5 comments about Hoop Roots.

1. May be the best novel about the inner experience of an aging athlete. An autobiographical novel by an accomplished writer and a complex man, Hoop Roots is a challenging read. Wideman demands something of his audience, a rarity these days, and those looking for a mindless basketball book will likely not be up to the task. As in his other books, Wideman occasionally gets carried away with his command of complex language, and some passages are a struggle even for the most commited readers. However, overall this is a first rate novel, by a first rate writer, on a subject with which he is singularly expert.



2. I had to read this book for a college course. Too bad for me, since it's the worst book I've had to read from cover to cover. HoRrIbLy boring, mostly incoherent, the book takes very promising themes and turns them into very stylish junk. Loaded with clichés and overused images. Blah, blah, blah, it goes on and on. If I wasn't being evaluated on it for class I would have stopped reading it after the first 15 pages. It's the only Wideman book I've read, and of course I don't plan to read any others, but if this is proof of his best work, I hope he is a better creative writing professor than his writing would suggest.



3. I had to read this book for a college course. Too bad for me, since it's the worst book I've had to read from cover to cover. HoRrIbLy boring, mostly incoherent, the book takes very promising themes and turns them into very stylish [material]. Loaded with clichés and overused images. Blah, blah, blah, it goes on and on. If I wasn't being evaluated on it for class I would have stopped reading it after the first 15 pages. It's the only Wideman book I've read, and of course I don't plan to read any others, but if this is proof of his best work, I hope he is a better creative writing professor than his writing would suggest.



4. If you think John Wideman's Hoop Roots is about playground basketball you may find yourself disappointed -- as I was.
   Wideman is a wonderful writer. When he describes a player's drive to the basket, gliding into the air, checking out all around him, you can picture the action and feel the the excitement. When he describes the social protocols for the pick-up game he nails it When he describes the early days of the National Basketball Association, including the unique challenges for Black players, you can see it and feel it.
   Unfortunately Hoop Roots contains far too few accounts like these. This book is about John Wideman growing up in a Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh, about his relationship to his family and in particular his grandmother, about Black athletes and Black men in America. Basketball, which has played such a key role in Wideman's life, is sprinkled throughout, often in bits and pieces that left me wanting much more.
   Wideman was a star high school and college basketball player. He came the same neighborhood as NBA great Maurice Stokes and other noted stars. He played highly competitive playground basketball until he was 59, long after he had become an award-winning writer. I had so many questions for him. What was it like playing organized high school and college ball compared to the playgrounds? What were his own experiences as a playground player? What were some of his most memorable experiences in the playground game? How did he ever play until he was 59?!
   Instead Wideman gives us long passages on the different routes he took to get to the playground as a youth, oversized shorts versus short shorts, and a fable about the Globe Trotters first road trip. It's all brilliantly written. It's just not about basketball.



5. OK, after reading the previously posted review, I admit that I am one of those readers who will read ANYTHING by John Wideman, regardless of subject- but I disagree that this book has too much roots and too little hoops. This book is fantastic. Wideman manages to discuss basketball- its history, its present, its future, and at the same time discuss race, love, music- all so eloquently that I often had to put the book down and absorb. The various stories of his family members make me wonder how John and his talented daughter Jamila managed to come out on top, when his brother and his son are so mired in tragedy. John Wideman is the best writer alive in America- I am convinced- and this book is an absolute masterpiece.

5 comments about Burnt Bread and Chutney: Growing Up Between Cultures - A Memoir of an Indian Jewish Childhood (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

1. A very different take on growing up Jewish in the United States. You won't find the usual lox and bagels stories here.



2. This is a very interesting book! Talk about your culture clash and your family secrets! Like many children of mixed cultural backgrounds, Carmit found it a bit difficult to fit into either. But it was more difficult because she was a minority within a minority, a dark-skinned, South Asian who "didn't look Jewish", and an Indian whose family had a different religion and different traditions from the Hindu majority. As a child, her grandmother makes her promise that she will always return to the Bene Israel, and she does.
   
   Her family history, too, set her apart. Her grandmother was betrothed to a man who turned out to be an alcoholic. This put an end to the engagement, but it also made her grandmother practically unmarriageable. Until her sister's husband offered to take her as his second wife. He treated her and her daughter very differently from the way he behaved towards his first wife, being abusive, forcing her to live in poverty while her sister lived in luxury. The family's condescension towards Nana-bai and her descendents continued into the author's generation.
   
   While I wasn't terribly impressed with the author's writing style (I thought she jumped around a lot, among other things), the book is well worth reading for an understanding of the difficulties of growing up in a multi-cultural household, of being "odd girl out", as well as to learn a little bit about this small, perhaps dying, segment of Judaism. I would, in fact, have liked to have learned more about Bene Israel, its history, how its practices differ from mainstream Judaism, but I guess that would be another book!



3. horrible, self-involved memoir, supposedly about growing up Indian Jewish American, but really about me me me. Nasty family skeleton I didn't want to know about from grandmother's generation. I didn't finish and threw it out - something I never ever do. I didn't even want to give it to the library.



4. The book itself was very unappealing to me and the text is rather bland. Overall the book was just not as well written as it could have been, sometimes contradicting and overworked. I would not recommend this book. Readers Beware.



5. This book was a wonderful read, and introduced me to the overlooked Indian Jews. Her descriptions of living in virtually a dual lifestyle were very vivid and educational to say the least. I look forward to more releases by Carmit Delman.

No comments about Stevie Wonder: Rhythms of Wonder.

2 comments about George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol.

1. This is a FANTASTIC BOOK. Facing the odds that he faced, and to accomplish what he did, provides an object lesson for anyone confronting tremendous odds. His ATTITUDE determined his ALTITUDE! THIS BOOK IS STELLAR AND INSPIRATIONAL! These are the types of narratives that need to be part of the curriculum, particularly in Black Schools, but also in other communities. These are the types of narratives that give Black people a great sense of pride, and a resolve to achieve. A first rate biochemist, he single-handedly revolutionized agriculture WORLDWIDE. He synthesized thousands of compounds,some only seen since the days of the Ancient Egyptians! The monies made off of his inventions are incalculable! His is a true account of what one man in difficult circumstances did in order to succeed. This book provides the reader with a deep insight into the mechanisms of the man, and his steadfastness in the face of obstacles. GREAT READ!



2. So long as Bart Simpson can say, "George Washington Carver is the guy who carved up George Washington." and so long as Black Americans are portrayed as lacking math and science aptitude, there needs to be publication about the importance of George Washington Carver. This book said many important things. For example, George Washington Carver was a credit to dark-skinned blacks because many critics at the time (and many people today) note that most famous or achieving Blacks were partially white. Also, this book suggests that the relationship between Carver and the famous black activist at the university where he worked did not always get along. Still, if Langston Hughes' biographer was criticized for downplaying Hughes' gay experiences, equal noise should be made here. The author repeats in several passages that no proof exists to say Carver was gay. Well, why would that be a concern? Who made the suggestion? Why isn't the allegation examined in more detail in this text? The author mentioned that Carver loved to give young men massages in peanut oil. Is that not considered homoerotic solely because it doesn't involve genital contact? This book was published a year after AIDS was discovered and when homophobia was at an apex. Thus, perhaps the author's avoidances can be contextualized and forgiven. Nevertheless, I find this book disturbingly heterosexist and I would avoid reading more works from this biographer.

2 comments about The Hendrix Experience.

1. NUNCA ANTES HABIA ESCUCHADO JH PERO EL SONIDO DE SU GUITARRA SEMEJABAN LOS TRUENOS DE LOS DIOSES, NOS TRANSPORTABA A OTRA PARTE, DONDE EL RECORDAR ESOS AÑOS DONDE OTRAS BUENAS AGRUPACIONES ESTABAN SONANDO MUY FUERTE EL ESTABA CREANDO NUEVOS SONIDOS QUE NINGUNA OTRA AGRUPACION A PODIDO IGUALAR.....



2. The author, Mitch Mitchell was in a unique position to provide a sense of Hendrix as an artist. His interplay with Hendrix as a drummer was like that of the jazz greats ie. Charlie Parker/Max Roach. Lots of discription of the London music scene in the explosive sixties along with the movers and shakers who made it happen. The book's visuals were great with lots of unseen and hard to find pictures of the group, posters and other goodies. The author's mod image was so cool!

5 comments about Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life.

1. This book is subtitled "An Extravagant Life," and is available in hardcover. Laurence Bergreen also wrote "Louis Armstrong: An Extrodinary Life" Unfortunately I got the impression that Mr. Bergreen became a little disillusioned with his subject. He glosses over Armstrong's flaws. For instance, Bergreen seems to accept Louis' infidelities were the result of bad advice about women he received in his adolescence! His relationship and treatment of his mentor Joe Oliver is also rather quickly dismissed. I wish more time was spent on these parts of Armstrong's life. I can't fault the research and musical analysis, though.



2. 
   You get not only a bio of a great musician & person, you get a detailed description how Blacks lived New Orleans through the turn of the century. From it you get a better understanding of how the pre-recording (and therefore unrecorded) sounds of untutored musicians became the roots of the New Orleans musical genre and how the odds were stacked against Louis. You come to understand his workaholism and his deference to his eventual agent, who probably exploited him.
   
   As the book progresses, the historical descriptions are not as detailed but you feel the music and the person developing. Ironically, the two best known pieces "Hello Dolly" & "It's a Wonderful World", were late stage, not representative, but somehow routine work for the prolific Louis.
   
   It's hard to imagine from the impoverished roots, the raw deals and the omnipresent daily racism (even to his death in 1971 segregation both de facto and Jim Crow continued), how Louis kept his optimism and exhuberance. It was not self deceptive, when the chips were down, he supported the Brown v Board of Ed decision, not just in his heart, but words and actions.
   
   He was an unfaithful lover and husband. We don't know if he ever promised otherwise... all his wives but the first (who was common law married) knew he was a married man when they started "dating" him. The world owes Mrs. Armstong the 2nd (Lil) a debt. She gave him confidence and a platform to be the star he became.
   
   In the Acknowledgments the author says this is the first bio he's written where his admiration for his subject grows.
   
   Louis Armstrong blazed a trail. He was a tough cat, much tougher than all the supposedly macho dudes who posture now. He doesn't have to posture because he's dealt with the mob and prostitutes who slash with the knifes in their shoes, and somehow reminds us, that despite all this, it's a wonderful world.



3. I believe I've read them all and nothing ever written about Louis Armstrong is as detailed as this book. Moreso than the "tired old stories" you see repeated in version after version of other tales of Armstrong, this one actually delves into the personal life as well as the persona of the man. Every Armstong fan needs to read this book - it's an awakening!



4. This book was amazingly well written! It wonderfuly portrays the life of a very talented and amzing man. Please, for your own sake, read this book!



5. This was one of the best biographies I have ever read. By far the best one of the life of Louis Armstrong. It took me only 2 days to read this book, I could hardly put it down. Not being much of a fan of Dixieland, New Orleans Jazz, etc...after reading this book I was hooked. I wanted to listen to every Louis recording available. Bergreen paints Armstrong as such an amazing character which he completely was. Even if you aren't a jazz fan this is just a great book about a great man.

No comments about Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero.

5 comments about Clarence Thomas: A Biography.

1. Although the author uncovers every detail of Justice Thomas' life in excruciating detail, he repeatedly stumbles over his own tail by making the narrative morally all upside-down. This tome is more like white "southern Archaeology" than Black Biography.
   
   As but one instance of what will surely irritate others, the early chapters are devoted almost exclusively (and incessantly) to the possible influence that early Puritan religious racists values, including such vigilantes as the Ku Klux Klan, may have had on Mr. Thomas' fore-parents, on his orientation to American society, and on his formative outlook as a person. While this makes for interesting reading if one is white, the emphasis is all wrong if not entirely misplaced, from the point of view of a Black.
   
   As but the most glaring example of the authors many mis-drawn conclusions (from a virtual welter of otherwise useful facts), the author concludes that Justice Thomas' strong values and piety were somehow derived entirely from these confusing if not entirely morally conflicted, bankrupt and contradictory racists examples: that is, from the severe practices of ex-slave owners, vigilantes, unfair overseers, etc.
   
   Respectfully, this is not a point a view that either the Justice or any other Black reader is likely to share, or would wish to have emphasized in a biography even if they did share it. In neither case would they draw from them the same lessons or conclusions that the author has drawn here.
   
   It is a fact that Blacks throughout the worst of America's racist criminality, were at all times clear about what kind of inhumanity the white system represented and with which they were dealing.
   
   It is a first order mistake to think (as the author has done) that simply because Blacks "went through the motions" of mimicking white society, they respected it. Blacks "going along with white society to get along" should never be mistaken for respecting it, and one should never make the mistake of thinking that Blacks would therefore draw the wrong moral lessons from white practice and examples. It was a rare instance indeed that a Black of the segregation era actually "looked up to whites" or respected white American society. Even the author has ample evidence of this among his many facts, yet he repeatedly draws the easy, white stereotypical, and wrong conclusions.
   
   But more than this, he compounds this unconscionable error by virtually ignoring the counter-examples (of upstanding racially un-conflicted white humanity) standing right before his eyes: If one wanted to emphasize "the whites" who did have a dominant influence on Justice Thomas (and his family), one did not need to excavate the sordid history of violence and lynching that seemed so easy for the author to write about. One needed go no further than the Irish Nuns, who not only used the same "tough love" that Thomas' own grandfather used, but also were not conflicted about their moral attitudes towards their "colored children."
   
   When white teachers sit at the back of the bus with their "colored charges," no further examples of white humanity are needed. In the eyes of Blacks, this single act trumps all of the white vigilantism of the past 300 years. Surely it must have been clear to the author (at some level) that it is a certainty that whatever Justice Thomas and his elderly grandparents learned from white people, it was learned from the humanity of the Nuns and not from the lessons of the "hooded vigilante nightriders" of prior generations.
   
   Another equally egregious error that followed the same easy stereotypical pattern, again despite ample counter-evidence right before the author's eyes, was the fact that both of Justice Thomas' parents abandoned him, and although it was clear that from the Justice's point of view, the weightier of the two was the abandonment by his mother, this author still preferred to discount this weightier abandonment and emphasize that of the father.
   
   These are not mistakes that a reader can easily overlook. They destroy, in a very violent way, the implicit confidence between reader and author. And while I will continue reading the book to the bitter end, my "crap-detection" antenna has clearly been raised to "Full Alert."
   
   What Price Ambition: The Pathos of Clarence Thomas
   
   As noted above, the subject of this biography, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was presented early in his adult life, with the perennial dead man's choice: either your soul and dignity, or fame and fortune (on terms dictated by others). This biography is the story of his life, one filled from beginning to end with more than the normal amount of tragedy and pathos, told well by a talented biographer (who's flaws I have pointed to above). It is about a good, descent and intelligent black man who was dealt an unusually bad hand in his early life; and about how he tried to square the circle and end up victorious by playing all of the angles with the cards dealt him. But how in the end he merely became a victim of his own ambition exploited by cruel and cynical political games played above his head, the rules to which were dictated to him by the politics of others, who all along had Machiavellian plans for him and his life.
   
   Sadly, this tableau -- where a young not so innocent subject is a pawn on a chessboard played above his head -- is an all too familiar one in American professional life, and thus this book is the ultimate cautionary tale of what can happen, no matter ones race, when they arrive at the station of adulthood with nothing going for themselves but a fragile ego, a weak self-concept, a high-priced education, too much pride, a wandering and questionable moral compass, and always uncertain plans for the future. Any young American who strikes out to find his fortune and his place in the world with this particular constellation of personal qualities is likely to end up caught in the same ringer, filled with the same moral quicksand, that all but consumed Justice Thomas. Thus there is a theme running along the subtext of this saga, one that runs straight through, not only the heart of Justice Thomas' life, but one that might be eerily familiar to many, if all of us.
   
   The author's Story
   
   At an early age Thomas was abandoned, first by his father and then later by his mother. Since then, one of Thomas' highest instincts has been being able to sense how to adapt quickly and make the best of a bad set of circumstances. As the "unwanted ward" of his grandparents he was industrious, stayed out of trouble, did well in school, and respected and obeyed his grandparents. There frankly were no other options available to him. In Catholic school his Irish teachers were the first white people not to call him a "nigger" (or his grandfather "boy") and to treat him like a "real human being." Uncommon in the era of the 50s, they let him know he had a good mind and that they expected great things of him. As a result of his faith in the Catholic version of white humanity, and his good grades, Thomas entered the priesthood only to find he was isolated because of his race; and while he was not called a "nigger" to his face there, he was referred to as "the one black spot on an all white horse."
   
   After MLK's murder, he gave up the priesthood altogether realizing that if a holy man such as King could be shot to death in broad daylight, and if racism existed even in the monastery, the holiest of sanctuaries, then racism must "trump" religion everywhere. At Holy Cross University, at last he thought he had found his "lost black family" with the Black Student Union and as a participant in activist anti-racist politics, only to again find himself disillusioned and "odd man out." He abandoned "the Black Cause" as quickly has he had embraced it and went on to get married to one of his liberal anti-racists cohorts. Together they headed off to Yale law school. At Yale he was stuck with, and stung by the "affirmative action baby moniker" and was devastated by his inability to get a job after completing his "high-priced" Ivy League education.
   
   Seeing the glut of left-leaning Civil Rights Lawyers on the job market, and finally seeing the handwriting on the wall, Thomas gave up forever all hope of a fair, independent and dignified life under his own agency and on his own terms, and proceeded to cast his lot with those who needed him the most. He and his jobless over-educated "cut-buddies" made a very pragmatic, strategic and life-altering decision: They decided to sell themselves to the highest bidder.
   
   Testing the direction of the wind and sharpening their new found rightwing, anti-liberal rhetoric, it was easy enough for Thomas and his friends to see that since the Republican Party was barren of black faces, their ticket into the future was to written on the coattails of Republicans and their conservative philosophy. With the most calculating of Machiavellian forethought, over night Thomas and his "cut-buddies" became card-carrying Republicans, as well as died-in-the-wool, newly minted Conservatives. And as they had predicted, their overnight conversions would not long go unnoticed, "the powers that be" could smell them coming a mile away, and made them all offers they couldn't refuse: "Give up your fight for liberal leftwing black causes; join our band of conservative brothers, and we will give you all the fame and fortune you can handle."
   
   This was the smoothest deal Thomas had ever cut in his short, undistinguished, stifling, barren, increasingly cornered, young adult life. He had long daydreamed about becoming a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Here at last was his chance to take a short cut and cut a quick path to that goal on his own terms and at the same time leave those who had rejected him, forever in the dust. This was his golden chance to trade in a lifetime of self-loathing, isolation, abandonment, rejection and sulking about the hardship of black life, for his own blind unadulterated ambition. All he had to do was turn in his "black power card," turn away from his own half-baked liberal ideas, and learn to live with racism and embrace and tap dance to the new Reagan brand of the "conservative two-step." And never was learning to do these two things, so quick, easy, and painless as under the careful tutelage of John Danforth, a Missouri Congressman and minister who took Thomas under his wing and mentored him in the same way that Thomas' grandfather had done before him.
   
   But the big game did not begin in earnest until Thomas' first appointment as Legal Council for the Department of Education. There he "cut his teeth," "made his bones," and acquired his conservative bona fides. It was at this time that he was first given a legal dagger and taught how to openly stab his people in the back. However since he was still a virgin, he was at first allowed to do so quietly from the sidelines. With legalese, Thomas was taught how to throw a legal dagger like a cruise missile, at a safe "standoff" distance from the main arena, and then how to find and use appropriate legal rationale to "home in on the target" as they were used to justify dismantling the hard won civil rights gains accumulated over the better part of a century. Desegregation laws went un-enforced; bussing programs were stopped and reversed; school programs for the poor and disadvantaged were sliced to the bones; and most of all, the much feared, "Affirmative Action" was stopped cold in its tracks.
   
   As Thomas began to lose his virginity and succeeded beyond even his own imagination and well beyond his "handlers" expectations, only then did he realize that the trap door had shut behind him. He had been snared by his own unbridled ambitions, and now there was "no turning back." The time had come for him to pay the piper. For the first time in his life, Thomas, the moral virgin, the "runaway priest to be," had found himself in a "moral and philosophical no man's land," where he could no longer straddle the fence, or talk and back his way out. He was now "owned" by the opposing side. He was "their black Trojan Horse;" their political cruise missile, hurled into the lion's den. Without any question, Thomas had been sent up the old proverbial creek in a boat without a paddle.
   
   To make a bad situation much worst and to ensure he learned how to play by the new rules, Thomas was further Baptized in fire: He was given a staff of all liberals, not one consisting of his old "cut buddies," who by now had all landed jobs elsewhere in the Reagan administration. Included among his staff were the now infamous feminist and liberal Anita Hill. All of Thomas' staff, including Hill was of course sympathetic to the other side, and had insisted on maintaining at least a modicum of their dignity and sense of independence from an administration clearly at war with everything that had meaning to black citizens: progress in race relations. They admired and prayed to the very laws, institutions and political philosophy Reagan opposed as if they were sacred Black totems. They did so to the very laws, institutions and philosophy whose job it was for Thomas to dismantle. In fact even more cynical than this, Thomas was also expected to dismantle his own job and the Department of Education itself, all in the name of higher conservative principles. Thomas's staff all hated him: both for who and what he was, as well as for what he had allowed himself to become, and they told him so. And to underscore this point, at the earliest opportunity, all but the least able of them, quickly abandoned him, as did his wife.
   
   But Clarence Thomas had seen this movie before and knew its ending by heart: He was not about to allow it to again derail his carefully laid plans by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. This time Thomas would not be denied the brass ring of a seat on the Supreme Court. His "if you can't beat them, then join them" philosophy, had by now congealed and crystallized in his mind. Thomas was no longer a virgin, but a chameleon: Clarence Thomas had learned to change colors and become whatever he was told he was. Although he would be the last to admit it, subconsciously Thomas was a defeated man; there was no more fight left in him. In his unconscious mind, there was no longer such a thing as "independent agency" left completely and solely up to one's pride and ego. Life was too short and too complicated an affair for that; and anyway, life was just a series of compromises to be made in reverse order: first after consulting with the "powers that be," and only afterwards with ones own conscious. Independence, agency and pride also came in colors too: the color of money and ambition.
   
   Through no fault of its own, Thomas became the darling of the rightwing as during his confirmation hearing for his appointment to the Courts, he managed to "fall uphill" through the hi-tech lynching engineered by the opposing side who had put the same dagger in Thomas' back that he had used to gut a century of Civil Rights legislation. It was only poetic justice that they had placed the dagger in the hands of his erstwhile lover and office mate, Anita Hill. In the end and on the surface Thomas seems to have won the battle to gain his ambitions: He married a white woman and was confirmed as a member of the Court. As this author makes eminently clear, Justice Thomas, ever driven by ambition, chose fame and fortune dictated by a philosophy alien to his being, over dignity and maintaining the council of his own conscience and soul. And arguably he did so at the very high price of guaranteeing that his most important victories would forever be pyrrhic.
   
   Whatever else may be said about Justice Thomas, he still sits mostly mute, almost sphinx-like on the Supreme Court with a tattered and shredded reputation as dark and as black as his skin or his judge's robe. Fairly or not, Justice Thomas is still seen by many, if not by most, as the conservative caricature of the Twenty-First Century: The "Uncle Tom," handpicked to fill the Supreme Court Justice seat normally reserved for an "authentic black." By any standards, such a legacy is a bitter pill to swallow and a very high price to pay for fame and success.
   
   
   Although my original comments hold, I now upgrade the book to Five Stars. Altogether, this was a very worthy project.



2. Finding a good biography is hard to begin with. This is even more true if the subject is the human lightning rod of Clarence Thomas, quite possibly the most polarizing figure out there. Indeed, Thomas Sowell once wrote something to the effect that one can tell a white liberal's level of commitment to his beliefs by how much he despises the man. I am therefore happy to say that CLARENCE THOMAS: A BIOGRAPHY is a true joy to read.
   
   A major reason for this book being so good is because the author Andrew Peyton Thomas (no relation to the Justice) is so balanced. Other writers would either disparage Justice Thomas or act as little more than a literary cheerleader for the man based on ideological disposition. While the author A.P. Thomas obviously is an admirer of Justice Thomas, he nonetheless portrays the Justice warts and all. In fact, one of my friends, a white liberal who cannot discuss anything related to race without wallowing in white guilt and who simply cannot grasp the fact that blacks are responsible for their own lives, upon hearing that I was reading this book, asked me, his voice dripping with condescension and even hostility, whether the author goes over Justice Thomas having benefitted from affirmative action only to try to end such policies now. I was able to respond that, yes, indeed the author does cover this. In fact, quite extensively, while placing Justice Thomas' change of direction in the proper context and discussing the man's turmoil that others would focus on him rather than on the issues themselves (if my friend caught the irony, he did not let on).
   
   CLARENCE THOMAS covers the Justices' early life extensively. I was initially hesitant that so many pages were devoted to what I considered to be basically an introduction. I was wrong. Thomas' early life and the influences upon him by his relatives, nuns and others with whom he came into contact is absolutely captivating.
   
   As the book enters Thomas' adult years, the book loses none of its steam. Again, it is not just the facts of Thomas' life that are so captivating (though that is true), but that the author presents a vivid portrait of a man determined to stay true to himself in a context in which others want to use him for their own purposes and in the face of often seemingly insurmountable odds. We also get a focused picture of really just what kind of man Thomas is, as we read about his determination in the face of frustration after frustration. The author is not so much a fan of the Justice as to fail to acknowledge that Clarence Thomas, like many of us, has not always been able to live up to his ideals and that in some circumstances, subtle truths gave way to expediency.
   
   The reader also understands how Thomas was able to rise so high so fast. This is a man, after all, who came to the helm of the EEOC when it was the worst run administrative agency of the federal government only to turn it into the crown jewel by the time he left, all the while laughing, having a good time and without the heads-will-roll attitude others would have brought to the task. And while others voiced the opinion that the cloistered life of a federal judge would not suit Thomas' personality, Thomas proved them wrong as well.
   
   But again, CLARENCE THOMAS is not just a brightly colored paint job. The author also writes powerfully not only of Thomas' rough spots, but of the effect these had on the man and his approach to others. Justice Thomas was, not surprisingly, deeply seared by the attacks upon him during his confirmation hearing and with the insight that others would destroy every scrap of his good name simply for ideological purposes. Given the controversy surrounding the man, this book is probably the best source a reader could ask for to gain a good insight into Clarence Thomas, one of the more interesting figures to grace the American public stage.



3. Okay, there are several books on Thomas out there. This is my first. That said, the author is a gifted writer. This book is as accessible as a novel. Really. Non-lawyers don't have to beware.
   
   Liberals need not beware, either. Is the author sympathetic toward his subject? Well, I suppose so. This book is MOSTLY free of editorializing, though. Mostly, the author just relates what happened in a pretty impartial manner. Most of the editorializing is done when the author is criticizing his subject.
   
   The author recognizes that his subject has a strain of bathos, self-pity and exagerration. He includes several anectodes that portray Thomas as socially awkward, constantly seeking love and approval from EVERYONE, but unexpectedly lashing out at co-workers with cruel and unwarranted comments or intentionally setting subordinates against each other.
   
   All in all, he portrays a hardworking, reasonably smart politician who acended to the Supreme Court through an odd combination of luck, affirmative action, political connections, gladhanding, politicking, genuine administrative ability, and a Puritan work ethic. I don't think anyone will walk away from this being impressed by Thomas as a genius, a trendsetter, or a role model in particular. For those liberals that are predisposed to hating him, however, just by virtue of his politics, this book will likely engender a feeling of understanding and compassion for Thomas. After all, how can you hate someone for being socially awkward. How can you ridicule someone for being competent, hardworking, and able, even if that person isn't a genius? How can you blame a guy for coming from literally nothing and rising so highly even if he's not one of the 9 best legal minds in the country? So he's just "a man." That's okay, right?
   
   The book does make a case against Anita Hill.... I'm not the type to assume I know "what happened" in cases like that. Suffice it to say that the case against Hill is pretty convincing and it rings true.
   
   Despite the length of the book (like 600 pages!), it's a quick and enjoyable read.
   
   My one huge criticism is that you don't get to the court years until like page 450. I'd rather the background constitute a 1/3 of the book than 3/4s. I bought it to read about JUSTICE Thomas, you know?



4. From page 1 to the last you won't be able to put down this book. If you are interested in reading something that will lift your spirits and give you back some faith in individual honesty you need to read this.
   
   It should be a genre of its own. I mean, it's the ages-old odyssey of a person who makes it through all the obstacles of his environment to the top of that society. Not without scars. It's the story of a modern hero, the only kind that subsists today: the ignored one. A person who fought for his ideals, his beliefs, against all odds (economic, social, whatever).
   
   Mr. Thomas is a living monument to faith in a Divine Author against the tendency to idolize social and liberal causes.
   
   This is also a worthy reading for growing Christians.
   
   Shame for those who want to use God for their political persuasions, like those who blame the Pope for not being liberal. They can't admit being atheists, they prefer to destroy His Kingdom from inside.
   
   Thanks Clarence.



5. It is quite simply a masterpiece. Justice Thomas is portrayed as a real human being who has survived the castigation of the far Left... with a dignity that speaks loud and clear above the wailing of the extreme left Liberals who cannot believe a man of color exists who they cannot control. Read how this man of incredible intellect and courage overcomes all odds to become the first black intellectual to occupy the bench. Unlike Thurgood Marshall who knew political correctness before it became the defacto "law of the land", this biography portrays a true independent thinker and voice for judicial freedom that will not be silenced. The depths to which the Left will sink in its outrage when anyone escapes from the plantation is well documented. The viciousness of the Left and NOW during the Hill debacle is nicely contrasted with their mute impotent silence during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. It is well written and well researched, and most importantly unbiased unlike other competing biographies. Somehow this bio was allowed to be published. Do not forgo the opportunity to read and own your own copy.

3 comments about This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood.

1. As one of the few Northern Koreans who escaped their fake lives under Kim Jong Il, Hyok Kang chose to write a memoir of this North Korean childhood.
   This Is Paradise! tells a story that is important to read. Hyok Kang writes about how he grew up in a complete lie while witnessing monthly executions, living through extreme poverty and famine, and almost losing his father. He describes his eerily uniform town and educational system where learning about the Party and the Great Leader's lives were more important than finding food and clean clothes or even water.
   Kang's book illustrates a lifestyle that is truly stranger than fiction, one that is so abstract and not even comparable to ours that it's hard to believe it can exist. Ironically, that's how millions of Northern Koreans would view our lives after growing up in a delusion created by Kim Jong Il and his family. Growing up in North Korea entitles each person to a notion that life elsewhere is much worse, that poverty is more extreme and all other governments are corrupt. This such notion is meant to give the people a sense of pride and nationalism, as well as prevent them from every leaving their country. Hyok Kang's book opens up a world of extreme clientalism where people have to bribe officials for extra food, work, clothes, or money, a world where civil rights and liberties don't exist.
   
   Although it is dark, I strongly recommend This Is Paradise!, as it will open you up into a whole new world, both literally and figuratively.



2. This is an extremely frank account of the lies and duplicities that corrupt every aspect of North Korean life. The famine (which is ongoing and where overseas aid is just siphoned off by the party cadres) has been devastating to both the poplution and the environment - which in turn creates more problems for future food production. The harsh regime and brutality of life is appalling. An excellent book to read to gain an insight into the most insular nation on the planet.



3. Kang grew up in the last 80s and 90s in North Korea. Originally, his family was relatively well off because they had chosen to stay in North Korea instead of being repatriated to Japan. In addition to receiving funds from Japanese relatives, they were favored by the North Korean leadership for their patriotism in staying.
   
   The book starts covering general day to day life. By Western standards, the rich Kang family is poor. Kang talks about day to day life-- how he often slept at his grandparents house, what he thought of his teachers, what he learned in school. You learn about the rigid hierarchy imposed on the students and their uniforms and what the different badges mean, both officially and unofficially in the school yard.
   
   Then, the famine starts. Kang's family's wealth is slowly drained away. His disillusionment grows-- he starts writing alternate lyrics to patriotic songs. Lyrics that, if found out, would get him and his family killed. School stops being about learning and starts being about farming government fields with food that they will never see unless the steal it in the dead of night (which Kang does). They hunt rats and eat tree bark and grass. Hanging out with your friends involves going to their house to say your final goodbyes as they slowly and horribly starve to death. (Kang estimates around 75% of his classmates died during these years.)
   
   Executions are common place. Bodies are padded so the blood doesn't spray the crowd. During the winter, the bodies steam. People are eating the dead in order to survive-- people are killing each other in order to eat them.
   
   In 1998, the family escapes to China. You know things are bad when China is a rich paradise. Kang couldn't believe that, in China, people at rice every day. Being in China doesn't help-- they constantly fear the police who will deport them back to North Korea where they will all face execution.
   
   They eventually escape to South Korea, where the full effect of the lies Kang had been fed came to the surface. His anger at being brainwashed, his not wanting to believe the South Korean truth, even though he knew it was right, is the most striking part of this book.
   
   I can hear you say right now: What?! It's his anger that moved you? Not the cannibalism? All I can say is that I am a student of twentieth-century Chinese history. Kang's experiences during the famine didn't surprise me. They were tragic and awful and turned my stomach, but they weren't new. It was the horror I was expecting. The difficulties of coming to grips with the lies you believed and fitting in with a "modern" culture was shocking and heartbreaking.
   
   I was struck by an odd sense of detachment Kang seemed to have throughout this book. It could be that it was his story as told to someone. It could be the translation either from Kang's Korean to Grangereau's French or from the French to the English. What I think though is it's because that this was his life and he didn't know anything different or he can't emotionally involve himself for the sake of mental health-- this boy lived through Hell.
   
   What really brings this book alive, however, is Kang's illustrations. He's an extraordinarily gifted artist and his drawings of his life bring the story to life in a very real way.
   
   This is not an easy, nor pleasant read, but there are very few first-hand accounts coming out of North Korea, and I think this is an important book that should be read by anyone who can stomach it. It's real life, so hopefully you will all make the effort.

2 comments about Dolemite : the story of Rudy Ray Moore.

1. The only tragedy about this book is that there are'nt Moore pages. I was truely in awe after every word that I read. This book kept me glued to my seat. I find the career of Sir Ray Moore a perfect analogie of "The Ship of Dreams", The R.M.S. Titanic. As she left port (Peaty Wheatstraw) she was a strong force to be reckoned with, and she was very long too. As The ship of dreams picked up Moore passengers, she gained momentum (Dolemite) until that fateful night where she stoped so suddenly and sank to rock bottom (Disco Godfather). But much like the memory of the mighty Titanic, Rudy Ray Moore will remain hard, in our hearts. "OH DOLEMITE, IM SO HAPPY, IM GONNA TELL EVERYONE DOLEMITE IS COMING HOME"-Queen Bee



2. This fascinating biography, written by Julian & David Shabazz, chronicles the meteoric rise of one of the world's most influential comedians of the late 1970's, Rudy Ray Moore. The book explores Moore's unerring lust for comic superstardom, a drive that propelled him to the very top of the entertainment scene for much of his adult life. Powered by sharp wit and raw dynamism, Moore created what is arguably the most popular icon of modern folklore: the sassy, street-smart Dolemite, a man whose sexual and fighting prowess have made him the legend of choice for today's black youths. Dolemite is the very embodiment of coolness and style, created by Moore to be a reflection of his own self. The Shabazz siblings also detail Moore's many other characters, from the affable Petey Wheatstraw (or, as he was known to the many pimps and street hustlers of his day, "Mr. Excitment") to the dangerously-menacing Disco Godfather, who mastered the ancient art of karate in order to win back his plundered nightclub. The book also covers Moore's eventual fall into movie obscurity, the end result of a sickening downward spiral that included drugs, hustling and, ultimately, death. Overall, this biography is very well-crafted and contains just the right combination of hard-hitting drama and steamy sexual hijinks, two elements which Rudy Ray Moore not only pioneered but was made famous for.