5 comments about The Winged Seed: A Remembrance.

1. Impressive impressionistic poetic memoir, powwerful and free, obviously not for everyone especially english instructors.



2. a very personal look in a rather unusal life of the author.



3. the winged seed is probably the most poetic book i have ever read. li-young lee's quiet, condensed writing style is almost sedating. he is one of the most interesting people i've met and one of the best poets i've ever read. he is what many poets strive to be.



4. love it as you would a sleepless nite of rain and poetry one and the same.

   leaving a small imprint, claire




5. Borne from nights of insomnia and kaleidascopic memories, The Winged Seed is a beautiful search for answers for the tumultous inner questions of the mind. Part poem, part waking dream, part remembrance, this haunting book will draw you in to the author's nights, where he is surrounded by the seeds of moments the past has left behind.

5 comments about The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir.

1. As a white 48 year old women I now realize how ignorant I have been to indigenous peoples of America. It left me yearning for more knowledge. This book expanded my mind. It is well written and easy to understand. Very straight forward.



2. I read this book in a class about violence in society. it really brought home the nessesity for violence but a productive way to turn it into a positive thing in your life and still have good energy surround you. this book especially hit home with me because i have experience with foster children that can't bond. it really helped me to understand how to deal with that. Plus Linda Hogan Rocks!!



3. Life is a journey form fragments to wholeness. Hogan's memoir tries to reveal her steps and processes of having harmony in her life. She divides her memoir into eleven sections with various topics to express her different experience of life. Each part of her personal experience is the part of life journey, though in the journey, no absolutely direction is shown to tell her when to go or what to do. In "Geography: An Introduction," Hogan says there is no maps of direction in life, even she wish to direct her life to others by saying "This way," (14) but she couldn't. From receiving the broken pieces of the clay woman named "The Woman Who Watches over the World" that she bought in the museum, Hogan starts to illustrate her journey of broken past in "Water: A Love Story," which narratives how she falls in love with a sergeant army in German, and how she decides to come back to America by through the sea. Then she says "through our time life-times it is water that sustains us, water that is the human substance, the matter of cells"(31). In her years of falling, Hogan concludes "falling isn't always bad. Sometimes it is better into world" (66). As the topics go, readers seem to have steps to penetrate Hogan's inner floating. From piecing the following topics together, including "Silence is My Mother," "Fire," "Dreams and Visions: The Given-Off Light," "Span: Of Time and Stone,¡¨ ¡§Mystery,¡¨ ¡§Bones, and Other Precious Gem,¡¨ and ¡§Phantom Worlds,¡¨ we gradually finish the journey made by Hogan's personal events by the topic steps she gave us. Reading Hogan's memoir is like playing jigsaw puzzle, which is the game from fragments to wholeness. The process of the play jigsaw puzzle is like the process of facing many events in journey life. As she describes herself from the broken past to the harmony in the living world, Hogan's memoir also reveals the situation of Native American today. Therefore, it is not only a memoir of self, but a reflection of her tribes.



4. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.



5. As the title implies, this momoire arises form Linda Hogan her own perspective to tell the history of her tribe, her family and her own self. It is indeed a very impressive work for me. Many details and many depictions attract me very much, and I am going to illustrate some of them that impress me most.
   Drunken is a very serious problem for Hogan¡¦s family and relatives. By the description, we gradually realize that to drink is a way to elude from the painful history. ¡§I was drunk, not an alcoholic,¡¨ their reason is that ¡§the drunk wants to lose the memory of every day.¡¨ ¡§It was an escape from the pain of an American history.¡¨ For them, so many memories are unacceptable and the solution they can do is to escape from it. The Indians are the Natives of the States. But the invaders occupied most of their land and even made law to restrain the Indian territory. It is very ridiculous event.
   One thing that shocks me very much is about ¡§the Sand Creek Masacre.¡¨ It is a very painful thing for the Native people, but the Whites choose to make fun of the deathes. It reveals all the horrible history. Besides the history of the Native and the tribes, Hogan also explores herself and confesses herself to the readers. I believe this book is absolutely a good one to read and you will get more by your own reading.

5 comments about Finding Martha's Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island.

1. In my bedroom,located on my white wicker nightstand lies my copy of Finding Martha's Vineyard. This book is beautifully written and the photographs bring back bitter sweet memories of my own childhood beach visits. The author Jill Nelson did a fantastic job of introducing her audience to a different kind of summer for many Black Americans during a time when "we just wanted to be us". Thank you Ms. Nelson for a wonderful book.



2. Travel is an aspect of life which many people enjoy even if it is vicariously. I love to read travel stories and to travel. Jill Nelson has written a wonderful travel history of an island which is enchanting and real. The personal interviews of inhabitants, the pros and cons of those visiting or living on the island, the recipes, and the historical overview of the island make it come to life as one turns each page. The needs and accomplishments of each generation are very interesting. I highly recommend this book for all ages, history buffs, and travelers. A great book to take along on the trip for relaxation and enjoyment is "A Trilogy of Poetry, Prose and Thoughts for the Mind, Body and Soul."



3. Finding Martha's Vinyard is entertaining. The accounts of the residents were repitious, but it reveals that all were motivated to spend summers there by the same reasons. It is good that the present residents have found their slice of paradise and peace. Although I had heard of the Vinyard, I knew nothing about it. So, this book falls under the heading of pleasant education.



4. As a white person, who am I to write a review on this book which accurately portrays what Martha's Vineyard has represented to African Americans for generations? However, I read the book because I love the Vineyard and I enjoy reading about experiences of different cultures. From this perspective, the book is written with much respect and reverence and love for what the Vineyard has meant to African Americans for generations. The Vineyard has been a sort of utopia for African Americans where they can bring their kids up and enjoy the beauty of the island in an atmosphere of freedom from the usual society which tends to separate us all. The sense I get is that this island of ours in Massachusetts is a beacon for how things could and should be in the world. A place where people of color can go and not be "on guard" as they must be everywhere outside of the Vineyard. If we could all see one another as richly unique individuals who are all created equal (as the Constitution states) then we could have the sense of the Vineyard everywhere. We wouldn't have the ocean views, the energy of Circuit Ave., the beauty of riding down Middle Road, or the countless other wonderful experiences of the Vineyard, but we would have a better society. But, since that is not going to happen too soon, then, if you want to get a sense of what the Vineyard signifies to many wonderful people of color on the Vineyard, then read this enriching book and step briefly into the lives of many people who you would feel honored and grateful to have in your life.



5. This is a book for all people who love Martha's Vineyard. Tears, smiles, nods of head in recognition and, for non African-Americans, an eye opener to a view of an island we share geographically but not always in other spheres. Thank you, Ms. Nelson.

5 comments about Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.

1. The book came and it was like new--maybe it was new. I thought it took a bit longer to get to me than usual, and, if so, it's no big deal



2. This is an amazing and detailed story - and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has not read it - suffice it to say that 'discovering ones roots' is neither an easy nor a direct path to tread - the brave people who undertake this quest never cease to amaze me .......



3. I look through thousands of books a year as a reseller, but I read about 2 books a year. This one got my attention because I have a son who is 1/2 Navajo. His mother suffered the same sort of fate as Yvette. "voluntarily" seperated from brothers and sisters at the age of 5, sent to Utah, a mom she has not met, alcohol, violence etc etc etc . . .
   
   This book does a very good job of relating what rez life is really like, and gives a good insight into Navajo culture.
   
   I am a classically stoic, but I had tears in my eyes all the way through this book. I encourage anyone who is interested in the journey of the Navajo to spend some time on the reservation. Drive around, meet the people. Western culture has a lot to learn from this society.
   
   Read Ward Churchill's writings too, don't judge him by what the media has said about him.



4. Looking For Lost Bird:
   A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.
   Yvette Melanson with Claire Safron
   Bard Books. 233 pages. $22.00
   By Elliot Fein

   Looking For Lost Bird is a true story that is disturbing yet compelling. A Native American Navajo Indian woman gives birth on her reservation home in Arizona to twins, a girl and a boy. During their infancy, both children get sick. The mother takes the children to the nearest local hospital for a diagnosis.

   Hospital staff members instruct her that they will need to keep the two children over night for observations. When the mother returns the next day, the children are gone. The hospital has no record that they were ever admitted.

   The kidnapped infant children are each adopted in Florida by two different families. One of the families is a young Jewish couple that lives in a New York City suburb. Looking for Lost Bird is the story of the Navajo girl, Yvette Melanson, who is raised in that Jewish household.

   As an adult, Melanson discovers her Navajo origins and searches for her family roots. She finds her family (minus her mother, who died of a broken heart grieving for two lost children) still living on the Navajo reservation in which she was born. At the age of forty-three, Melanson decides first to visit her birth family in Arizona, then to move there permanently with her husband and two children.

   While adjusting to the reservation, Melanson learns and begins practicing the religion, culture, and way of life of her birth family. In this process, she abandons many of the Jewish cultural practices (but not necessarily Jewish values) in which she was raised.

   Melanson's Jewish parents (particularly her mother) provide a loving and caring environment for their daughter. In Yvette's recollection of how she was raised, their warts do surface, particularly the shortcomings of her father. After her mother becomes ill and eventually dies during her teen years, the father changes into a different, less appealing character.

   Melanson never reveals whether her Jewish parents knew about her Navajo origins. The reader is left to speculate whether the knowledge, if known by her Jewish parents that she was stolen from a Native American Indian family would have impacted their decision to adopt.

   What is surprising in the telling of this life story is the absence of any form of anti-Semitism by the author. When Melanson writes critically about her mother and father, she writes about them as individuals. She does not associate her criticism of them with Judaism as a faith tradition.

   On the reservation, when she begins taking on Native American Indian ways, Melanson naturally compares Navajo culture to Judaism. In this comparison, Melanson writes with respect, affection, and even admiration about the religious tradition in which she was raised.

   Melanson tells her life story (with the help of Claire Safron) with compassion, humor, and eloquence.

   I recently led a book club at my synagogue. A member of the club recommended that I read Looking for Lost Bird. After reading it, we immediately decided to include Looking for Lost Bird one of our featured selections. The book provides a great opportunity to learn about Navajo culture and to see how it compares to Judaism as a religious tradition. The book is also a true gift for adopted individuals, particularly native American Indians, seeking to uncover their past.

   Elliot Fein teaches Jewish Studies in the Tarbut V'Torah School in Irvine.




5. Like many of the readers I couldn't put the book down until I read it from cover to cover. While reading the story I found out these people were my extended family! I know everyone mentioned in the book. As a youngster I remember the crusade of Aunt Desbah, Uncle John and others in finding the twins who were stolen as babies. I wept at the end when Yvette participated in the holy Hozhoji ceremony to be reunited with her birth place, family, culture, and environment. Very moving!

   Aunt Betty, Yvette's biological mother lived a very brave life as she longed and searched everyday of her life wanting to be reunited with her twins. May God bless her soul.

3 comments about Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and Public Servant.

1. LTG (Ret.) Becton has served this country honorably for over 40 years. His autobiography is outstanding and demonstrates that hard work will win out over all obstacles. He is truly one of this Nation's great heros and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about his life.



2. Personal memoirs of famous or near famous people can be risky investments for a reader. General Becton's book has no such risk though, and it makes for enjoyable, informative reading without any of the jargon that often can make military matters tedious to the layperson. In fact, Gen. Becton frequently shows an obvious effort to explain technical points in terms that keep everything well inside the reader's comfort zone. Autobiography of Becton compares very favorably with those of a number of other senior professional officers whose names are quite familiar to the general public and which were issued over the last 15 years or so by some of the larger and more prominent national publishing houses.
   
   Julius Becton is far less known in America today than he deserves to be. Not only does he have a public service career spanning more than 60 years, but it is a career highlighted by taking up tough jobs that entailed a lot more criticism than material reward. These included FEMA, presidency of a historically Black college in the South at a time when those institutions were becoming increasingly strained by the end of segregation at larger state universities and, the hottest potato of all, taking charge of the pathetic District of Columbia school system to root out the graft and incompetence, while fighting off the incessant backbiting from the power centers that benefited by the old ways of doing things. And he did this while in his 70's, postponing a well-deserved retirement.
   
   My own interest in the book was mainly in General Becton's military career. Although he had quite a successful one, it was a career marked by competence and solid performance, rather than the glamour, slogans and catch phrases, goofy reorganization plans or personality stunts that accompanied so many general officers I saw during my service years in the 70s and which were such a burden on their subordinates, at no gain to the service. I was also gratified to see several of General Becton's observations on Army inspections, personnel policies and run-ins with overinflated egos along the career paths. Oddly enough, I had crossed paths with some of those people (at a far lower level on my part) or heard a great deal about them, and in every case agreed with his polite, but negative assessments.
   
   At this point I should note that I had one fleeting contact with the author more than 35 years ago, when he swore me and my graduating class into the Army. The word "charisma" is terribly overused and not necessarily informative, so I won't use it here. I will say that General Becton was a man of monumental dignity, seriousness and personal magnetism. This was most noted by the families who were present at the time, who didn't discuss anything else about the ceremony other than what a stunningly impressive, yet approachable, pleasant and civil individual this was (and this was at a time when a member of an ethnic minority as a military general officer was much less usual than in recent years).
   
   Although I doubt that General Becton's book will be used much this way because youth today don't read much, this would be a wonderful thing for any teenager to read, whether black, white or whatever, because it shows the path to an excellent system of values and life choices. General Becton writes with a good deal of introspection and is quite open about some of his statements and decisions that didn't work out for the best (indeed, he is often too hard on himself in that respect). On the other hand, his many accomplishments and the good he has done for his country come across from the simple facts and not by a lot of self-aggrandizement from this modest and monumentally decent man.



3. "Becton's" autobiography is the tale of a great man of humble beginnings. Born the son of a handy-man, he took advantage of the opportunities life presented and he still serves as the role-model of someone we should all aspire to be.
   
   Lt Gen Julius Becton enlisted in the Army just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning the war as a private, he ended it as a second lieutenant. The book follows his military career through the hot wars in Korea and Vietnam, and finished with the Cold War in West Germany. Having led at every organization level in the Army, he retired as a Lt General with 39 years of service.
   
   After serving our nation in the profession of arms, he came out of retirement to run another organization that greatly benefitted from his proven abilities at international diplomacy and crisis management. He ran the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), which coordinates United States assistance to other countries that have suffered man-made or natural disasters. After fixing OFDA he was asked to head the newly-formed Federal Emergency Management Agency. From there, he returned to his Alma Mater of Prairie View A&M University, this time as President, and saved it from going into receivership. He continued his pattern of restoring desperately needed leadership to (at the time) dysfunctional organizations one more time for the District of Columbia Public School system before finally retiring.
   
   Lt Gen Becton's career predated another famous Black American's military career by just a few years. Similar to General Colin Powell's "My American Journey", both books recount the experiences of two men who were very successful in the environment provided by the US armed forces. Gen. Powell's biography benefitted from a professional writer resulting in smoother flow through the book. The author could have also helped elicit more when it came to Lt Gen Becton's incredible accomplishments. In some cases, Lt Gen Becton's humility when relating his proudest moments whet our appetites, but left us wanting "The Rest of the Story".
   
   Lt Gen Julius Becton's life story is an incredible one. Becton's candid story-telling provided examples of what worked, balanced with his introspection as to what he could have done better. This critical self-assessment combined with Becton's 13 principles of the "First Team Philosophy" provides the reader with a very powerful lesson in applied leadership.

No comments about Blood and Oil in the Orient.

No comments about Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin.

4 comments about Spider Eaters: A Memoir.

1. After reading "Spider Eaters" and several books like it ("Son of the revolution", "A Woman's ordeal", "Troublemaker".. ect) I wasn't Sure how to review this one. "Spider Eaters" is a much more complex memoir than the others. "Spider Eaters" does not have the simple emotional punch of other memoirs in it's class yet as a memoir it works well. As a first person acount of mordern China it works well but the book is so much more than just a personal History. Spider Eaters is probably best described as a personal psychologial drama.

   How does a poor little rich girl survive the mental abuse that is the demonicaly inspired communism of mordern day china? How does a girl with dreams and aspirations of any little girl suppress those dreams and thoughts when they conflict with the strict communist party line and exposing them can mean ruin?

   Rae Yang first creates a fantasy hero, an almost Christ like figure who resuces the poor stands up for the wokers even to the point of death. Later when "politicaly correect" she transfers that figure to Chairman Moa and ultimately begins to see herself as that figure. A Savior who is betrayed by those she loved. Later still while living in the US she must find ways to reconcile all the various personalities into one functioning adult. A psychologist could have a field day with this book. Spider Eaters to me is a frighting look at the damage Communism can do to the minds of those it inslaves, and how a person can cope once freed of it's grasp.




2. "Spider Eaters" is an interesting and creative title and well matches the contents. This is a most fascinating and moving memoir. I have read several autobiographies written about the beginnings of Communism in China and the Cultural Revolution, and this is by far one of the best. Many such books these days are advertised as "belonging on the shelf next to Wild Swans". I've always felt such claims are exaggerated as Wild Swans for me was quite exceptional. But Spider Eaters truly does deserve to be in the same category.

   Having just finished "Life and Death in Shanghai" by Nien Cheng prior to "Spider Eaters" I found reading the other side of the coin intriguing. Nien Cheng was imprisoned for six and a half years in solitary confinement, accused of being a British spy as she had worked for Shell company. Her beautiful home and belongings were trashed by the Red Guards. Then I read Rae Yang's account of her experience as a Red Guard. She was responsible for persecuting such bourgeois "Capitalist Roaders" as Nien Cheng. I am sure that both these women would like, admire and respect each other if ever they had met, and yet during these times they were class enemies. How sad.

   If the author should read this review, I would like to thank you so much for your wonderful honesty in relating not just the events of your life, but also your thoughts and dreams. I was reluctant to finish your book as I felt I had come to know you so well. What I read almost felt like a personal letter. Your book is wonderful reading and it has long stayed on my mind. It stirred my emotions deeply. And can I just say, that I am so glad you came to love your pigs. I especially warmed to you when I read of your feelings for them and your sense of betrayal when they were sent to be slaughtered. I would have felt exactly the same. I understood completely and you certainly wouldn't have been a laughing stock to me had I been present.

   I discovered Spider Eaters through Amazon and am disappointed that more have not reviewed it. Spider Eaters is far more than a memoir. It is also a literary delight. Extremely well worth reading!




3. Spider Eaters is a haunting and lyrical memoir of a young girl growing up during China's most violent and provocative days. Rae Yang tells a little told story of the inside view of the Cultural Revolution, Nationalist politics and the ties between men and women in her old country. The mastery of this story, is that Yang concentrates less on the history of China, but the effect of that history on it's people. She write about how the cadre's children were supposed to sympathize completely with the working class, however, how could they do that when at every chance, Yang describes them as being completely isolated from the reality of such poverty. Communism at it's height, anyone accused of speaking, or even thinking, words against the Party, could be imprisoned, tortured and/or killed. Society looked down upon selfishness and the ego. Yang's description gives us the picture of a girl torn between two worlds, between herself and her loyalty to the Party, between her loyalty to the Party and her loyalty to her parents and friends, between respect for authority and contempt for such high-handed practices as "campaigns." When the Cultural Revolution begins, Yang's story of a lost girl continues as she turns on those who had been her peers and mentors, becoming the evil that she had unconsciously fought against all her life. This story is meaningful and eerie, in that it describes fully the effect of political influence on the youth, their power over the rest of the world, and their power to change society itself. However, it better describes what this mistreatment of young people can lead to-a burden of guilt and pain surround Yang's words, a guilt that past practices continue to make her unable to fully describe, although she is not permitted to. Her real thoughts are muddled and unclear throughout the novel, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions--a hardy, but somewhat annoying task. The real interest is in her thoughts, not what we believe about the circumstance. All in all, this book is a beautiful and eloquent novel, highly recommended to anyone interested in Chinese culture.



4. Spider Eaters is a haunting and lyrical memoir of a young girl growing up during China's most violent and provocative days. Rae Yang tells a little told story of the inside view of the Cultural Revolution, Nationalist politics and the ties between men and women in her old country. The mastery of this story, is that Yang concentrates less on the history of China, but the effect of that history on it's people. She write about how the cadre's children were supposed to sympathize completely with the working class, however, how could they do that when at every chance, Yang describes them as being completely isolated from the reality of such poverty. Communism at it's height, anyone accused of speaking, or even thinking, words against the Party, could be imprisoned, tortured and/or killed. Society looked down upon selfishness and the ego. Yang's description gives us the picture of a girl torn between two worlds, between herself and her loyalty to the Party, between her loyalty to the Party and her loyalty to her parents and friends, between respect for authority and contempt for such high-handed practices as "campaigns." When the Cultural Revolution begins, Yang's story of a lost girl continues as she turns on those who had been her peers and mentors, becoming the evil that she had unconsciously fought against all her life. This story is meaningful and eerie, in that it describes fully the effect of political influence on the youth, their power over the rest of the world, and their power to change society itself. However, it better describes what this mistreatment of young people can lead to-a burden of guilt and pain surround Yang's words, a guilt that past practices continue to make her unable to fully describe, although she is not permitted to. Her real thoughts are muddled and unclear throughout the novel, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions--a hardy, but somewhat annoying task. The real interest is in her thoughts, not what we believe about the circumstance. All in all, this book is a beautiful and eloquent novel, highly recommended to anyone interested in Chinese culture.

2 comments about William Grant Still (American Composers).

1. A masterful musical and socio/political analysis that shows the importance of understanding the context of music in America. Smith tackles the difficult issues raised by Still's life and the racial and political climate that made the reception of his work so limited while demonstrating the richness and importance of his music. An honest but careful treatment of a complicated family history. This is an invaluable addition to the Still literature that will lead to much greater understanding and--one hopes--broader use of his work. Might it even help to erode the resistance to the work of classical African-American composers and performers that persists today?



2. Thank goodness at last a new source for info on Wm. Grant Still.This material will surprise the reader with its insightful revelations. A pleasure to discover.I recommend it to all those interested and those who have not as yet discovered Wm Grant Still.

5 comments about Here I Stand.

1. Paul Robson was the son of an escaped slave. He earned 15 Varsity letters in sports at Rutgers in Baseball, Basketball, Football and Track and Field, and graduated from Rutgers in 1919 as valedictorian. He then attended and graduated form Columbia Law School in 1923 and after a brief time practicing law he pursued a career in the arts as a singer and actor. If there ever was an American Renaissance man it was Paul B. Robeson. How does a man with all these talents become a communist?
   
   Here I stand sheds light on the complexity of Paul Robeson and reveals a lot about who he was especially his strong sense of social justice. He was one of the first artists who became a political activist. Yes before Bono there was Robeson. He not only gave millions of his own money he also raised funds to help the poor and causes he believed in; he supported factions against Franco in the Spanish Civil war, raised money for refugees from Hitler's regime and he lobbied President Truman to support anti-lynching Legislation. He was known for supporting socialist causes; at the time socialist causes included the eight hour work day, abolishing child labor, programs to feed and care for the poor and elderly before our country had unemployment and social security.
   
   Here I Stand his personal examination of his own philosophy and reading it makes you wonder what Black men of his generation could have achieved if they had been born after the civil rights movement. My grandfather was a communist organizer and lived in St. Louis, Missouri. My father met Robeson as a boy. Some Black people, like Robeson and my grandfather, embraced communism because it offered hope.
   
   Personally, I believe that if our country fully embraced the principles of equality written in our Constitution and accepted Black people as full citizen's communism would have held no appeal at all to men like Robeson and my grandfather. Had Robeson had the same opportunities as white men who had the same talents in his generation then I doubt communism would have held the same appeal for him. My grandfather was a WWI veteran and because of segregation he had to travel 300 miles just to enlist in the Army; if he had been treated fairly like all men who sacrificed to serve this country communism would not have appealed to him either. Paul Robeson's struggle was the struggle of the Black people of his generation who, like him, looked for hope in a philosophy that we now know with historic hindsight was not the panacea they sought; nevertheless in Here I Stand he gives them a voice.
   
   This is a fascinating look into Robeson's life and it is worth reading; we read it in college in Afro-American History and I was able to discuss this with my dad(who was patriotic and served in the Marines) and learn even more about this fascinating person who would today be labeled a multitalented genius; in the post civil rights era Robeson would also have the full rights of citizenship and have more opportunity to benefit from his hard work and talents.



2. I was expecting to read an autobiography of Paul Robeson but in the first few pages, he clearly informs the reader that the book being read is not an autobiography. And it's not, although it deals with facets of his life. The book focuses more on exploring how Paul Robeson came to hold his strong political beliefs.
   
   As a student of African history (of the diaspora and Africa itself), the most valuable thing about this book, at this writing, is how ahead of his time Robeson was. Before learning about Africa, or learning African languages became the cultural phenonemon it is in some circles, Robeson was doing it. He wasn't doing it simply to expand his repetoire of songs or for any other self-serving reason. He was doing it because he understood that being able to communicate with people in their own language works wonders in being able to develop a genuine rapport. He also did as an extension of his understanding that the centuries long condition of slavery had deprived him of a correct perception of Africa and African people.
   
   I finished this book with an increased respect for his personality, his character, his devotion to African people and last but not least, his intelligence. Paul Robeson's life is an example to progressive artists who aim to have their art serve their people's struggle, not just be a vehicle for personal expression.



3. The life of Paul Robeson is a story worth telling and hearing by all. Whether of not one agrees with all of the places in which he journeyed in search of truth, we should and must recognize his strength in traveling against the mindless tides of the time and his unwillingness to merely be blown along by the strongest winds -- as so many are today.
   Speaking of which, I must cite the slanderous "review" of 8 January 2001 by an, of course, "anonymous" naysayer who seems forever mired in the days of McCarthy's cold war rhetoric, hatred, and mindless babbling. Please note that the cold war is over, and even when it was on, we were ill-served by the kind of dimwitted buffoonery which branded anyone who dared have an opinion of his own as an enemy of the state.
   Sadly, that kind of blatant fascist lunacy has come to rule America again.
   This is the perfect time for this story to be told.



4. Good book for anyone who wants to learn about this unsung american hero. When will history books teach the youth of our country about this man?



5. Paul Robeson was a proud man. A man of bravery, intelligence and integrity. He was a man who had to walk alone, as men must do sometimes. He formed his own opinions, defined his own ideology, and stood up for that ideology when confronted. Faced with hatred the way he was, many men would give in and surrender, Mr. Robeson refused to do this. He walked the road that Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Michael Jordan walked and he lived to tell it like he saw it. All the kids who live in poverty should know that education is the key to being your own person, if you need a guide, read Here I Stand.