reyita in the face of society's hostility, her husband was at the same time a rather traditional and dull fellow. He was very controlling towards her and their children.
   
   Reyita tried to engage in small activities that would earn her own money and which could give her a measure of independence from her husband. For instance, in what is perhaps the most vivid and interesting section of the book, the family's life in the 1940's living in the poor neighborhood called Barraccones in Santiago De Cuba, Reyita first opens a diner in her family's home.. She reports how several of these prostitutes lifted themselves out of their [...] and their children that Reyita took care of while their mothers were trying to get their lives together, turned out well. Many of these prostitutes were white, but they shared a bond with Reyita because they were all very poor. Reyita also briefly mentions the gay men who patronized her dinner and she speaks about the lifestyle they practiced with no hint of any disfavor whatsoever. A very tolerant woman was Reyita.
   
   
   On the years after the triumph of the revolution, Reyita mentions that great progress has been made, but that discrimination is still present, that black candidates for jobs can be excluded in favor of less qualified white ones and so on. She mentions that in film and literature, some of the old stereotypes of Afro-Cubans remain. She notes that oral historians in Cuba post-revolution, made little effort to interview people like her, who had witnessed such events in Afro-Cuban history as the massacres of 1912.
   
   This book does not exactly evoke great feeling in the reader, though at times it can. The stanzas of poetry that open each chapter, apparently selected by the poetry buff Reyita, are quite beautiful.



2. Reyita's story is both touching and inspiring. As a Black Cuban woman she suffered a great deal of hardship, which she worked very hard to overcome especially for her children. Stories about her life were very interesting and informative and present a picture of Cuba that is not generally known. Black women all over the diaspora can relate to her story and her desire to have more for her children. Some may question her decision to marry outside her race as a product of poor self-esteem, but she provides a well-reasoned argument to better the lives of her children. I would have loved the opportunity to meet this lady.

3 comments about Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams, and Adventures with Tiger.

1. (...)
   9th English
   24 March 2006
   "Playing Through"
   In the book "Playing Through" written by Earl Woods telling how to play through life's challenges, to dream big, and to work hard.
   "Playing Through means getting down to business, not letting anything get in your way, dealing with the task at hand, and accomplishing your goals." Tiger had to go through lots of racial discrimination when he first became a pro golfer. His father Earl Woods went through some of the same things when he was a young man. His father was the first African-American to play in the Big Eight Conference, Which is a Baseball League. So he also had to play through all of the racial discrimination.
   Dream Big, that is what Tiger Woods has been doing seen he was a little boy. Earl wanted him to be a baseball player like himself, but Tiger had other plans. Tiger wanted to be a golfer; he has been playing golf since he was around the age of three, when he was hitting balls in his garage. Then at the age of eleven he beat his dad for the first time 71 to 72.
   Work Hard, even though Tiger is a pro at what he does he still has to practice at his game. He really had to work hard at his game when he was younger or he would not be as good as he is now. Working hard also goes into playing through if he could not focus on his own game he could not play as good as he does.



2. Who was the man who was behind Tiger Woods to mold and shape him into the champion that he is today? The answer is Earl Woods, Tiger's father, friend and confidant. Playing Through is Earl Woods' own biography of what it is like to be the father of one of golf's greatest stars. One would expect a cohesive and comprehensive story about Earl's life and that of his son. Instead you are presented with a man who is uncapable of seperating himself from the persona of his son. Earl Woods spends the majority of the time speaking about his son rather than himself. How strange, since the book is supposed to be about Earl Woods. Unfortunately it ends up as a promotional text about Tiger.

   Earl Woods is a man who dealt with many obstacles in his life. As a teenager he lost his parents, struggled with a career choice, dealt with the racism in the Army and a failed marriage. Then after his divorce and remarriage a child was born and Earl devotes his life to him even at the expense of his own marriage. At this juncture we hear no more about Earl. Tiger becomes the focus which is a shame since Earl's life is far more interesting.

   Throughout the work Earl tends to put people on a pedestle to the point where they become unreal ( his mother, his brother-in-law, and the orignial Tiger, his friend). He is defensive about any criticism about his son and doesn't tell us much about his relationship with his other children. Earl is so emeshed in his youngest son's identity that he becomes a bore. Surely he could have told us more about himself rather than going on and on and on about Tiger.

   Despite his faults Earl Woods raises some interesting questions regarding the role of the NCAA on student athletes. He intimates that the NCAA controls the athletes who make money for their schools but receive nothing in return. Earl also shows the impact that Tiger's status has made on the game. Tiger's presence has made the game more accessible to people, raised the purses, tightened security and inspired more minority children as well as their parents to take up the game. Tiger's impact is immeasurable as he continues his career.

   If you can tolerate Earl's egotistical meanderings and defensive posture, the book is a good lesson in how not to make the mistakes Earl made and become a better parent. It is filled with Tiger's triumphs and challenges. Earl comes across as your controlling parent of an exceptional and talented player. It is worth the read for those who are Tiger fans and collectors of books written about thim.




3. From this book, I get the feeling that Earl Woods is one of the most egotistical people I have ever come across. He does nothing but talk about how good he is at this, how good he is at that, what he did to bring up Tiger, etc. He even says his separation from his wife Tida is due to affluence, not that they are simply separated. Also, he takes no responsibility for anything that has ever happened to him. Every negative experience in his life was due to him being a minority. Give me a break.

   He also feels the NCAA was out to get he and his precious Tiger. NCAA rules are rules, just like in golf. Get over it. Tiger was not treated any differently than any other college athlete. Tiger was offered a country club membership at the Olympic Club while he was at Stanford, and Earl can't figure out why the NCAA wouldn't let him take it. Because, believe it, or not...Tiger has to live under the same rules as everyone else on this planet.

   I do have to say the book is an easy read, and keeps you interested, but only because Earl's "thumb on my back" mentality keeps you laughing.

5 comments about Mixed: My Life in Black and White.

1. This book is absolutely, laugh out loud hilarious. Angela Nisell made fun of an often difficult and uncomfortable situation and turned it into an enjoyable memoir. Coming from a multiracial backround myself, I was able to understand Angela's view points. She was realistic and funny without ever missing a beat. Angela is a wonderful writer who I am glad, shared her experiences growing up biracial and all the interesting things she endured being the product of black mother and white father. You won't stop laughing. The author takes us on a ride and allows us to explore what it like to live on both sides. Worth buying and reading more than once.



2. I loved this book. It was absolutely hilarious! I was cracking up out loud ... on the subway that was particularly embarrassing. Ms. Nissel definitely has a gift. She is able to find the humor in even the most serious of subject matters.



3. Angela Nissel paints a portrait of her life, as she saw it, as a biracial child and young adult with humor, while simultaneously highlighting some tragic events of that life. MIXED: My Life In Black and White is Nissel's journey to the understanding her life.
   
   She opens her memoir with, "Mom, how did you and Dad meet?" This is important to the author because her mother was a former Black Panther in Philadelphia and her father, was a white man originally from northern Pennsylvania. Questioning her existence and always trying to fit into the current situation, Nissel constantly found herself an outsider, whether it was in her numerous neighborhoods, public and private schools or with her father's family Her tenure at the University of Pennsylvania was also marred with feelings of not belonging. As these events unfolded Nissel found herself battling depression. The chapter "Crazy Spa Interlude" provided a comical eye opener into the Mental Health system as Nissel counts down her 72-hour hold with compelling storytelling.
   
   The characters portrayed and the moments revealed are entertaining and filled with clipped dialogue. While the piece begins in this fashion, it quickly spirals into a depressed mode. Wanting to belong and having many questions as to her existence, Angela's mother tried to help her understand that she had worth, however outside forces intervened. MIXED: My Life In Black and White is a very revealing look into one woman's existence growing up biracial in America. It is a captivating read from beginning to end because she writes with unabashed wit and disheartening realism.
   
   Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
   of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers



4. This author is extremely insightful while remaining hillariously witty through the entire book. For me- this was a page turner. Im also bi-racial and related to many of her anecdotes, challenges, and fears. I learned a lot about myself through reading this one.



5. I am so glad Ms. Nissel wrote this book. Being mixed Black and White myself, I have had similar experiences. So many people fought and cried against our very existence. Shoot, a hundred years of Jim Crow laws went into preventing it.But here we are - mixed and proud - maybe a little difficult to understand - but we're workin' on it. Not all mixed people are alike, but one by one - as we tell our stories, we are beginning to come into ourselves as members of our own group.
   
   Angela does a great job of representing both herself and the rest of us in a responsible, balanced, respectful and humorous way. You will soooo laugh. She has a knack for comedic timing and writing - and boy can she weave a story! Her Broke Diaries book is hilarious as well. Please pick these up when you get a chance. I need to get a couple more copies myself, as all of my family members keep passing them around.

5 comments about I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. I find it very refreshing when a product of multiculturalism throws a wrench in the system and violently turns against his masters. In this provocative (though unsurprisingly silenced) work of pop scholarship college diversity program poster-child and hip hop "expert" Eric Dyson sets to work on deconstructing the white-washed image of Martin Luther King, Jr. that the American left has successfully promoted without opposition for the past four decades.
   
   But wait a minute, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American patriot, someone who was deeply devoted to the ideals of its Founding Fathers and simply wanted to tinker with a few of the more archaic aspects of American society (Jim Crow) so that everyone could at least have a fair shot at the American Dream. I must admit that up until a few months ago I was captured (more like poisoned) by this ridiculous myth, probably more so than most even. The story of King's life seemed so inspiring, who wouldn't want to believe in it?
   
   Turns out pretty much everything taught about MLK in public schools are at best half truths and all of the most hideous aspects of his life go completely unmentioned. As Dyson tells us, the truly radical aspects of King's ideology - such as his close association with the American Communist Party - are silenced specifically to keep African Americans in check. Undoubtedly, but these facts are suppressed specifically to keep suspicious whites in a state of unthinking, unquestioning silence as much as anyone else. Dyson didn't have to dig very much to uncover this information, even King's closest associates and biggest financial backers were Communists.
   
   Dyson also quotes some of King's most damaging speeches and interviews on economics that leave little doubt about what King's larger social and economic objectives actually were. "Oh, gee willickers!," the multiculturalist will scream, tearing the hair from his head, "You've got it all wrong - King only promoted the positive aspects of Communism." Well that all depends on just what you think the "positive" aspects of Communism really are. Let's see, King patently endorsed the redistribution of wealth, destruction of the military, labor's seizure of private business, abolition of private property...oh but don't worry, no Gulags!
   
   Predictably the trail of putrid scandal doesn't end there. In what has become a recurring theme amongst American leftists King possessed a voracious and positively uncontrollable appetite for cheap prostitutes. The point in mentioning this type of degenerate behavior at all is so Dyson can tie King's participation in the Civil Rights movement to the anti-objectivity counter-revolution that occurred subsequently thereafter. Here as well King was quite an active critic of the military (not JUST Vietnam), did interviews with pornographic magazines, generally did everything in his power to undermine sensible restraints wherever they existed, and ensured that a whole generation was indoctrinated into loving themselves and living for themselves only. Most important in all of these activities by King were the rumblings of what would later become known as "Affirmative Action."
   
   Dyson of course supports this development unconditionally and who could blame him, he is where he is precisely because King and his predecessors (backed by the Federal Government) were able to intimidate employers, agencies, and universities into adopting certain "hiring policies" favorable to African Americans. Noticably missing however in this book is elaboration on King's despicable intellectual dishonesty and theft (60% of his doctoral thesis at Boston University was stolen from another student) of other people's work throughout the entirety of his career.
   
   The story of "Dr." King is not an entirely uncommon one for political figures and needless to say his story is hardly inspiring. Indeed, it's typical even for the most violent political leaders to take a relatively egalitarian approach in the beginning, only to shed this facade once they start gathering steam in favor of uncompromising authoritarianism. Vladimir Lenin was an outspoken critic of the Czar and railed against the regime for its suppression of political speech, exploitation of the working class, and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. Well, we all know how that turned out. I seriously doubt that Martin Luther King, Jr. was any different. Just as another reviewer pointed out, if he were alive today I'm sure he'd be right there with Al Sharpton and Jesse falsely accusing random college students of rape, petitioning to get O.J. Simpson reduced bail, and doing anything he possibly could to exacerbate whatever racial tensions still exist in this country.
   
   Why Dyson thinks this new version of King is great for black folks is anyone's guess, frankly I don't care. I'm just glad I don't have to listen to this hippy nonsense anymore and for that I am thankful.



2. I agree with Dr. King's message of harmony and peace. At the same time I can appreciate Dyson's exposure of aspects of King's personal life that most authors do not address (an obvious exception is "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down"). In a very real sense it leads to questioning Dr. King's sincerity in asking others to value the character of a person and not the color of their skin. Dr. King was an admirable figure in American history; I wouldn't go as far as the author in saying he might be the most important American ever; that's a bit over the top. I've read a lot on the subject; this book is worth reading.



3. I have always been fascinated with Dr. King as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. I love the work that Dr. Dyson did in writing this book, because he is authentic in talking about Dr. King the man - strengths, weaknesses and all - while exposing the myths about him. Being African-American, I can understand why many within our community woud want to scold Dr. Dyson for exposing Dr. King's dirty laundry. I, however, consider it not only essential, but relevant that we talk about the true humanity of our leaders (espcially one as esteemed as Dr. King) to avoid the danger of us elevating them as idols. It is a great reminder that God uses people (albeit flawed people) for magnificent works in a fallen world. This is a great book that I highly recommed!!



4. I picked up this book expecting a fresh approach and analysis of Dr. King apart from the obligatory images we're force-fed each new year. Instead, I was disappointed to find that Michael Eric Dyson made heavy use of speculation with the intent to scandalize more than to inform and enlighten. One such example includes Dyson conveying the idea that Dr. King may have engaged in orgies with many different women along with his right-hand man Ralph Abernathy. He then goes on to infer that there was talk of King and Abernathy engaging in sexual acts with each other! The author had no commentary to either support or dispel this "theory" making Dyson's retelling of the alleged incident totally irresponsible and even libelous. He just dropped the information, true or untrue, in the reader's lap to do with as the reader pleased. To that end, it is my opinion that Dyson's intent in writing this book was in no way honorable or truth-seeking, rather it was a means to convey his baseless ideas to anyone who would listen. I'm reminded of something my grandmother and mother would always say to me, "an empty wagon makes the loudest noise." Michael Eric Dyson makes a lot of noise in this book but totally lacks substance. This was an expensive tabloid.



5. This book was not what I expected, but enjoyed regardless. I particularly liked his idea of banning the 'I Have a Dream' speech from public media. The stories about his philandering were a bit shocking to me, but I have never read any biography of King before, so I wasn't prepared. The ocassional tangents might irk some, but understand Dyson has to take some risks and expand on ideas to make the book worth his time. Realize the civil right movement is not over. Dialogue needs to continue in written forms such as this book to make progress.
   - logan square yuppie