4 comments about Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men (Legacies of Social Thought).

1. This work, aside from all useful insight into inner city culture, is able to offer the perspective qualitative research a good example of how to construct observation and insider knowledge into one. When writing-up qualitative research it is often hard to determine what balance between observation and insider language must be presented to convince the reader. This book, by its example, provides a very successful model that can be used by almost anyone. Simply stated, you must get this book in order to improve your qualitative research. Good luck!!!



2. This study of Black streetcorner men by noted anthropologist, Dr. Elliot Liebow, was his doctoral dissertation. It became recognized as one of the more important sociological treatises, at the time it was written; a time during which Blacks or African Americans were still referred to as Negroes. Dr. Liebow's year and a half long study of a group of disaffected Black males, who routinely frequented a streetcorner in Washington, D.C.'s inner city, provided the basis for the dissertation that gave rise to this book. His analysis of this particular societal subculture, in the context of the overall social milieu in which it exists, is still relevant today. While scholarly, the book is written in an engaging conversational tone, which makes for easy reading. This book should be read by all those with an interest in the social sciences.



3. Admittedly, I first read Tally's Corner almost three decades ago -- and it still has a hold over me. In those 30 years, I went from studying sociology to making films to doing start-ups in Silicon Valley. I am now in the process of ordering more copies to distribute to friends. Tally's Corner is an exceptional work. It had its origins in a doctoral thesis and yet it reads like a novel. Its powerful message aside, Tally's Corner is marvelous reading. Anyone who wants to write something important and lasting should look to Liebow to see how it is done. Tally's Corner defies the contrary logic which says "no pain, no gain" -- that all things profound must to be impossible for everyman to understand.



4. This book was assigned as part of a course taken on Oppression and Poverty in America. An excellent book for anyone interested in learning about life in the inner-city. Written in 1967 as a field study by the late Elliot Liebow, it offers a view of life that is not seen by most college students. I have assigned it to my Intro to Sociology class as a stepping off point for discussion about American culture, poverty, and family life. Very easy reading and truly a book that should be read by anyone who wants to begin to understand and accept diversity among people.

4 comments about Casi una mujer.

1. este libro me parecio interesante,es una lectura entretenida



2. lya he leido el primer libro de esmeralda,"cuando era puertorriquena" me parecio muy interesante, la segunda parte, "casi una mujer" tiene muchas repeticiones del primero , pero la lectura es llamativa y entretenedora, lo recomiendo



3. estuve esperando MUCHO por este libro. Cuando era PRiqueña fue tan bello y me trajo tantos recuerdos. Luego salio El Sueño de America- una de las mejores novelas que he leido- y yo seguia esperando por este libro!

   Esmeralda es la mejor, me transporta a PR en cualquier momento y por eso la adoro. Habla de su familia como si fuera la mia y creo que somos primas!

   Creo que es la mejor escritora latinoamericana hoy en dia, solo que no tiene mucha popularidad porque escribe mas bien sobre PR. Estoy esperando como loca el proximo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   El mejor regalo para cualquier latina que este orgullosa de sus raices!




4. Esmeralda did it again! This book is excellent, it takes up where When I was Puerto Rican left off. No pude dejar de leer el libro hasta el fin! This book is not only a sequel, but it stands on its own as a really good book. For me, reading it in Spanish added a little more flavor to the plot. In English or Spanish this book doesn't loose anything in the translation. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Beyond the Narrow Gate.

1. This is not a terrible book. But it's not a good one either--especially in a field that has so many extraordinarily well-written memoirs (like "Wild Swans").
   "Beyond the Narrow Gate"'s lack of originality and style are its biggest problems. The author is telling a story that has been told many times before. Although Chang's women immigrants are better-off financially than the immigrants most memoirs are about, that fact actually makes "Narrow Gate" LESS interesting, because the women's hardships are less stark, more psychological than physical, and thus extremely difficult for Change to adequately convey.
   Chang's writing style is unexceptional. Her words do not draw the reader in, and there is a lack of complementarity between the story Chang is trying to tell and the words she uses to tell it with. Her language could be much richer, her descriptions more textured (adjectival phrases are our friends!). Worse, this story, of which the personal impact for the author is constantly reiterated, is not told in an intimate manner or with any sense of humor whatsoever. The telling is extremely straightforward, with too few embellishments and too little intimacy, which is off-putting, to say the least.
   There are also some smaller, but similarly irritating problems. First, this book touts itself as a record of four Chinese women's journey to America. In fact, that story is recounted as a background for excessive odes to Chang's mother that are not related to the story. There are frequent and redundant discussions of Chang's mother's exuberance in life, complete with unnecessary anecdotes that are neither contributory nor all that interesting.
   Also, especially in the first half of the book, Chang goes into long tangents about poets, such as the rather obscure Wallace Stevens, or earlier American authors. She tries to weave their experiences into the story of the Chinese immigrants' experiences--to what end, I have no clue. The device merely irritated me.
   Chang jumps between spaces, time, and characters in a wholly disconcerting manner. It's never made clear why certain characters, like Suzanne and Delores, feature heavily in some chapters and not others, since the book is not written in a consistent chronology. Chang also throws in a lot about herself as she was doing the research for the book--half of one chapter is devoted to a visit to an old priest in New York, who doesn't even remember Chang's mother. For a book that's supposed to be about the elder Chang's immigration experience, there is an excess of anecdotes about the author's research-related experiences.
   Last, Chang's insistence on writing out the character's exact words, no matter how broken their English, is annoying. Most children of immigrants, while acknowledging that their parents' English is nonstandard, have grown up hearing that version of English and therefore it sounds natural to them, and not broken. Therefore, Chang could still be true to her subjects by recording their speech as standard English, because that's how their children actually understand them. The broken English is very hard to read and takes away from the seriousness both of Chang's subject and often of the conversations that are being recorded.
   Overall, like I said, this isn't a TERRIBLE book. If it dealt with a topic that had fewer volumes already written on it--say, for example, the Thai or Hmong immigrant experience--I would actually give this book another star. But the Chinese immigrant experience is one that has already been recorded in some of the best tomes of this century, and so I don't think readers should waste their time with as mediocre a book as "Beyond the Narrow Gate."



2. Ever since the Joy Luck Club came out, it seems like "Asian heritage" books have been everywhere. I can't get into many of them - not entirely sure why - but this book is one of the exceptions.

   This story rings very true for me. My mother went to the Taipei high school where the four main characters meet, and this is what first drew me to the book. It was like finding out about her life though I'd never been able to ask the right questions (a process described early in the narrative, too). And I can see parts of my growing up reflected in most of the second-generation characters.

   But I like this book mainly for its wisdom, for the perspective Chang has gained through the process of writing these stories and how she shares that with the reader. It reminds me about the freedom we have here, to define our dreams however we want and do all we can to pursue them. (We're not forced to study biochemistry just because we're good students, and our culture helps give us the courage to change careers if we're not satisfied.) It's also interesting to see how the parents' experiences affect their children's lives in this area. Wei goes to New York to be a dancer, and Peter tries to pursue public policy instead of medical school. There's a line about a father who was so American that he encouraged his child "to go to Oberlin instead of Harvard" - perfectly characterized, I thought.

   I thought this book was nicely written, other than the occasional awkward foreshadowing. The stories do jump around, but this is inevitable, and they are described clearly enough that they really aren't too hard to follow.

   This is a relatively quick read, and definitely worth it - it paints an accurate picture of both generations' lives in the U.S. and throws in a nice China/Taiwan history lesson as well. It's definitely among my favorite "Chinese" books now, along with Mona in the Promised Land (Gish Jen) and Legacies (Bette Bao Lord).




3. A daughter researches the life of her mother through the eyes of her mothers friends.



4. A fascinating story of 3 generations of Chinese/Taiwanese women. Chen beautifully paints a contrast between the older generation and her young self on a personal journey to discover her roots. What makes this book so wonderful is that Chen not only tells of the difficult journey from Taiwan to America but also the battle of thoughts and emotions that take place in their hearts.



5. Unfortunately this book was written very poorly. Author swings from one end to another trying to catch a big fish. However she is a good observer and takes you into the complicated relations of four women with their families. She described well each woman during different time periods of their life in China, Taiwan, and USA. Unfortunately, this book consists of many small stories of each of them. There is no main story. However I found it helpful as well.

No comments about Anna Julia Cooper, Visionary Black Feminist: A Critical Introduction.

5 comments about The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Do Prosperous Blacks Still Have the Blues?.

1. I wanted to read this book several years ago, but I was too busy being like the people in his book to read it. It's easy to digest; I finished it in less than a day. It is a better read for some white person looking for enlightenment than for one of us enraged, discontented, over-educated folk.



2. I find the title a bit melodramatic - although there is definitely rage, there are a lot of other feelings, too. I won't summarize the book because the other reviewers have done so already. It seems that a key problem for successful African-Americans is the ambiguity of many situations. They are pretty sure race explains why they don't get ahead as they should have, but never (or rarely) 100% sure that any given situation and/or obstacle, such as delay in getting a promotion, is entirely due to racism. This uncertainty in itself sounds enormously frustrating.
   
   What is very unfortunate is the extent to which successful people have to deny their feelings and reactions to avoid upsetting oversensitive or excessively judgemental white people, or just those whites (of which there are many) who are not as comfortable around African Americans as other whites. The too-frequent social rejection takes a huge toll, as well. Finally, there is the dilemma of raising children. Be blunt about racial injustice, or shield them from it? It all sounds tough to deal with - harder than it should be, and proof we have not arrived at a true recognition and respect for diversity, as well as overcoming the stereotypes of African-Americans as inferior.
   
   One theme that haunts Cose is the frequency with which he was told - yes, I've done very well indeed, but - who knows how far I could have gone without these obstacles to overcome? The sense of lost opportunities is stated by a number of interviewees.
   
   I wish Bill Gates would read this book and take it seriously. It seems unfair that for these arguments to really get the publicity they deserve, a rich white guy would have to adopt the cause. But I do think this book has gotten less publicity and been taken less seriously than it should have. Being subtly nasty to those who've done everything right and worked hard, in addition to being unfair, is stupid because it means America loses out in many ways.



3. 1. Classic.
   2. A JackandJill-US.com must-have.
   3. Inside the black upper class.



4. Ellis Cose presents a thoughtful, well researched book that investigates the complex nuances of racial discrimination. Cose chooses to focus in his book on middle and upper middle class blacks, who show the most dissatisfaction with their social and economic standing according to his research. The feeling of exclusion among this group of people runs deep, whether social exclusion in the mostly-white neighborhoods where many of the people interviewed for this book live, racial exclusion from other members of their race who do not enjoy the same economic standing, or professional exclusion from the track that leads to corporate success.
   
   Cose begins by presenting several stories of middle class blacks who, for one reason or another, have a reason to be dissatisfied with their position in life. What is most striking about these stories is that they are not rich with examples of egregious racial discrimination (though a couple of them are), but that they are mostly stories of affluent blacks who have more or less "made it," in spite of having a deck stacked against them. It is here that Cose introduces his first common theme: though the people interviewed for his book were more successful than most Americans, they have no idea where they may have ended up had they been given a chance to fulfill their potential.
   
   During the course of his numerous interviews with middle class black professionals, Cose found a curious pattern. There were approximately 12 common threads among the many stories he heard. The author named these common threads "The Dozen Demons." They were, in essence, the most common hurdles to the success of today's black professional. Managers would do well to study these 12 complaints, for they are not what most would guess them to be. In fact, more introspctive white managers might find that they unconciously engage in undermining behavior every day, without even knowing it. In this respecet, the book serves as a valuable tool for self-aware people who accept that racism exists, yet do not want to accept that condition.
   
   The central theme of the book is that modern racism is less about hatred and hostility than it is about condescension. Since the implements of racism now have a decidedly lower profile, it is more difficult for people who are not the victims of racism to show much empathy or acknowledgement. That being the case, middle class blacks have generally tended to find that being vocal about racism is not a particularly effective means of creating dialogue. Instead, Cose observes, they tend to keep a low profile, stay outside the mainstream, and distance themselves emotionally from their white counterparts in order to cope. Unfortunately, many white people mistake this reaction for "reverse discrimination," or anti-white prejudice.
   
   Rather than eliminate racism, it seems that Americans have instead eliminated many of the effective means of protesting, arguing against, or even identifying racism. It is becoming more fashionable to insist that race does not matter rather than start any meaningful discussion of the remaining efforts necessary to eliminate racism. When someone treats a black person with respect as an individual, it is a deed to be rewarded with praise. Yet white people expect that same treatment as a social norm.
   
   Cose theorizes that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s had the unfortunate effect of creating a great deal of "White Guilt". That white guilt is responsible for policies that see minorities as targets of charity, which serves to reinforce the low expectations and perception of laziness that unconciously pervade the minds of many white people.
   
   The problem is not that people do not feel guilty enough, it is that they are in denial. Cose's work goes a long way toward opening eyes, if we can set our fear aside long enough to take a very hard look at ourelves. Reading this book is a good start.



5. Ellis Cose has written brilliantly with regard to the American Dilemma. This is without a doubt his best work. Cose has interviews with successful African-American men and women, including lawyers and corporate executives. What comes forth is a searing indictment of our society, and a warning with regard to (as James Baldwin wrote more than a generation ago) "the fire next time".
   
   A central theme of the work makes clear that regardless of the rate of one's acknowledges material success; racial prejudice remains one of if not the most pervasive and oppressing impacts on the lives of people of color in this society.

   "What is there to be angry about?", one may ask. Our President enjoys the benefits which have flowed to him solely due to his Father's success at Yale. At the same time, he decries as "unfair" a Law School's use of race to assist in determining which members of this generation will get to enjoy the same benefit. One person is unabashed about his ability to enjoy the blessings of an accident of birth. Another is challenged and denigrated for the temerity of seeking a corner of the same benefit.

   Sometimes, seeing someone else explain the problem makes it not necessarily easier to deal with, but easier to understand (I guess in some way that leads to being easier to deal with). Often as I read this, I thought "yeah".

   If the "privileged class", those who by virtually every yardstick appear to be "making it" (and have the most invested in this society) have this much rage, the feeling which is pervasive throughout much of the throughout the rest of Black America is something which must be resolved.

   Anyone who thinks that we have got this problem of race in America solved ought to read this book.

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 Race and Remembrance: A Memoir (African American Life Series) (African American Life Series) (African American Life Series).

1. Civil rights weren't always a given for black Americans. "Race and Remembrance" tells of Arthur L. Johnson, a man who fought for civil rights during its toughest battle during the sixties, and has spent much of his life since fighting those battles. A peer to Martin Luther King Jr., it's a look into an old man's life and struggles through rough and turbulent times faced with such a harsh struggle to make the progress that has been made today. "Race and Remembrance" is a top pick for anyone who wants to read about the life of a civil rights warrior.

1 comments about A Breed Apart: A Journey to Redemption.

1. I read this book in one sitting which is not something I have done in years. Once I started reading Mr. Woods Journey to Redemption I was fascinated by how someone who had come from so much especially a BLACK MAN could travel such an horrible road by choice, by adrenaline and not really by need (which is the reasoning one hears for so much of criminal activity). The message of this book spoke volumes. It did not whitewash the excitement and rush the author got from his criminal activity but it also did not sugarcoat his prison experience. This book should be a must read for teenage boys although I fear some of the graphic descriptions might prevent that. This book is magnificent even though it does venture into preaching at the end which a factor Mr. Woods can be forgiven given his "preaching" heritage.

5 comments about Miriam's Song: A Memoir.

1. This book was really good and an eyeopener in many ways. Sometimes it is hard to believe the bad things that really go on in the world.



2. The book Miriam's Song, by Mark Mathabane, opened my eyes to the hardships and terrifying stories of Alexandria's slums and poverty. Told through the eyes of Miriam Mathabane, a poor black girl in Alexandria, South Africa, the story is inspirational and heart braking at the same time. From the beginning of the book, I was enthralled by the vivid details of Miriam's Bantu Education and poor living conditions. By the end of the book I felt as if I was inside Miriam's head, dealing with her emotions as if they were mine and following her story with a devout interest. This is the story of her struggle to overcome the difficulties of living in South Africa during the apartheid to achieve the power women and blacks were starved of.
   Miriam lived in a dysfunctional family consisting of an abusive father, smart but illiterate mother, and enough brothers and sisters to lose track of. The family lived in a shack they called a house, in an over crowded slum full of disease and mal-hygiene. On top of all of her hardships at home, Miriam had to deal with the Bantu (black) Educational system, which was staffed by cruel teachers and based on tough discipline. The teachers were more interested in clean hands and fingernails than the quality of education in the over crowded classes. In the book Miriam describes one experience with the strange education system saying, "Mama forgot to borrow a fingernail clipper... to trim my long and dirty finger nails... the mistress finally class my name... I gingerly step forward. I never take my eyes off the thick ruler in the mistress's right hand... `They are long and dirty'... the mistress slowly raises the thick ruler... high up in the air and prepares to rap my fingers." (24). It is clear that the mistress, or teacher, is worrying more than she should be on how long each students nails are and is disciplining in a harsh way. The only encouraging force keeping Miriam in the awful school was her brave mother who was continually encouraging.
   This book taught me more about how women are treated in superiorly in other places of the world and how differently I live from many other people. It was clear through out the story that physical and sexual abuse was accepted in the ghetto of Alexandria and was quite common. The discrimination of blacks was also very surprising. Even when the vast majority of the population was black, they were still treated like animals, and squeezed into small towns around the country. It was inspiring to read about the struggles for equality and the great measures many people went through to overcome the all-white government.
   After reading Miriam's Song I have gained a new respect for black women all over the world. The story showed me a new side of inequality not just judged by the color of skin but by gender. Miriam taught me to stand up for what I believe in and "fight the system." This is a great book for girls throughout the country to read because it is encouraging and a great read.



3. I strongly encourage everyone to buy and read this book. This book tells the story of what it is like to be female in apartheid South Africa. Do not pass up this opportunity to learn more about the legendary Mathabane family!



4. ...about my life, my educational opportunities, my social status. Miriam's Song should be required reading for all spoiled brats who think their lives are difficult. Shame on me for ever taking education for granted! Shame on me for ever complaining that my opportunities in the US are limited because of my gender! This book left an indelible mark on my social consciousness. Not just a touching and eye-opening memoir, but also a story of fierce determination and strength, Miriam's Song ranks among my must-reads. Her story is inspiring and her candid writing makes the reader feel as if she is sitting right there in the room, like an new friend telling you about her life. The text does not attempt to justify or rationalize or otherwise explain the social structure, and is remarkably pure in its telling of Miriam's story. Because this book is free from philisophy and pontification about wrong and right, fair and unfair, here-and-there comparisons, the reader is left to come to these realizations on his/her own and thus the story becomes most poignant. I find myself wondering how Miriam is doing now, and would welcome another book including the rest of her story and her observations of the US. Whole-heartedly recommended. Finished it yesterday and loaned it to a friend today.



5. How nice it is to sit in our American homes and vaguely read of the troubles of South Africa. I am ashamed to have never paid more attention to this subject. This is a riveting book that takes you past the superficial headlines and into the lives of the blacks who suffered under apartheid.

   The Mathabane family lives in a suburb of Johannesburg, in a one-square mile ghetto that is home to over 200,000 people (400,000 by the end of the book). Employment is hard to come by--for one to work, one must have a permit. But to get a permit, one must have a job.

   Their home is a two room shack, where four of the children sleep on the kitchen floor. There is a communal tap outside. Raw sewage runs in the street outside their door. Black children are only allowed to be taught certain subjects in a certain manner, and Miriam and her classmates are routinely beaten for any infraction--mistakes in schoolwork, uncombed hair, nails that are dirty/too long, wearing dirty bloomers, or not wearing bloomers at all. (These people live in complete poverty, and it was not uncommon for children to not have underwear.) The young teenage girls are easy targets of sexual abuse. Many become pregnant, single mothers, unable to finish school.

   While the story is unbelievably horrifying, their outlook is one of constant hope and faith. I am unable to get this family out of my mind, and I will be reading Mark Mathabane's autobiographical books as soon as I get my hands on them...This is an amazing story of how people in other parts of the world live. I strongly recommend this book.

4 comments about Oprah Winfrey: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies).

1. If you have millions of dollars in America, a country not known for its generosity, it's normally accepted that you are a very "kind" person, thus explains the aura which surrounds the scream queen Oprah. Her empire not only includes millions of dollars, but questionable investments throughout the world which include sweat factories and exploited workers. I for one found this book rather tedious as it attempts to make Oprah a saint who does no wrong. I'm waiting for her fall from grace like Martha Stewarts.



2. Purchased this book for a college report and found it to be very informative.



3. 
   I love Oprah and loved reading her biography. Her life story is exciting and inspiring and should be shared and read by people who wish to succeed against all odds.
   
   Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in 1954. She is an Emmy Ward winning talk show host and magazine publisher. In 2003 Forbes magazine proclaimed her the first black woman billionaire in the world. She has appeared on Time magazine's 100 most influential people list more frequently than any other woman, and considered by many to be the most influential woman in the world.
   
   Oprah is one of America's greatest philanthropists donating generously to charity. Not only is Oprah's personal charity giving unmatched by any other show business celebrity, but she has one of the most generous audiences in show business, raising money for various causes.
   
   Oprah was on the first national broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 1986. In the mid-1990s the shows adopted a more serious format; addressing issues that Winfrey thought were of importance to women, such as infidelity, child abuse and cosmetic surgery. She often interviews celebrities on issues that directly involve them in some way, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse. In addition, she interviews ordinary people who have done extraordinary things or been involved in important current issues.
   
   In 1985, Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's epic adaptation of Alice Walker's award-winning novel "The Color Purple". She earned immediate acclaim as Sofia, the distraught housewife. The following year Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but she lost. She has also acted in other films. Winfrey publishes two magazines and she has co-authored five books.
   
   Winfrey has never married, but it is widely assumed that she has lived with her partner Stedman Graham for almost twenty years. The relationship of Oprah and Stedman has been documented through the years with numerous romantic tabloid articles often accompanied by color spreads of the couple at home and on lavish vacations.



4. This book by Helen S. Garson is quite subpar. Most of the "facts" that she gives are things that can be found (...)from watching cable shows that talk about Oprah. Oprah has set the new standard of what talk shows should be, but Ms. Garson did a poor job in showing this. She even describes Oprah as "clowning" for her viewers and audience when she gets excited about something on her show. Yes, I consider myself an "Oprah supporter," and was very disappointed in this biography. The next time Ms. Garson wants to write a biography about a celebrity, she should get her research from more places than the local library.