5 comments about No Place Safe.

1. This beautifully written book by Kim Reid is both sensitive and timeless. It is about so much more than it appears: A daughter's conflictual and complicated relationship with the mother she loves and yearns for, a black child coming to terms with the white majority, a child faced with the unstoppable murders of children just like her, and a child becoming a woman, to name just a few. Ms. Reid's writing is sensitive and emotional yet not cloying or annoying. She takes us into her experiences with a subtle and skilled hand that allows us to go there right along with her. I came out of reading this book with a profound respect for the writer, as well as a new appreciation of growing up black in the days of the Atlanta child murders. I highly recommend this book and look forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.



2. The way Reid interweaves the story of tragic lost lives of children with her own sort of "lost chldhood" is brilliant, esp. from the point of view of her cop mother being so deeply involved in the cases. It's just really a fantastic read. It has stayed with me for days, especially being a mom. Heartbreaking, of course. And they never found the killer, which just tears me up. But there's much more to the book than that. She weaves that story beautifully with her own.



3. I could not put this book down. I ended up reading all of it in two settings. It is an endearing story of a girl growing up in the most challenging of situations during her tender and impressionable teen years. The "coming of age" story allows the reader to feel like they are there, reflecting back to their own childhoods, and see a very complex world with unfathomable situations through the eyes of a street smart and feisty 13 year old. There were several parts that I laughed out loud and others I was aghast at the very pointed racism that this young teen had to experience. Great book Kim, you are to be well commended for such a great first book.



4. NO PLACE SAFE details the consuming, high-pressure investigations of the 1979-1981 disappearances and murders of black boys and young men in Atlanta--investigations in which author Kim Reid's mother worked as a lead investigator. While this story alone propels this book to read like a compelling novel, Kim's powerful revelations about her schools, her community, her family, and herself make this a powerful document of life in a major Southern city during an especially tumultuous time.



5. Author Kim Reid beautifully captured the voice of an Atlanta 13-year-old who is mother to her younger sister while their single mom works as a police officer; is one of few black students who attend an all-white private school in a distant, affluent neighborhood; and who lives unnervingly close to where dozens of black boys and young men have been murdered (Atlanta Child Murders starting in 1979).
   
   Reid includes information that isn't common knowledge--at least not to me: "Until the early sixties, black officers could arrest only black citizens. In 1979, white and black patrolmen had been allowed to partner in only the last ten years, and black cops were still in a minority, which meant they stuck together outside of work. The only tie that bound black and white cops then was the fact that on the job, they were cops regardless of what they looked like. Fortunately, that was usually enough."
   
   In one instance she brilliantly summarizes her mother's character: A white police officer stopped by her house at 2:00 a.m., expecting to be accommodated. "At two in the morning?' Ma said. Cop or no cop, she sounded like she was ready to bless the man out. There weren't many things that pleased Ma as much as a good night's sleep, which I always believed was here escape from having to work extra jobs, being a cop, a single mother, and just being a black woman in general."
   
   If this book had been written as a young adult novel set in 1979-1982, I would give it five stars. Why? Because it focuses on issues that are still important to teens today. Reid's title is also good for a novel, although I'd suggest she come up with one that hasn't been used before, so it'll be more recognizable. But as a memoir, the book is thin; it should have included more information about the murders, and an more in-depth analysis of what her mother and sister also went through.

5 comments about Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul.

1. Along w/ Diddy (P. Diddy or w/e he wants to call himself). This loser is responsible for new schhol rap which is over the top materialism, cockiness and marketing the gangsta culture as if it were some subculture like hippie & goth based on dress & talk . I listen to old school rap like NWA, Dr. Dre etc. (the real stuff) Don't get me wrong, though Jermaine Dupri fans are too ignorant to know what I'm talking about. There were genre's like G-Funk which went in Dupri's direction but only to a degree. However, G-funk lyrics were still about what a gangsta REALLY is and what that lifestyle is really about, the cool aspects, but to be sincere the obvious realities why the average person doesn't bang. New school rappers/producers like Dupri, are not from Compton, Roxbury, etc. They are from Alanta, Missisippi, Phoenix and those places that are sooooooooo not hood. So it's all a big joke to me what he's trying to do like Joel Shulmacher's Batman movies but at least those were meant to be a joke. All Dupri and any shmuck like him does is exploit a culture/background that he knows nothing about nor did any research on b/c the $ is there.



2. I thought the book was great at capturing the highlights of his career. Its obvious that the book is written primarily by JD in his own words which is refreshing as well. No huge revelations, but definitely good to get the insight JD has on staying relevant in the music business and how he became a Young, Rich and Dangerous mogul. I thought the book did a particularly good job of detailing the relationships he had with the artists (especially Kriss Kross) to understand the ups and downs that their careers had and his role in getting them where they were. He seemed very earnest about his feelings about money over the years and how he's grown to understand that more money means more responsibility as well. Good book, easy reading and recommended for any JD fans.



3. Unless you're a big fan of his music, you're not going to enjoy this book too much. The book doesn't seem to have any real purpose except for Jermaine to pat himself on the back. Jermaine didn't spend alot of time thinking over this book. It seems like he was being interviewed and dropped some thoughts to an author to put together. The book is very self serving/ self promoting. Jermaine is rarely offering the reader his truly feelings. Most of the time he's being too cautious about what he says to keep on good business terms with people in the industry.
   
   However, you do get a much better sense of who Jermaine Dupri is as a person. Much of the book is about materialism not spiritualism. Jermaine talks alot more about the more successful artists and the current artists who he's been involved with. But, he tends to leave out the less successful artists or the ones who've been out of the game for awhile. I thought it was interesting how he had much to say about Biggie whom he only worked with on a couple of songs but nothing to say about Left Eye whom he was more closely linked to.
   
   The books has a few interesting spots or juicy moments but the majority of the book makes for unmemoriable reading. There are alot of other hip hop books that Jermaine could've taken notes from. Russell Simmons's book offered more spiritual and business insight. DMX's book told a far more interesting life story. LL Cool J's book was told more honestly and straight from the heart. There was really no reason for Jermaine's book other than to feed his own ego.



4. Jermaine's candid stories reveal the challenges and difficulties that producers face when grooming and working with artists who have drama, and divas who have dollars.
   
   Written with a conversational tone, it's layed out in a chronological format that details Jermaine's journey as a background dancer with Whodini, to superstar producer and founder of So So Def Records, his adventures as a label executive for Sony, Arista, and Virgin records, as well as his love affair with Janet Jackson.
   
   Despite the occasional tangents that he goes on (especially about the reasons he spends so much time at strip clubs), the book provides entertaining lessons learned from his trials and tribulations of working with platinum selling acts like Kriss Kross, Xscape, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Mariah Carey, and his troubles with the IRS are significant to the climax of this book: be accountable for your business. Get it today for any producer or aspiring producer you know.



5. I'm a bigger fan of J.D. even more after reading this book.
   He doesn't get have the props of other producers, and he is a hit making machine. Best hip hop bio I've read in a long time....

4 comments about Die Nigger Die!: A Political Autobiography of Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.

1. This is the autobiography of the type of man who has long gone out of style in the black community--an original man. While down-to-earth in manner, H. Rap Brown had a understated intelligence that served him well. But it's his ability to translate thoughts into words that make this book worth reading. From issues like skin color to class divisions, Brown outlines many issues that still face the black community today.
   
   A lot of political works get caught in the trap of trying to reflect the intelligence of the writer, Brown does the best job of effectively communicating from the black street perspective.
   I'm sure he would like for everyone who reads this to read his Revolution by the Book, and when you compare the two you can chart the evolution of an original man, from street scholar to religious cleric. Read it for yourself and make up your own mind.



2. When H.Rap Brown's classic autobiography was first published, he was former chair of SNCC, the leading Black liberation group in the United States. Back then, I used this book as an introduction to the Black Power movement. Rap Brown was a grassroots leader, and he spoke the language of the grassroots community. In my estimate, H. Rap Brown was one of the most successful political agitators of the black revolt. With the exception of Malcolm X, there were few that could match his effectiveness of moving people in the streets. For that precise reason, Brown, now Imam Jamil Al-Amin, has been a key victim of repression, for fighting for black liberation.



3. H. Rap Brown has been called the african-american Jim Goad. In Mr. Brown's case, however, his screed is directed not at women and liberals but instead at "honkeys," "crackers" and, of course, "THE MAN!" This autobiography gives the reader insight into the anger that fueled one man's efforts to bring down "the system." Overall, though, the book is kinda insubstantial and considering the darn thing cost nearly 15 bones, there are much better books on the subject.



4. While rightfully cited as an articulation of Black anger in the 60s, there are portions of this book that are difficult to take seriously. Rap/El-Amin's hilarious descriptions of pilfering items in Lyndon Johnson's White House, the story of his being stopped by the Louisiana cops for wearing ragged clothes, his refusal to eat or drink anything in prison for 43 DAYS (last time I checked in biology class, no human could go that long without water) etc. come off like wild tall tales told by one of Richard Pryor's characters. Even when the book is serious, there is never a dull moment. His observations on Ebony magazine, poor whites, and the explaination of the book's title, will make you laugh as well as think. Oh yeah, check out his "Rap" early on in the book, the contents of which would make NWA blush!

   The recent noteriety of Rap/El-Amin adds a somber note to the proceedings, but in the meantime, read this. You can see why this wild, controversial, and colorful book was so popular in the late 1960s. A cross between Richard Pryor and Malcolm X! Certainly one of the most entertaining of the Black Power manifestos.

4 comments about His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad.

1. My daughter needed this book for research of slavery. It was great for her and she learned alot!



2. I ordered this book after seeing an interesting reference to it in an article in Smithsonian Magazine. I am so very glad I did.It is an amazing book, a very rare combination of thought provoking historical narrative, and Indiana Jones-ish excitement. I only wish it had been ten times as long-I would have devoured it. If I hadn't read the preface, which gives the background, I would have thought it was fiction, and pretty darn nail biting fiction at that.
   I have given quite a bit of thought to this book, wondering what I would have done, given the same situation, and concluded that you can only hope you would be strong enough to rise to the circumstances, but fear is a powerful deterrent.I am giving my copy to the history department chair at my daughters' high school, and will ask them to consider making it a part of the curriculum.



3. I brought this book some time ago and just got around to reading it. Well, let me tell you that I can kick myself for not reading it sooner. You will get through this book so fast your head would spin because it is so interesting you will not want to put it down. John P. Parker, my hero.



4. John Parker's autobiography is an engrossing and often surprising account of the activities of the Underground Railroad. Parker was born and lived as a slave until buying his freedom and moving to Ripley, Ohio. There he joined forces with Rev. John Rankin in helping slaves cross the Ohio River and escape to Canada. His account is lucid, swift-moving, rambunctious, and highly literate. He describes the Ohio River Valley as "the Borderland," comparing it to the lawless, violent Scots/English border. The border, constantly raided by Abolitionists helping steal men, women, and children out of slavery and patrolled by slave-owning vigilantes intent on catching them, simmers in as treacherous a state of unrest and violence as any "Wild West" town at its worst. Parker never walks the streets of Ripley without a pistol, knife, and black jack in his belt. He never admits to working for the Underground Railroad, especially after passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, but pretty much everyone in the region knows that he does, putting his life in constant danger.

   Parker's account abounds in hair-breadth escapes, heart-rending failures, and startling heroics. He also reveals aspects of the Underground Railroad that one never suspects but which seem inevitable after he describes them, such as the competition that developed between John Rankin's Ripley, Ohio branch of the Railroad and Levi Coffin's Cincinnati group. Parker insists that Coffin was merely the better publicist, not the better rescuer of the two. It's also clear that for Parker rescuing slaves was not merely a fierce moral imperative but also an activity touched with excitement, zest--even, strange as this sounds, fun. There is an element of sport to his activities, despite their grim, life and death seriousness. Parker is obviously bold, intelligent, crafty--good at what he does--and he relishes the hard-won triumphs of courage and guile that allow him to free his fellow slaves.

   It's hard to say what place &qu! ot;His Promised Land" will take in American literature. It will not, I don't think, replace Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of an American Slave" as the country's premier account of the experience of slavery. It's not as powerful, relentless, or literarily self-conscious an account as Douglass's great work. But it may prove to be, for the Underground Railroad, what Sam Watkins's "Co. Aytch" is for the Civil War: perhaps the most engaging, colorful, and moving account by an 'ordinary extraordinary' man in one of this country's most agonizing and dramatic conflicts.

5 comments about An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad.

1. Bravo to Brother Claude for providing the world with a very insightful and informative body of work on Elijah Muhammad. As a former registered member of the Nation of Islam, Brother Claude eliminated many gray areas that pre-1975 believers did not know or would not talk about, while post-1975 believers don't spend enough time in understanding what they are involved with, how they are seen by the outside world, and how all these things shape their development.
   Several questions do arise however.
   1.) Do we as hueman beings really have a conceptualization of how GOD works?
   
   2.) If we look at the history of the arabian prophet MUHAMMAD(pbuh), can the way the prophet's 23 year propogation of islam show similar growing pains as the NOI?
   
   3.) Why was the government of the United States, the arab muslim world and the european powers so focused on exposing and or eliminating Elijah Muhammad and the NOI? What do they fear?
   
   4.) Why do so many readers always compare BLACK race first groups and their ideologies, with the worst white dictators and evil peoples known in the 20th century?
   
   5.) Can we say the the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad were made in America due to the repeated murders, lynchings, tortures, burnings and rapings done by the BLACK man and woman's open enemy?
   
   6.) Is Elijah Mhammad theologically correct in his assertions?
   
   7.) Did not the prophets of all of the known and unknown religions incur the same kind of dismissal, corruptions, and humanness that this man and the NOI demonstrated?
   
   8.) Why is it that for 44-years, Elijah Muhammad never backed down from believing that he was the Messenger from ALLAH, nor doubting what Fard Muhammad instructed him in?
   
   9.) Who is behind the raising up of the student Malcolm X in the public, and not his teacher?
   
   To contextualize an Original Man for today, read William Blum's work Rogue State.
   Thanks again Brother Claude for the spirit in which you researched and wrote this book...it is much needed! ALLAHU-AKBAR!



2. Perhaps the most balanced, informative piece of literature on the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam: Elijah Muhammad. Mr. Clegg presents a totally non-biased exposé of Elijah, void of any judgmental stances so frequently found in writings of this nature. Although not always flattering, it is a MUST read for anyone seeking to understand the early years of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad's life and the organization's rise to prominence within African-American communities throughout the country. Many of the misnomers attributed to this organization and its founder are dispelled, as are a great deal of the ambiguities regarding the inner-workings of the N.O.I. Additionally, there is valuable information regarding the relationship between Elijah and Malcolm X that reaches far beyond Alex Haley's writing. I highly recommend it!



3. Elijah Muhammad was a man that was impacted by the society around him. This book very much illustrates that. Though he had 13 children out of wedlock(taken from the notes at the end of the book) he still did alot for black people. He gave black people a sense of pride and worth away from the European Christian sense. However his corruption from pride and the love of attention led to much of his corrution, and that of the Nation of Islam. For example in one part of the end notes it says that he used to oppose blacks driving in fancy expensive cars, but he did it himself. He was banking on the nation, and I guess if you tell yourself what your doing is right eventually no matter how wrong it is you will believe it. Overall I liked the book sieng as it wasn't a position tring to sway you to the faith. It clearly showed what he did for the black people in creating this Nation of Islam, and what he subtracted from blacks by mans own corruption.



4. I couldn't put this book down. This is easily the best work on the Nation of Islam to date. Clegg has done some impressive research and has a deep knowledge of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. He presents the material in a well-written, intelligent way, without the biases that one would assume that such a topic would provoke. This is first-rate scholarship. I hope the author considers doing a similar biography of Malcolm X or Louis Farrakhan.



5. but the company i ordered it from sent me a library book, I hope it was not taken..

5 comments about Callus On My Soul: A Memoir: A Memoir.

1. One of the most profound statements in the book was when Mr. Gregory was explaining racism, and I quote "Those old illiterate Negroes were all the White folks had to validate who they were. Could you imagine being a redneck who knew he was an illiterate cracker, and who knew that, as White as he was, he could never be president of the USA? As white as he was, he was never going to drive a Mercedes or go to Paris. So the only thing a redneck had to play with was niggers." and that is why when civil rights workers started educating the black folks about slavery the white rednecks were willing to kill to keep them. Because they were not only taking their niggers they were taking their dignity and self respect.



2. Dick Gregory's memoir is among the most honest and touching autobiographies available today. From the first page, I was drawn into his experience as if I were actually transitioning through pre-Civil Rights Era, the Movement, and the post-era that has evolved into today. Sometimes the pain of Gregory's experiences was so real that I literally felt the dull pain of sympathy in my gut, the tragic feeling that accompanies love or indignation. Callus On My Soul was a history lesson that will never appear on the pages of American textbooks, and a reality check that I will never forget.



3. With choices come sacrifice, and in Dick Gregory's book CALLUS ON MY SOUL, he tells the story of his life and shares with readers both the positive things he gained and the things he has had to forego as a result of his decisions. He tells of his childhood, which included a life of poverty, racism, and an absentee father. But more importantly, Gregory shares how he learned as a child to use humor as a way to transcend his difficult life experiences and gain peer acceptance. This would serve as an omen for the important role that comedy would play in his later life. As Gregory tells of his developing career as a comedian, readers quickly see the sacrifices that he and his family made in order to achieve the level of fame that he ultimately became known for. A great portion of the book is dedicated to Gregory's experiences and commitment to social causes. He relates to readers his experiences in the civil rights and human rights struggles, and tells of his personal experiences with both noteworthy and little known social activists. He tells of how he and other activists sacrificed their careers, physical safety, and time with family in order to stand up for what they believe in.

   Because Dick Gregory has played such an integral role in so many historical events relating to civil and human rights, this book is so much more than a memoir. Anyone who picks this book up receives a new insight into many of the events that shaped the history of the United States. In addition, Gregory shares his own political views and opinions with a boldness and clarity that makes it evident that he is indeed an activist at heart. He also tells of the unwavering support of his wife and ten children as he fasted, went on cross country marathons, and even traveled the world leaving them at home. CALLUS ON MY SOUL is a political, historical, and personal account of a man who has dedicated much of his life to a number of worthy causes.

   Reviewed by Stacey Seay
   The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers




4. Brother Greg believes O.J. is innocent. That is hard to believe, and there is some paranoia with his thinking. Conspiracy theories make for good fiction, but some of it is enlightening and believable. Mr. Gregory is a great man, and has a lot of knowledge. He is very smart. He is very funny, but he is also obsessed. If he calms down, he would do better. I love him. He is trying so hard to stop world hunger, and wants people to be slim and trim, and not fat as a pig. He wants justice. If people were more like Mr. Gregory, the world would be a much better place.



5. I am so awed and inspired by reading Dick Gregory's latest book. His life reads like an adventure through the most turbulent times of the 20th century. Friend to presidents, civil rights leaders, and industry giants, Dick Gregory doesn't fail to enlighten, inspire and fascinate the reader. He has been there done that for over 35 years. Now that our country faces a crisis, I hope Dick Gregory will be there for us with his commentary, his insight and wisdom.

   I wish he would have written more about his successes in the '80's with his weight loss programs, his work with the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) and his circumcision trauma, the Black Panther party, Tupac Shakur, the Bush family, and his vision for the future.

   Ah, but hopefully his next book will include that! I recommend this book highly. I only wish I could hear him lecture in person.

5 comments about Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.

1. This book is so inspiring to me, and Fantasia is my inspiration. The day i recieved this book (which was yesterday morning maybe 11am) i had finished reading it by like 12midnight! I can relate to the lifestyle fantasia used to live and most of the people i know can too. This book is for anybody who is quite young (i'm 18) or somebody who has gone through similar things or thinks they are going down that same road. I've own the film and after reading the book i'd say it is much better but the movie is still great. The way the book reads it feels like Fantasia is at your house telling you all these things. She's been through alot and some of the things that have happened in her family are even worse. i.e Her Aunt Rayda. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!



2. THis book had a great story but the writing was very elementary - so we found it hard to read for that reason.



3. This book gave me a new respect for Fantasia - her honesty was refreshing and I'm hoping helpful. I immediately bought another copy for my 16 year old neice who has an incredible voice and a wonderful love for God. I'm hoping it will help her not to lose her focus while still pursuing her dreams.



4. I really enjoyed the person I saw on American idol who called herself Fantasia. So full of life, so expressive, such a good singer. Then why didn't I enjoy the book? Fantasia seemed to use the book to preach to us about her religious beliefs instead of sticking to the story about her life. I have my own strong religious beliefs and didn't fancy her trying to change my thoughts about God. If she didn't have enough material from her own life to full the pages of a book, I think she should have just stuck with singing. THAT I enjoy.



5. This book is wonderful. Fantasia let's everything out, seacrets and all and she is not scared to hold anything back. You can almost imagine being her, seeing what she sees and doing what she does from all the detail you gain. You would have never guessed who and what this women is really about from what you see on your television screen watching American Idol. You may think you know, but you have no idea! This book is highly recomended to any fan of American Idol.

5 comments about PRYOR CONVICTIONS: And Other Life Sentences.

1. This book is funny as hell but haunting at the same time. I have been a fan of Richard Pryor since I had to sneak into the living room late at night and listen to my parents' albums. I heard Paul Mooney, Pryor's close friend, say that a person would never want to have dinner with a bunch of comedians because they are some of the most depressed people you ever met. Richard Pryor was a genius plain and simple. They say the true mark of a legend is one who everything before him becomes obsolete and everything after him is imitation. Richard was and still is the funniest man America has ever put on stage. I reccomend this book for all who desire to be in the company of greatness.



2. Richard Pryor recounts his hellish childhood and self destructive adulthood here. He was raised by people who were more or less criminals, his Grandmother was a whorehouse Madame, his Father and Uncle were involved in pimping and drug dealing, his Mother was at least at times working as a prostitute, etc. At one point Pryor was molested by a Catholic priest and instead of going to the police or just killing the bastard his family devises a scheme to blackmail the pedophile and encouraged Pryor to lead the old priest on, so yeah you get the picture. After that his adulthood is one self destructive fiasco after another, or at least you would think it was from this book. You would almost think Pryor never had any fun whatsoever. Something tells me Pryor for all his self destructive tendencies at least at times, had more than his share of fun too. Even though I don't think even half of the story gets told here I thought this was a good read if for no other reason I always enjoy over the top tales of celebrity debauchery and thats more or less what the bulk of Pryor Convictions is.



3. The mystery of how Richard Franklin Lenox Thomas Pryor III survived and became wildly successful after growing up in a family that made its living by running a prostitution business, in which all of the adult members were participants; being molested by a Catholic Priest at a school that eventually expelled him; becoming a school drop out at the age of fourteen, running through six wives, and a cocaine habit big enough to purchase a hospital in Peru, set himself on fire while free-basing cocaine, having a heart attack, multiple sclerosis, and then bilked out of millions by a dishonest agent, is truly a story worth reading.
   
   This book is Richard Pryor's autobiography told with some of his best jokes serving as punctuation marks. And as was true of his life, this book is as much pathos as it is comedy, and clearly intended to be both.
   
   But here, perhaps for the first time, in its subtext, Pryor reveals the true strength of his character and his humanity: it is in his uncompromising ability not to accept the racist reality that he found himself engulfed in, at face value. To Pryor not only was the racist reality "not real" and thus not to be trusted, it also was not universal, not legitimate, nor the last word about the humanity of his own private life and environment, or by extension, of this nation.
   
   Even though the racist reality of Peoria, Illinois, tried to set limits for Pryor, he kept finding ways to jump over its hurdles. Until his death, with every fiber of his body, Pryor fought everyday of his life against allowing it to define who he was. In doing so, like his hero, Muhammad Ali, he transcended it and America's brutally racist system, and in the process, became larger than life, and larger than his own tragic circumstances. As this book demonstrates, he fought a valiant fight, but in the end, it took its expected toll: The battle destroyed him from the inside out.
   
   This book, like the movie of his life produced by him, "Jo Jo Dancer," traces the evolution of Pryor's character development across his life journey. It is sobering only in its uncompromising honesty.
   
   Five Stars



4. The book is immediately interesting and arresting. However, Mr. Pryor goes through lulls of semi-coherent, discractive writing. Pryor is very open with the reader in this book, describing everything he went through in fascinating candor. That alone makes this a must buy. Rich talks about selling out to mainstream Hollywood throughout his career. He did most pictures, regardless of the often atrocious scripts, admittedly, just for the money. There are also many fascinating stories about his habitual drug use and addiction(s). But this fact and the obligatory stories and excuses that follow allow the reader to realize he was a wild, carefree human being. Who was, admittedly, lucky to live as long as he did, considering the aforementioned drug abbuse.
   The book is 247 pages and 30-plus chapters which makes for a quick read. You won't be emphatically pleased that you purchased this book, but you won't be upset either.



5. I tried to give Pryor a chance and see what makes him do what he did. I'd read his daughter's book first and he sounded like a pretty violent and mentally challenged man. I figure there are three sides of the story, so I'll read the second side. This dude blew me. He joked about beating up women like it was justifiable, had no idea it was wrong, and continuously excused his own faults. When children do it, I can blow it off as just having to grow up and understand responsibility. But how can I respect a comedian who does so many things that aren't funny? I wasn't a fan of Pryor before I read his book and now I'm definitely sticking to that opinion. I did, however, enjoy his alter ego's anecdotes.

1 comments about Ready from Within: A First Person Narrative.

1. In fact, she is one of the great leaders of all time. This is clear instantly to anyone who reads her story, told calmly and clearly,absent any self-aggrandizement or ego. Her role was that of countless women organizers such as Rosa Parks in Birmingham and Fannie Lou Hamer in Mississippi, almost the only female leaders' names we have from that Movement, and the barely-known student leader Anne Moody (whose moving autobiography, "Coming of Age in Mississippi" is another powerful document of that time) who actually risked their lives every day to do the monumentally hard,thankless,daily organizing work that persuaded Black people one by one throughout the South to risk their livelihoods, their housing and credit for basic food supplies at the local white landowner's grocery store, and their very lives, to come to a meeting, or register to vote, or take any first step to be involved in overthrowing America's apartheid regime, known as "Jim Crow" in areas where to join the NAACP meant being lynched. She matter-of-factly shows it to be a role largely unrewarded, unnoticed by the mass media, and never credited at all. Moreover, she had to fight every day, every week, every month, not to be thrown out of regular SCLC meetings by Dr. Ralph Abernathy, who resented her leadership status apparently for no other reason than that she was a woman, and enormously effective. Dr. King, in defending her place at the meeting, clearly knew he would have no crowds to march in front of at all were it not for women like Septima Clark.

5 comments about Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life (Penguin Lives Biographies).

1. Marshall Frady has produced an insightful summary of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. for the Penguin Lives series of short biographies. Working within the limitations of the series, Frady's synopsis breaks no new ground - King's life, campaigns, struggles and death are covered in just over 200 pages. But the object here is less to broaden or shape understanding than to evoke the spirit of the man and his times.
   
   The key events of King's life are well known; here the story unfolds in a progression grounded in Biblical narrative. An explicit conceit of this work is a view of King as a latter-day prophet, an American Moses destined to point the way to the Promised Land, but not to reach it. The book's four major sections reflect this theme.
   
   The first, titled "Out of Egypt", recalls King's childhood and education; his assumption of pastorly duties in Montgomery; and the first dramatic act of his civil rights career as an (initially reluctant) organizer of the 1955 bus boycott campaign. The second, "The Wilderness Time", recounts the aimlessness that settled over King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference following the Montgomery victory. Although it was an NAACP-led court victory and not the boycott campaign which finally won the day, Montgomery had vaulted him to national prominence and de facto leadership of the civil rights movement. A potential follow-up act wouldn't present itself until 1961; even then, King's foray into Albany, Georgia in support of the Albany Movement to end segregation in that remote locale produced no substantive gains.
   
   In the meantime King had attracted the malevolent attentions of the reigning FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, whose grotesque character Frady evokes in a remarkable thumbnail sketch. "By the Fifties", Frady writes, Hoover "had become for much of the country... a kind of totem figure of law and uprightness." Yet his brand of law included domestic surveillance in the service of political blackmail. Impelled by racism and anticommunist paranoia, Hoover initiated a bugging and wiretap campaign against King.
   
   Hoover's wiretaps revealed little in the way of communist plots, but they did evidence the serial adultery that seems to have begun in this period. Amazingly, King's dalliances never became public knowledge during his lifetime, even though Hoover deliberately made taped materials available to members of the press. Contrast this restraint with today's media behavior: as Frady acknowledges, "King could very likely never have survived now as the figure he was then."
   
   The conflict between flesh and spirit was a constant theme in King's life. On the one hand, here was a man who eschewed public ostentation and sought to emulate Mahatma Gandhi; on the other, a womanizer and, it would appear, a plagiarist. But King's expression of the spiritual took other, powerful forms. He was frequently jailed in the course of his work for the movement and was no stranger to physical assault. By the fatal day in Memphis, King had already been punched, kicked, and stabbed by racist antagonists; all of which assaults he suffered with amazing forbearance. On one remarkable occasion of being repeatedly punched in the face, and the assailant having been wrestled to the ground by his entourage, King urged them: "Don't hurt him, we have to pray for him." As Frady suggests, the product of this frisson was a monumental oratorical power in communicating the message of nonviolence - a power that for America came to its fullest and most significant expression on the Washington Mall with the ringing proclamation: "I have a dream today!"
   
   Section three, "Apotheosis", narrates the battle to integrate Birmingham, the symbolic pinnacle of the March on Washington, and the watershed of American conscience at Selma - culminating in the crowning achievement of King's life and struggle: the Voting Rights Act of 1964.
   
   In Albany the movement had been "deprived... of those convulsive clashes that would have dramatized for the rest of the country the underlying barbarity of its segregationist order." In Birmingham the police were more obliging. After a slow start, King and his followers decided to mobilize schoolchildren in a bid to overwhelm the jail system and force a resolution. The controversial strategy worked; images of young people in their Sunday best pummeled by fire hoses sickened the nation. Under pressure from all sides, the municipal authorities were forced to concede.
   
   And then came that speech in Washington. Time and distance can threaten to make a cliché of most anything, but Frady's retelling feels fresh in its evocation: "It had suddenly become a pentecostal moment. A huge shiver of exhilaration moved through the expanses of the throng..."
   
   At Selma, the "underlying barbarity" was revealed for all to see, courtesy of the state police and national television. The spectacle of violence against innocent citizenry spurred the White House to action. Addressing the nation to announce the Voting Rights Act, (in a moment to make one feel keen regret at a legacy tarnished by Vietnam) President Johnson intoned: "... and we _shall_ overcome!"
   
   In the book's final section, "The Far Country", we have the rest of the story - the Nobel Peace Prize, the Movement post-Selma, and the sudden end in Memphis. If King found himself "in the wilderness" after Albany, perhaps he was even more so after Selma. The movement's key objectives achieved, King set his sights on perhaps a more impossible dream: the reorganization of American life on egalitarian, socialist, grounds. Given the sweeping ambitions of the frustrated Chicago Movement and the grandiosity of the Poor People's Campaign, there is something poignant in the fact that what brought King to Memphis in April 1968 was no vast plan of social reorganization but mobilization in support of striking garbage workers.
   
   If Frady's book is at times slightly overwritten ("the rhetoric of the human spirit immensely and elaborately gathering itself for slow and terrific struggle" [p. 35] feels like a blind stab at the Faulkneresque), it is also an effective, and at times even powerful, homage to one of our greatest Americans.



2. The Martin Luther King,jr. biography is an excellent book to buy or checkout at your local library. This book was written about his life and the struggles he endured as a young African American man and his life as a Civil Rights leader.The book goes through his whole life from his childhood to his assasination. It tells the reader about the discrimination and racism he went through. I reccomend this book to people of all ages.



3. Martin Luther King Jr., born on January 15, 1929,was named after his father Martin Luther King Sr. King Sr. was the preacher at the local Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.Although, daily he spoke the truths of Christianity, his actions didn't always correspond with what he preached. In furies of rage Martin Luther King Sr. would often horribly beat his wife and children. Martin Luther King Jr. was so troubled by his father's beatings that he attempted killing himself three times.
   At age fifteen, after graduating very early from highschool, the rather unmotivated King attended Morehouse College. After graduating from Morehouse, King went on to attend Cruzed Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania,where he was to become a preacher like his father. It was here that King seemingly grew up; he studied hard, became class president, and graduated as valdictorian. When King proposed to Coretta Scott in the early 1950s he was already engaged to a few other former girlfriends from back home. They married in 1953, spending their honeymoon night in the basement of a funeral parlor because the nearest hotels and motels were segregated.
   In 1954 the newlyweds moved to Montgomery Alabama where the young King became the highly respected preacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.King's life would shortly change when he was asked to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted over a year.Eventually he joined the NAACP and began the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King was arrested several times for his non-violent actions. During one of these incidents he composed his famous "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." He befriended the Kennedy brothers (somewhat) in their effort to help the movement. On August 28, 1963 King recited his, "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, by a sniper, James Earl Ray.



4. Since his death in 1968, a plethora of books about Martin Luther King, Jr. has inundated the shelves of bookstores. Every angle about his life and work has been explored, critiqued and analyzed. Is there room for one more as we continue the quest for making King's dream for equality a reality? Penquin Lives says yes as it presents a brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. as seen through the eyes of a white southern reporter during the era, Marshall Frady.

   Mr. Frady was one of those reporters assigned to interpret and bring some sense of clarity to the public about the rising civil rights movement and its major leader, King. As a young reporter, he carried out his mission and now as an older statesman of the press he gives us another view about King, his work and his impact on the national scene.

   Martin Luther King, Jr. focuses on the success, failures and conflicts of a leader caught in a movement that swept him up into the pinacles of history. We see another dimension of King who is vain, unorganized, guilt ridden and a womanizer. His lieutenants are egotistical, mystical, self-serving and dedicated to the cause of freedom. King's genius in keepint these varied personalities in check for a greater cause is a testament to his genius.

   Frady really doesn't tell the reader anything new about King that hasn't been said before. He merely encapsulates previous information into a format that is readily accessible to those who want to get a brief history of King and the movement but can't endure reading works of countless pages of information. In this Frady excels and does a fine job of being brief but doesn't offer the reader in better insights about the man.

   I would recommend this book to those who want to get a brief snapshot of King from the perspective of a white southerner. Otherwise I would encourage readers to explore other books that give a more in depth look at the complex life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.




5. In a short space, Marshall Frady has written an informative, inspiring and thoughtful biography of Martin Luther King Jr., of the nature of his achievement, of his America, and of his vision. The book does not engage in hero-worship or myth-making but rather presents Dr. King as a tortured.conflicted, and lonely individual. Frady writes at the close of his introduction (p.10) (itself a wonderful summation of the book and of Dr. King's achievement): "And what the full-bodied reality of King should finally tell us, beyond all the awe and celebration of him, is how mysteriously mixed, in what torturously complicated frms, our moral heroes -- our prophets --actually come to us."

   A theme of this book is how Dr. King's moral vision and achievement emerged from moral conflict. Dr King spent most of his career walking a difficult path between extremes. At the beginning of his career, he was criticized by the more conservative black establishment which preferred to use the courts rather than demonstrations as a means to promote racial equality. Indeed, Frady tells us, the Mongomery bus boycott of 1955, which catapaulted Dr. King into national prominence, did not end the segregation of the city's bus system -- a court decision did.

   Towards the end of his career, black leaders such as Malcolm X and Stokely Charmichael pressured Dr. King to abandon his philosophy of nonviolence. He did not do so. But Frady shows us how Dr. King and Malcolm X near the end of their lives each learned something from the other.

   King's most difficult moral struggle was with himself. Frady gives us a convincing picture of how Dr. King, whose appeal rested upon an ability to convey moral and religous principle, struggled (unsuccessfully) with sexuality. A myriad of affairs followed him and his mission from beginning to end. Frady has insightful things to say about the relationship between Dr. King's tortured, complex personal life and his public mission.

   Frady also describes how near the end of his career with segregation on the decline in the South, Dr. King tried to expand his mission by opposing the war in Vietnam and by his "poor peoples campaign" which Dr. King saw as an attack on the materialism, impersonality, and greed that he found pervaded American life. In so expanding his mission, Dr. King alienated many of his followers. His lasting achievement does not rest upon these later activities, according to Frady, but rather upon the idealism and moral committment with which he was able to infuse American life during a few short years.

   Frady gives us an eloquent discussion of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech in Washington D.C. Later in his career, Dr King set forth his vision for America by speaking in terms of a "Beloved Community", a phrase adopted from the early 20th Century American philosopher, Josiah Royce. Dr King said (p. 183) "When I talk about power and the need for power, I'm talking in terms of the need for power to bring about ... the creation of the Beloved Community." Our nation is still trying to recover something of Dr. King's idealism and of the best of his vision.

   This book encourages us to think about and to formulate for ourselves the vision of America as a "Beloved Community" by reflecting on the life and achievement of a complex man.