5 comments about When White Is Black.

1. Passing for Who You Really Are
   
   John Martin has written an honest description of "Mulatto Elite" culture within his family. "Mulatto Elite" describes the mixed-race caste that traditonally (and still) accepted government-imposed forced hypodescent and considered themselves "superior" members of the Negro/colored/black "race." Within this caste white middle-class culture and a European phenotype are highly valued (which is their right and makes them similar to many American ethnicities), but the worship of whiteness is combined with a fear of the word "white" (as opposed to the indirect and vague "light-skinned") and an often fanatical hatred of those who reject the myth of being a "superior" variety of "black" for the reality of being an ordinary "white."
   
   An example of the above is Martin's description of how his grandmother lectured her daughters on how they should be "proud" to be "Negroes" while disdaining the true Negroes as their cultural and moral inferiors. This is not surprising given the fact that Mulatto Elites have a culture that is not really different from their "white" counterparts. They are often just as uncomfortable around the real "blacks" as other "whites." The main difference between Mulatto Elites and "whites" is the inferiority complex of the former regarding "black blood." Mulatto Elites often mistrust anyone who is white-identified and reserve their greatest venom for their physically whitest members who decide to stop living a "black" lie and identify as white. This is why Martin's grandmother told his mother to reject a marriage proposal from an Italian-American. His "color" was not the problem, since many of the family members looked just as white or more so. The problem was his white racial identification and their fear of crossing the caste line between "Negro" and "white."
   
   I had to laugh at the stories told by Martin's white-skinned female relatives about revealing themselves as "Negroes" to "white" strangers and thereby upsetting (or even converting) the supposed bigots who made disparaging remarks about Negroes. Such stories are omnipresent in Mulatto Elite culture but are usually apocryphal.
   
   Martin tells us how his mother became an alcoholic. If she had crossed the caste line and claimed her white identity (i.e., "passed for white" is the racist terminology), you would find plenty of authors who would be happy to tell us that it was the stress of "passing" and denying the "black race." Since she didn't do that, we can guess that she became an alcoholic because of the stress of denying her white race and pretending to be black.



2. A fascinating and most unusual biography exposing the cruelty, indignity and ignorance of so many Americans during most of our country's history. Despite the anguish suffered by the author, the story is told in a warm, touching way, with humor permeating it and making for a most enjoyable as well as informative and memorable read.



3. Covering more than two centuries, this book traces the challenges, disappointments, joys and experiences of a mixed race family in America. It is well written and I believe, will be enjoyed by many people who have a general interest in the history and ethnic makeup of this country. Additionally, it is also one that could be a valuable educational text in schools.
   
   The book relates the experiences of a family whose lineage was not solely African, but includes, English, French and Native American. With such a racial mix, John Martin tells a touching and sensitive story of life that has, I believe, not been fully addressed in most general histories of the United States--that of the Mulatto/mixed races. He discusses family, many of whom, due to the lightness of their skin, lived naturally as white. Yet, due to the archiac "one drop rule," which deems any person with a trace of sub-Saharan ancestry, when officialdom steps in, is automatically categorized as "Negro."
   
   Following a call from the Coroner's Office in his home town in California telling the sad news of his mother's death in an accident, and the subsequent official labeling of her as "Negro," even though she was 65% white, John Martin was prompted to look back at his Mulatto heritage. In this enjoyable book he takes the reader on a personal journey through two centurues of family experiences.
   
   I enjoyed reading When White is Black. This book gave me a clearer understanding of American cultural history, particularly as it relates to people of mixed race.



4. Family, genealogy, and racial categorization is explored in this family history and sociological look at race in When White is Black by John A. Martin Jr. In 1969, Martin, a former social service agency director, received a call in the early morning hours at his home in Berkeley, California, informing him that his mother, Eulalie, was killed in an accident. Just before the Alameda County coroner ended the conversation with Martin, he asked him what race is your mother? For though, she appeared to be white, the coroner questioned her living in a black neighborhood. Martin attempted to explain his mother's racial make-up as predominately white with Negro and Indian but accepted reluctantly that as a result of the one-drop rule, she would be classified as a Negro in death, as she was in life.
   
   Thus began Martin's contemplation regarding the racial ambiguities of his mother's family that had plagued him most of his life. Martin methodically details the genealogy of both sides of his maternal lines of mixed-race people, beginning with his mother's paternal white ancestors who were from France and England. Martin's roots stemmed from Houston and Galveston by way of New Orleans. His family tree lists his ancestors with designations of mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, black, Choctaw and Seminole Indian. Beginning with the 1850 U.S. Census and through 1920, the government attempted to identify thousands of mixed-blood peoples with the term of mulatto. For one census year, 1890, the terms, quadroon and octoroon were added in an attempt to identify the percentages of African blood that existed in those who were not "white." Those designations were abandoned because of the unreliability of these labels and the census resorted back to using mulatto for all mixed black and white people until 1920.
   
   Mama Peachey's family (Martin's mother's mother) passed for white until she was almost an adult. She told her children that they were different from darker-skinned Negroes and taught them to disdain, loud, ignorant, foul acting colored people. She told all five of her girls to be proud of their exotic good looks and to seek colored men who were educated and from other mulatto families as they would have better opportunities. In California, where Martin moved as a toddler, his mother and grandmother would regale the family with stories of being mistaken for white on the bus and putting those who made disparaging remarks about blacks in their place. After Eulalie's death, Martin and his brother would reminiscence about the times people would stare at them on the street when they were with their beautiful mulatto mother and how the teachers were always surprised when this white-looking woman showed up to claim her children, letting those teachers know her children were not the average Negroes and they were to be treated with respect.
   
   Martin details the pain of living with a tortured mother who became an alcoholic. He left diverse Berkeley to go live with his father in Houston for a year during high school where he found the segregation of the 1950s Jim Crow Texas stifling, despite the black middle- class lifestyle his father's status afforded him. Though Martin never verbalized that his mother's alcoholism was attributed to her racial persona, he inferred that living in a nation where race is a prominent factor was a constant source of frustration. Martin also muses how ironic that his mother broke off an interracial affair with an Italian American man because of race, given the gradation of whiteness in her own family.
   
   In the final analysis, Martin advocates for the abolishment of the one-drop rule and embracing a multiracial nation. It is his belief that white parents of mixed-children children should lobby the government for broader racial categorizations. Additionally he contends African Americans are opposed to a multiracial identification because it decreases their numbers. He thinks that although many blacks have mixed-blood they acquiesce to the black label out of a sense of loyalty that is misguided.
   
   It was a walk down memory lane as Martin described landmarks of the Bay Area, particularly establishments in 1940s and 50s San Francisco, Berkeley and Downtown Oakland. This was a good look at identity and race with well-documented sources. I would recommend to those who research genealogy and have an interest in family history in a social construct.
   
   Reviewed by Dera R. Williams
   APOOO BookClub



5. John Martin has written an evocative and personal history chronicling the strange and illogical approach white Americans have had toward "mixed race" Americans. This book makes the absurdity of the "one drop rule" so clear, and raises questions regarding our approach to black and white and everything in-between - today. The writing is clear and honest and accessible. I also really enjoyed hearing about Berkeley and it's neighborhoods, from the 30's onwards.

5 comments about Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life.

1. When I learnt that James Blake, the author of the book, whom I have admired as a good tennis player, suffers from a condition which affects me as well, I was surprised and decided to pick up this book hoping to gain some insights by learning how he managed to stay fit enough to become a tennis pro....
   
   Though little has been discussed about Scoliosis,there is enough in the whole book, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The fundamental aspects which have governed the life of James Blake are seemingly obvious but hard to stick to and implement during trying times like the ones he had to face up in 2003 with a broken neck and losing his hero, his dad, to cancer - accepting what has transpired, taking one step at a time, focusing on process rather than results, count one's blessing rather than brooding what could have been, and simple things like these...
   
   It seems to me that we are good at learning things when we can tie them to experiences, both direct and vicarious. The lessons that I take away from the life of James Blake - how he dealt with career threatening injury in neck, a viral attack that left him paralyzed in left side of the face and made a comeback within a year, how his dad, who really comes out as a super hero as described by James Blake, dealt with imminent death...
   
   I would highly recommend this auto biographical account to anybody who is concerned about gaining some insights into what really defines the strength of one's character...



2. I learned about James Blake last year when I started watching tennis matches on the Tennis Channel. The book is easy to read. I highly recommend it.



3. The most boring tennis book I ever read.I bought almost every single tennis book Amazon has to offer, and this one is by far the dullest one.This book is not aimed at the serious tennis player.You'll learn nothing new from it.It's just a personal journal where he keeps trying to take the focus away from tennis. The only conclusion I arrived to is that Blake's life without tennis is boring as hell.



4. Interesting, inspiring, uplifting story. Reminds us that there are still a lot of GOOD people in this world.
   
   A good and enjoyable lesson for people of all ages, athletes and couch potatoes alike. After reading, you will be a James Blake fan, even if you have never seen a tennis match.



5. This is by far a must read for any person. Realizing the hardships and injuries for Mr. Blake to overcome is incredible. The best part about reading his book is the way you view life and to understand everything happens for the best.
   
   Towards the end of the book there is a chapter on his friends who he calls the J-BLOCK. People would kill to have something like that Today, and the best part about it is he is so great full to be where he is today.

5 comments about The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty.

1. I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Not only was in a nice superficial overview of the reconstruction era with highlights about some of the major Black figures but also a sad story of a prominent family's fall from the top of the Black social ladder over three generations.



2. _The Senator &c._ is the family history of Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African-American to serve in the United States Senate, during Reconstruction. It's a fine story, and I'm glad to be learning what I am about the Reconstruction years and politics, opportunities and swindles. But the author doesn't exactly excite me. His research seems relatively sound, but his writing is not going to get him any prizes or true fans.



3. Excellent book. Very informative, happy to have obtain this great reading material. Book is in excellent condition, received it in a timely manner. I'm very happy with my purchase.



4. The Senator and the Socialite is less about a dynasty and more about a wealthy family degenerating into poverty. Blanche Bruce may have been a powerfull politician, but what power did he realy have? The White establishment could have thrown him away at any time. And his "wealth" came from renting farmland to poor Blacks, so in reality, he was a just another Southern plantation owner who happened to be Black. His children and grandchildren went to Harvard, Radcliff, and Exeter, but what for? Few companies would hire an African-American for a position of responsibility, unless it was to manage a business that catered to African-Americans (like the Dunbar Apartments). Booker T. Washington was right in his philosophy; if you have technical and industrial skills, you're more likely to get steady work. After all, I don't need the services of a Philosophy major, but there's 80 co-ops in my building who'd pay $200 a piece to have their sinks fixed!
   
   In the end, the children turn out to be disasters. Roscoe Bruce Jr, Clara Bruce Jr., and Buril, go to top colleges, do poorly, fail in business, get in trouble wth the law and disgrace themselves. Roscoe Sr. lets a racist pedophile abuse Black schoolgirls, costing him his job as head of the DC colored schools. Then his son mismanages a client's money and winds up in jail. His Daughter marries a Black actor who then decides to pass for White (as does his college friend John Syphax). All in all, the Bruce family were just lazy, spolied, rich brats who ruined themselves. I guess power and priviliege didn't jsut corrupt the Kennedys.
   
   But I have one question....what happened to all these characters later on? What happened to Barrington Guy/Sharma? When did he die? What happened in later years as he passed for White? What happened to Roscoe Jr.? What about his decendants? Where are they now? If only one of the Bruce's decendants turned up at the recent memorial to Blanch Bruce, does that mean they don't know about him, don't care, or are they keeping their ancestry hidden to this day?



5. Lawrence Otis Graham's "The Senator and the Socialite" is an important work. Graham does a wonderful job of detailing the great accomplishments of Black-Americans - much of which you would not ordinarily hear about and should be proud of. However, I am saddened to learn the descendants of such an important historical figure (Senator Blanche K. Bruce) are ashamed of their Black-American heritage and now live as white people.

5 comments about The Delany Sisters' Book of Everyday Wisdom.

1. Delightful and insightful! I discovered these two women when I read The Delaney Sisters Having Our Say and could not wait to buy their other books!



2. What an experience reading about these two delightful sisters who were winners in every area of life...Back when Black people weren't accepted by most white people the one sister became a dentist of all things...Here she was Negro, a woman on top of it and going against all odds she didn't let that stop her! During the depression years they made candy and sold it at dept. stores. and survived without any kind of welfare. Never had a phone in their house. "if people wanted to talk with us they could come see us" was their motto..
   
   The time they moved the refrigerator downstairs from an upper floor because the man they had hired kept putting them off day after day....and they were near 100 yrs old! Forget the exact age but they never let anything stop them if they needed to do it.
   
   They did their yoga exercises and shows pictures of them. Also some simple recipes they used over the years. They never bought detergent or dishwashing liquid...made their own and the recipe is included. They even include a recipe for Rose Wine and their hot yeast rolls. The candy recipe is included also.
   
   This book is my all-time favorite and I have ended up buying it 3 times since I am in the health care business and work with seniors and try to encourage and give them the joy and hope of this wonderful book.
   
   The Delaney sisters' Book of Everyday Wisdom
   
   Lovelaffs



3. I came across this book at a library book sale. It really wasn't anything I would normally read but the price was right and I was so pleasantly suprised at the book. I've recommented it to family, friends and my grown kids. I'm now checking out other books written about them.



4. There's nothing quite like wisdom from someone who's older and has gone through a lot. Readers will delight in the nuggets here, as well as the humor that goes along with them.



5. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The title is very fitting for this little book of wisdom. These ladies are living a full life and have alot of experiences to share that are common to all peoples of all walks of life. I continually found myself reading this book out loud to whoever was around. It is funny, contemplative, and inspiring. It's one you'll want to share with friends and family.

4 comments about Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just.

1. A fascinating study of an all-but-ignored American scientific genius who was staggeringly original and prolific --and an incidental indictment of U.S. racism.



2. The book was put together with alot of admiration and validity. Ernest Everett Just was definetely ahead of his time and his vision was carried well into the 21 century. I feel the scientific cloning and bone marrow technology owes its success to pioneers like Ernest E. Just, unfortunately due to his race he was not given just due until after his death. the book shows a little justice and I admired the hard work of a talented author as Mr. Manning displayed in this book.



3. With all due respect to the other reviewer, I cannot understand how the word "excellent" can be used in a admiring review - followed by the assignment of only three stars! This a is four-star book at a minimum, and I think it deserves five stars. This is an exemplary biography in it terms of the underlying research, choice of subject and material to be included, and the style of writing. As a biologist, I am familiar with Just's work and some of the primary literature of his time, and can only add my praise for the author's adept handling of the technical topics. Highly recomended, moving, under-rated and under-read book!



4. Black Apollo of Science, The Life of Ernest Everett Just in my opinion is a very excellent portrail of the complicated and exciting life of one of the leading black scientist of the early 20th century. If you are serious about learning every detail about E.E Just, then this is the book for you. It is the story of his life which goes from his early life and struggles to gain an education to hi later life where he fights to give other African Americans the opportunity to recieve a quality education. Although most of his life commitments were based to further the education of African Americans, he also had his own personal motives. He was a dedicated researcher who was not afraid to express his opinions at whatever cost it was, personally and professionally. This book offers great motivation to anyone that is fighting against the norms and against dicrimination. I recommend it to scholars as along to layman that wish to learn more about American scientifc history.

5 comments about What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America.

1. Tavis managed to craft some of the most tragic and disappointing aspects of his young life into a beautiful and inspiring novel. I came away feeling uplifted and empowered! Great job, Tavis!



2. This book helped me to understand how Tavis Smiley became who he is today. His family, community and church had a strong influence of his behaviors and thoughts as a speaker and commentator,



3. By the time I finished the last two pages of this book, one thing I knew for sure was that this book was a disappointing reading experience.
   
   Tavis Smiley did not write this book; David Ritz did. The "story" of Tavis Smiley's life was supposedly "told" to David Ritz and David Ritz wrote it down. If this is the truth, David Ritz took a not-so-good story, one heavy with super-ego morality, and did nothing with it, except put it in grammatical form with a story-line.
   
   How is it that a man who, through high school and college, was known for his oratorical and debating skills, and who, after graduating college, later became a popular interviewer on TV, doesn't trust himself to tell his own story? What's up with that?
   
   I suppose if you're rich enough, you just hire someone to write what's supposed to be in your soul and make every event in your life sound like a child's Bible lesson. But where's the unique individual stamp of Tavis Smiley in the tale? I didn't hear Tavis Smiley's voice at all in this book.
   
   I think Mr. Smiley did himself a big disservice by producing a book with his name on it in this manner. It certainly cannot be called an autobiography as he didn't write it; nor can it be called a biography as David Ritz doesn't approach the story of Tavis's life the way an official biographer would. The book has a media slickness to it: a ventriloquist's act, and we're supposed to be the dummies buying this "oral tale" full of biblical malarkey.
   
   As the story goes, Tavis Smiley grew up in an extremely narrow, parochial, religious family (it seemed insane and foreign to me, not part of America at all); he had gone to college even though his parents had not wanted him to; and he went on to make a name for himself in entertainment media. While still a teenager, he had been beaten unmercifully by his mother and, particularly, by his step-father such that he wound up in a hospital at one point, and it took a long time before his could reconcile himself emotionally to his parents. He loved his Grandma ("Big Mama") more than anyone. She was the most tolerant and understanding one in the family. He held tight to his religious beliefs all along, or so we're told, and to this day he still holds them tight (so we're told), though he never states for sure exactly what his religious beliefs are, though it is admitted they are different from his parents' beliefs.
   
   All the struggling and all the pain is wrapped up in a nice-sounding package of love and reconciliation at the end of the book so that his current success makes what happened in his childhood, and before his fame, seem worthwhile and nearly inevitable. This is the common story told of anyone who has achieved commercial success, and a commercial writer, paid to tell it told it -- or wrote it, with Tavis Smiley's approval.
   
   I'd rather hear from Tavis Smiley himself in his own voice, even if he stumbles here and there and parts don't always add up as neatly as a commercial package in the end. This simulation of Tavis Smiley's life cheapened his value for me.



4. Growing up in Bunker Hill, Indiana, with his mother and stepfather, along with four cousin, five brothers and his grandmother, Tavis struggled to find his niche.
   
   Faith and church dominated the Smiley household, and it was there that Tavis first discovered his love for discipline and words. Physical punishment was regular, harsh and usually given by Tavis' mother. After a particularly embarrassing situation at church, Tavis' father took discipline too far, and Tavis ended up in foster care. While his cousin was sent to a different town completely, Tavis was located near his family, and after only three months, moved home on his own. Though the physical damage done by his father had healed, it would be years before the relationship damage was restored.
   
   Throughout his schooling, the power of words and his love for Dr. Martin Luther King were his salvation. Though his parents were not supportive, he made his way to college with nothing except an acceptance letter and a suitcase. Fortune was on his side and he began classes at Indiana University. His eyes were opened to the African American civilization and society that had previously been closed off to him. In September of 1983, a tragic and unexplained death near IU campus deeply affected Tavis and directed him into social activism.
   
   A semester in Los Angeles once again changed the course of Tavis' life. Serving the public through government inspired Tavis and gave him direction. Though he was unable to continue serving in the government, Tavis was able to create his own way. A self-started radio program led to a BET program and the chance to meet with numerous powerful and famous people, including President Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro. His BET stint eventually gave way to NPR, which eventually gave way to his own company and many different ventures.
   
   Overall, What I Know For Sure is comfortable and heart warming. Tavis Smiley's latest book is refreshing. Whether African American, Caucasian, Hispanic or Asian, the story presented here will encourage anyone facing difficult or impossible circumstances.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: We need more encouraging books with good messages.



5. From Gulfport to Gotham to Black Entertainment Television, this is the exciting story of a man who survives a horrible childhood and now has the golden touch in media, business and life.

3 comments about Compañero: vida y muerte del Che Guevara.

1. El Che fue sin duda un personaje contradictorio, por un lado el revolucionario idealista, por el otro un frio burocrata manejado por la disciplina. Esta biografia lo describe como el ser humano que era, inclusive sus fallas, que al fin lo condenaron a un tragico fin. Aunque el autor cubre un campo imenso con sus multiples entrevistas y sinumero de referencias, la objetividad sin embargo, resulta en una biografia carente de emocion. Esta es una biografia cientifica, y hace falta un poco de brio para dar vida a un personaje tan lleno de suenos e idealismo.



2. Este libro presenta de forma organizada la vida del Che desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte y la situacion politica,economica familiar que le rodeaba.Va mas alla de la leyenda para ver el hombre y el revolucionario detras de ella.Analiza en una forma objetiva sus pensamientos y su trascendencia despues de su muerte.En fin creo que quien quiera conocer la figura del Che,este es un excelente libro para hacerlo.



3. Explodes the myth of Che Guevara as you thought you knew him, while opening a new level of charisma for those who loved him and his ideals. A must reading for students of the sixties that is a real eyeopener. A believeable biography written with a distinct Latin mindset that will not allow you to put it down. Che Vive!

3 comments about The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II: 1914-1967, I Dream a World (Life of Langston Hughes, 1941-1967).

1. Langston Hughes was a Poets Poet.he had words that were uplifting that took you to another time&Place.Arnold Rampersad does a great job of telling the story of Langston Hughes&showcasing the Greatness of His Writings.Langston Hughes was ahead of time&Very Gifted African-American Writer.He left behind Ground-Breaking work that still speaks volumes to this day.



2. Arnold Rampersad's LIFE OF LANGSTON HUGHES Volume 2 retains much of Hughes' evident black pride that is inescapable no matter the type of biography and critical analysis done on him and his body of work. Hughes wrote about many other things during his lifetime, but he mostly celebrated his African American culture without shame or apology.
   
   Volume 2 picks up where the first left off. Langston Hughes is at the crossroads of a lived life. His career as a writer has stalled a bit, he has becomes disillusioned by the predominantely white left who rufuses to understand fully and acknowledge the plight of the black American, and he is ill. Eventually, his career begins to get back on track and Rampersad takes the reader along with Hughes through the rest of his life to his death in 1967. Langston reaches out to the rest of the world through his love for his fellow black Americans and their stories and concerns. He faces the McCarthy hearings successfully but with a slight change from the politcal rhetoric expressed so openly in the 1930's where he had merged racial pride with a radical socialism to insure that the left could not
   exclude blacks from the agenda. He witnesses the rise of a new generation of black writers, some who pleased him and others who did not, some who loved and respected him and others who did not. He challeged them to be proud of their black American heritage in their writing but also to be objective in their evaluations. He felt the sting of some of these young black writers who felt that he was out of touch and not angry enough. And, he witnessed the return of appreciation from the outside world for his body of work and humanity. Despite a general dislike he held for white people, some wasn't as liked by him as they believed themselves to be, it never materialized into open hate as it did with many in the Black Power Movement. Rampersad provides the best example of this by recounting a moment of outright rage in Hughes where he raises his voice to express his frustration and anger toward white folks, "benevolent anger" as opposed to the "malignant anger" of many in the Black Power Movement. Hughe fully understood the error of blanketing all white people as the same in prejudice.
   
   Arnold Rampersad depth of exhaustive research is evident in the facts he uncovers in Hughes's complicated character. And, some readers will be surprised by what they will read such as his understanding of the short comings of integration where African Americans would to a large degree abandon their own infrastructure instead of building on it to be more secure without self-segregation and imposed segregation from the outside. Rampersad presents Hughes as the human being with foibles and not just a mythic icon of African American and American literature in general. Perhaps willingly to some degree to keep money in the bank as he "sharecropped" his way through his long career, the reader will definitely come away with the knowledged that Hughes was a famous African American of his day being exploited, again to a degree, by the larger community. This is very evident in some of the working situations Hughes would have outside the black community.
   
   Volume 2 is free of much of the rheteric that came dangerously close to blatent homophobia in Volume 1. Rampersad doesn't come out and declare Hughes as gay, but does make the surprising admission that Hughes had a preference for black men like the late Gilbert Price, and, especially dark skinned black men in his life as well as work. This dissonance between not wanting to identify Hughes as gay and Hughes's very evident preference for black men as discovered by Rampersad during his exhaustive research is pandemic among certain scholars who believe sexuality has no bearing on creativity, at lease when it comes to certain icons as Hughes is to black America. But, Rampersad isn't a homophobe and it is unfair to cast him as one. Rampersad is to be applauded for this admission that he could have conveniently suppressed but chose not to do. Kudos!!!! Rampersad comes across as wanting to declare Hughes as gay, but holds back allowing the reader to read the obvious between the lines by patently stating Hughes primary interest for other black men. Rampersad does make references to the women Hughes was only "friendly" with without the slighthest romantic interest, Hughes even going out of his way make it clear that he was not interested in them romantically. This can be attributed to the condition in the black communty where black gay men are often required to "pass" as straight (as done to the ultimate degree by fellow black gay members of the Harlem Renaissance: Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and Richard Bruce Nugent).
   
   To me, Langston Hughes was and is a hero made to order! Hughes icon status still burns bright, beautifully, and unblemished for me and his other admirers regardless of any shortcomings and prejudices outside the love for his people.



3. This book has 425 pages in. It is wonderful and full of energy. It starts with one of Hughes poems and leads you down the ailes. The book is interesting, to the point and gives you enough information to find out more about how great Hughes is. I loved reading it and it gives you so much information to help you fully get to know Mr. Hughes. It is long but worth reading every page of it. I highly recommend reading this book.

5 comments about The Fire Next Time (Hrw Library).

1. The Fire Next Time is a wonderful collection of 2
   spirited essays on Baldwin's evolution from a naive
   church boy into a spirited man. His journey leads
   him to question his relationship with Christ and
   particularly Christianity. He truly believes that
   one should not be drawn into a particular religion
   out of fear but out of love for humanity.
   
   His beliefs on the acceptance of others and racial
   equality are provocative and yet sorely needed in
   today's mixed-up world. However, I believe that
   Baldwin is almost utopic to the point of being
   naive in believing that racism will one day
   completely evaporate, though I do believe that
   things have gotten better. Still, it's truly sad
   that this book and his work has been swept under
   the rug but Baldwin always seems to amaze me with
   his thought-provoking outlook on life. This book
   is a gem of a novel, an easy read and his underlying
   message of believing in humanity is sure to be praised
   by open-minded readers for years to come.



2. I had to read this book, as many people told me if your a reader this is one you must not simply read but own. So I got it and started reading. It never really grabbed me, but I made it through. I plan to read it again within at a different time.



3. The man knew what he was talking about, when he said the U S would burn because of racial discord.



4. My sense is that Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time for anyone who had ears to hear, regardless of color or faith or gender. The emotional intelligence with which he speaks is riveting.



5. Wonderful prose -- use of language.

5 comments about All God's Children.

1. This book does a very good job in trying to explain some of the causes of violence and some of the systemic failures in our society. It also provides an interesting narrative of the people involved in the story.



2. I am a descendant of James Butler. For the record, that family is not Scotch-Irish, they were English and had been for hundreds of years. They went to Virginia from England in the 1600's not because they were poor or down trodden but because they were wealthy and well connected with the intentions of making more money.
   
   Shoddy research just makes me cringe.



3. On a cold wintry day in March 1978, Willie Bosket, a 15-year-old boy with an extensive juvenile record, shot and killed a middle-aged hospital worker in a New York City subway robbery. Eight days later, Willie robbed and killed another man under similar circumstances. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested, confessed, and was found guilty of these two homicides. He was given the maximum sentence for a juvenile of five years for the two murders. He felt not a whit of remorse for his actions, and was quoted as such in the papers.
   
   A few days later, New York Governor Hugh Carey, reading about the trial in the New York newspapers, became so incensed that he immediately called a special session of the state legislature in Albany. He proposed and was successful in passing a new law in record time, the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978. This law allowed kids as young as 13 to be tried in adult criminal courts for murder and receive the same penalties as adults. This law was a sharp reversal of 150 years of American tradition. New York became the first of many states to make this watershed change in juvenile justice policy. Willie Bosket had made history.
   
   If All God's Children were merely a harrowing recitation of the criminal life of Willie Bosket, it would be a fascinating chronicle of the "most dangerous prisoner in the history of the state of New York." But it is much more than that. It is also a multi-generational tale of the Bosket family dating back to 1834 in South Carolina. It in particular traces the interweaving stories of Willie Bosket and that of his father, Butch Bosket, with all that they held in common-genius-level IQs, a history of explosive anger, psychopathic tendencies and a conviction for two homicide.
   
   In telling this saga of the Bosket family, Butterfield has successfully woven together a sociological treatise on violence in America, a cautionary tale of the pernicious effects of slavery, and a genealogical study of a truly tragic family.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: A stunning read.



4. This book was indeed an eye-opener. I encourage all who are concerned about our society as a whole to study this book, and especially those who are in social services. Mr. Butterfield should be applauded for this work.



5. I'm not A reader of books. I was refered this one and I can't stop referencing it in everyday conversations. This book is not only a great history lesson of Racial tensions but also a great look into the history of violence in our Black Youth....