Periods and Movements Books

Bound for Canaan is a fascinating, engaging, book on the "Underground RR" written from primary sources. It describes in vivid, first hand detail the flight of slaves from the south and the changing attitudes of the northern and southern states on the slave issue from the 1820's to the eve of the civil war. Wonderful book.

I listened to the abridged audio version on CD and thoroughly enjoyed it. Read by the author, it is in interesting study that contains a number of riveting stories.

I have two minor complaints about this audio version. One is that the author's voice sometimes drops into a range that can be inaudible if you are listening in a vehicle with traffic noise around you. The other is that maps are not included in the CD set. Fortunately my public library had a copy of the book so that I was able to examine the maps and various illustrations. The maps were of interest to me since a couple of my great-great-grandfathers supposedly sheltered escaped slaves, one near the Ohio River and another in Philadelphia.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and inspiring book that raises questions about civil disobedience that we must ponder in order to understand the complexity of our history. I wholeheartedly recommend the audio version to those who like audiobooks. It is as exciting as an adventure novel, and you can supplement it with a hardcopy if you want.

Harriet Tubman was a great lady, and she did not simply help the slaves to freedom -- she helped move America to a better place. Growing up, whenever I heard or read of the Underground Railroad, Ms. Tubman's name came up again and again. This book expands the vision of the Undergound Railroad and shows it as a part of something much bigger in our history.

First, the book does discuss the railroad and how it works. The reader gets an idea of the perils involved and the logistics behind helping a slave to freedom. This was no easy task, and this books shows the reader not just how brave the conductors were, but how brave the "passengers" were.

Second, the book discusses the fortitude and determination of the different people who tried to make America better by fighting the injustices of slavery. We learn of the battles of the press as well as the battle of the gun. This was a dark time in our history, and the author does a good job in illuminating us to the various people that tried to illuminate their time.

Lastly, the book explains what else happened. In school, we learned that the Underground Railroad helped slaves to freedom. That was about it. There is more to the story, and the author explains this to us. We also see that just getting to the North didn't make things better. There were still things that needed to happen to help the slaves create their new life.

In all, I would highly recommend reading this book. It brings a much more enlightened perspective to this part of American history.

An excellent historical and scholarly read that provides a detailed history of the Underground Railroad. The book goes into great depths to document the people that successfully and unsuccessfully escaped slavery as well as those that helped them and those that didn't. As with any story dealing with historical events there are some parts that are difficult to read through because of their tragedy (how could the barbaric system of American slavery existed such a short time ago?). However those areas are offset by stories of hope and celebration of those that were successful. It was interesting to discover what lead to successful passage - some times skill, some times just luck.

A longer read that other books on this subject it was very thorough. Because it's based on real people and real events it's not dry like some historic works. The only suggestion was that this book could have benefited from more pictures, maps, diagrams, etc. Overall extremely good.

I really enjoyed this book, which fleshes out for the first time, based on significant new research, the numerous heroes and participants who risked their lives for freedom from slavery. A few insights in the book were new to me:

1. I had no idea how crippling and discriminatory the laws were against blacks who lived in "free states." Most of the time they could not vote, own property, needed affidavits in order to move or get a job, were subject to kidnapping by freelance slave catchers -- it was pretty horrible.

2. I did not realize the critical role that radical, truth-to-power religion, in particular but not exclusively the Quakers, played in ending the evil practice of slavery. These folks risked financial ruin, stonings, beatings, and criminal charges to put in practice their moral view -- based on their faith -- that slavery in all forms must end. They deserve our thanks and praise, and we should remember them as we are faced with current moral conflicts that call out for action based on our beliefs.

3. I found especially interesting the debates in Congress in the 1850s in support of the federal Fugitive Slave Act, and the justifications used by supporters of slavery to denigrate the abolitionists. Indeed, Mr. Bordewich makes the point that even in "free" states, a measure of your worth as a politician was how "tough" you were on abolitionists, in the same sense that today politicians are expected to be "tough" on communism.

But what was interesting to me was that slave supporters like Daniel Webster justified the practice based on the Bible (cherry picking quotes that supposedly support the practice); science (blacks were intellectually inferior and like animals who require our feeding and care); inalienable property rights (the slaves were chattel and were necessary in order for owners to make productive use of their land); and also anti-Europe prejudice (the abolitionists are getting all of their crazy ideas from Europe). These concepts are still being used today to justify social policies that may in the distant future seem equally morally bankrupt.

I did think, however, the book could have used a little editing. I found it a bit difficult to keep up with so many historical figures, and perhaps some of their activities could have been trimmed in the interests of narrative flow.

But in all, a highly readable book and a substantial step forward in terms of historical scholarship.

Here is an account of one of the boldest attempts of slaves to free themselves. In April 1848 dozens simultaneously fled from Washington, DC, in a sailing vessel provided by white sympathizers. All were captured, but the well organized attempt startled the public North and South. The author fills out the story with background about slavery in the nation's capital, and traces some of the era's major political developments relevant to human bondage. The book is informative and an easy read.

This is a gripping tale.

While the book's title highlights the 1848 escape attempt on the Pearl, the contents of the book encompass much, much more. There's the story of a slave family - the Edmonsons - which Ricks follows from before the courageous but unsuccessful flight to freedom all the way into present-day Washington, DC. There's an engrossing overview of abolitionism and its firey, impatient and ultimately triumphant adherents. Ricks presents her readers with a compelling description of the underground railway. Washington is presented as the small southern town that it was then, with illuminating detail. She brings to life the mid-nineteenth century context with its wrangling and maneuvering and unforgettable characters. It was a hell of a time and she gets it.

The small hard kernel of yearning and determination that impelled this particular journey by these particular people inspires us. Here, too, is a great and continuing irony of history: Some human beings are capable of enslaving others; at the same time different human beings strive passionately to free others; still others fight to free themselves.

'Escape on the Pearl' is a terrific read.

This is a great book. But don't take my word for it - Edward Ball, author of the bestseller Slaves in the Family, says "My kind of Southern history looks at slavery through people, and Mary Kay Ricks puts you on a first-name basis with the remarkable Edmonson family, who went through a mass escape, the near prostitution of two daughters, and a great homecoming. And she's found their descendants, who will tell you all about it." (quoted on the back of Escape on the Pearl).

In 1848 some residents of Washington DC owned slaves though many others opposed the "curious institution". In April, conductors on the Underground Railroad try a bold freedom run using the Pearl to take seventy-seven runaway "fugitives" to freedom in the north. However, a terrible storm on the Chesapeake doomed the mission. The sheriff arrested the freedom fighters and took the recaptured slaves back to their owner who sent them to New Orleans for sale. Another twist returns the slaves to DC where Preacher and staunch abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher made efforts to get them freed and his daughter Harriet Beecher Stowe used their plight as part of her reference notes published as the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, two years after the classic was released.

This is a complex at times convoluted look back at a major incident of its time that has somewhat lost its significance over the subsequent century and a half. The book gets inside the heads of the slaves, slave sellers, slave owners, the Stowes and the Underground Railroad conductors. However, most fascinating besides the link to Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic is the way the citizens in the metropolitan DC area looked at slavery. Historical readers need to set aside some time because though difficult to follow because of how complex the events leading to, the event itself, and the subsequent aftereffect and outcome are, this is a discerning insightful look at the abomination of slavery.

Harriet Klausner

The author's knowledge of her subject is remarkable, her writing is graceful, and her judgments are consistently sound. This book is a great read, an exciting tale framed by a sharp, balanced and sensible portrayal of an era of shame, ferment and change in our history. Ricks's literal knowledge of the streets of which she writes makes this book vibrate with authenticity. I enjoyed it consistently--and learned enormously from reading Escape On The Pearl. Since I write fictional accounts of the period myself under the pen-name Owen Parry, I realize how complex a subject this author has taken on--and I can only say that it's humbling to see another writer do a far-better job than one can ever hope to do. This book deserves wide attention and, as readers, let us hope that Ricks will return to the period for additional books in the future.

I became fascinated with the work of RAWA about six months ago. I had never heard of the organization before and although I knew the Taliban was a terrible regime, I had no idea that pre and post Taliban rule there was this wonderful underground organization working to promote independence for women, hope and peace for the country. I have read quite a few books on Afghan's women's struggles, and many books with a focus on RAWA, and I have to say this one is by far the best book written on the organization of RAWA. Anne Brodsky spent much time in both Afghanistan, and Pakistan, observing, interviewing and living with supporters and members of RAWA. None of the other books I have read on the subject get as deep into the underground workings of this incredible group of people. Unlike some of the other books I have read by authors that have visited with RAWA members, Anne Brodsky has a journalistic style of writing, where her personal opinions don't over dominate the book. She is very objective, and writes much like an observer, which I really appreciated. I highly recommend this book.

From its opening pages, describing the mobilization of RAWA members to clandestinely record, at tremendous personal risk, the Taliban's public execution of a woman, Anne Brodsky's book affords the reader a gripping account of a remarkable, dedicated group of individuals. The shocking footage of the burqa-clad figure toppling to the ground after a rifle-shot to the head was subsequently seen by audiences the world over; that it was seen at all was entirely due to the courage and determination of the members of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.

Each chapter of "With All Our Strength" carries as its title a verse from poetry written by the extraordinary woman who founded RAWA - Meena, murdered at age 30. This apt touch presages the exceptional degree to which Brodsky fashions her narrative from the words of RAWA's members. Unlike so many other writers and journalists who have ventured of late into this geographical and political territory, Brodsky does not project herself front and center into her tale. Instead, she serves as a witness - an attentive, informed, empathetic one - who helps put the RAWA phenomenon into cogent historical, political and sociological context. No mean feat, given the complexities of the modern history of this region, as well as the sheer number of voices she interweaves into her narrative. What's more, while contributing to the central story of RAWA's rise and ongoing struggles, these voices also emerge, distinctly and movingly, as those of individual women who have made difficult choices and extraordinary sacrifices in the effort to create change.

These days, with the Bush Administration taking credit for bringing freedom to Afghanistan, it is vital to recognize the dedication of the RAWA members who militated for democracy and women's rights while the U.S. was supporting the forces that coalesced into the savagely misogynistic Taliban. It its parts and as a whole, "With All Our Strength" portrays the bravery of individuals and the power of collective action in the face of evil. Profiles in courage, indeed.

I first learned about RAWA and the deplorable situation for women in Afghanistan several years ago in a pre-9/11 magazine article. I was horrified by what I read about the Taliban and the unimaginable restrictions on and persecution of Afghan women. I wanted to help, and I was excited when I learned about RAWA and what they were doing to help the women of Afghanistan. Since then I've searched for more information on RAWA, and this book was the answer. Ms. Brodsky's book is well researched (she spent time in both Afghanistan and Pakistan with RAWA members and was the first writer to be given such unrestricted access to them). In her book I learned information about the history of RAWA, their organizational structure and operations (which was fascinating to me), and their struggle to overcome enormous obstacles with limited funds. Most mesmerizing for me, though, were the author's many excerpts of interviews with members of RAWA, both new members and those who have been with the organization almost since its inception. After reading this book, I was so impressed with the members of RAWA -- with their strength and courage, their fierce determination to better the lives of the women of their country, their great personal sacrifice, and their total devotion to their cause that I am sending a monthly donation to them. (Ms. Brodsky is donating all of her profits from this book to RAWA.) This book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about RAWA or to anyone interested in feminist issues or resistance movements.

I really liked Anne Brodsky's book because you can tell that she really got in there with the women of RAWA to tell a true story about them. As it says in the book, many tell tales of RAWA, but they make them one-dimentional. In other books and publications, it felt more like a story of heroines, instead of real women who are actually sticking their neck out and seriously risking their lives to help people. Not just women, people. This was a very good book and I think it was great that she spent time there with the women.

I have been a supporter of RAWA for four years, and thought I knew a lot about the organization, until I got my hands on this book. All of the questions that I have had over the years have been answered here, and then some! Brodsky's analysis and background information fill in the gaps for me in ways that nothing else has to date. I have read many books on Afghanistan, Afghan women, and even the other recent books that focus on RAWA, but this book is my best source yet. For anyone interested in helping this magificent organization, this book is a MUST read. I have given this book to family members and friends as gifts so that they may understand why RAWA is so important to me. I urge everyone who is even remotely concerned with women who resist to read this book. You will not be able to help but love RAWA and their spirit of resistance and strength. I thank Anne Brodsky for this enormous gift of information. Her contribution is truly in the spirit of RAWA, and I cannot encourage enough people to read it and to help these valiant women in their life-changing, tremendous work. If ever an organization deserved the attention of people all over the world, this is the one!

I recently completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and this book was very helpful as a reference for my art history classes!

I am a docent and at times a docent trainer, and this guide came in very handy when I was preparing for an exhibition on contemporary artists. It is well-written, to the point, and has extensive coverage for a little book!

A glossary of art terms. This book is a definite must for those writing analyses of art. It's also good for looking up those tricky terms in your text books. It is filled with artsy terms and illustrations. I used it in all my art history classes.

I'm a BFA student at Virginia Tech heading to grad school and this is an excellent book to teach from, have as a reference, or just thumb through for fun. Simple and succinct while still thorough. It's really an invaluable thing to have for ready info at your fingertips. This book has been part of the curriculum here for Performance Art, Found Object Sculpture, and Installation classes, and everyone in the class universally approves and finds it helpful.

Perfect for writing critiques and analyses from all art movements. Great glossary of terms for a beginning art student looking up hard-to-understand words in text books.

This is an excellent book, a long awaited and much needed factual account of a group of courageous men whose activism had major impact on the movement. Hill has produced a wealth of documentation to prove the history he has brought to the fore.
This account does tribute to those brave and unsung (heretofore)
heroes who refused to further degrade themselves and thier communities by turning the other cheek! Must reading.

This book kept me up reading all night. I had in the past heard that their had been a group that pre dated The Black Panther Party, and were operating in the deep south. However there was not much information on this clandestine group. Well there is now. This is the book. My chest burst with pride as the tears fell down my cheeks. If you read nothing else this year please read this book if you want to know what our people were really doing during the "movement". The media had been lying to us about our role in our own history! This book is about us!

excellent coverage of a little-known but very important part of the civil rights movement. if you're tired of the conventional view of the crm with everyone on their knees praying, this book is for you.

An important corrective to the nonviolence theme that domninates most histories of the Civil Rights Movement. The Deacons were mostly home grown Black Veterans from working class neighborhoods in small southern towns like Bogalusa and Jonesboro Louisianna. When the Klan and Police beat on civil rights workers and local protestors the Deacons fought back. In July 1965 when a mob of whites attacked a group of civil rights, mostly children, marchers in Bogalusa a Deacon shot a Klan member sending him to hospital. This incident had a profound impact on the response to Black demands for equal rights in Lousianna. Finally, the White Establishment began to make changes that led to a better life for Louisianna's Blacks. Professor Hill's(History, Tulane Univesity) book is full of such incidents and proves that the Deaon's impact on the souhtern Civil Rights struggle must not be overlooked.

you have to speak the language of the wolf." - Henry Austin, Deacons for Defense

This is truly a lost history of the civil rights movement that author Lance Hill has found under the layers upon layers of mainstream narratives which conveniently dictate false truths that - when repeated enough - become larger than life.

Following the organized self-defense philosophy espoused by Robert F. Williams in Monroe, N.C., a small group of men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, founded an organization that had great influence in the civil rights movement of the mid-1960s. The success the Deacons had in defeating the KKK and other haters on the streets by standing up, moving forward and staring them down with guns loaded brought a new sense of empowerment in demanding that justice truly be served today.

Hill explains how he became aware of the Deacons and then began his quest to research the history. Initially founded to protect civil rights workers, the Deacons' influence in the Deep South grew with a regional organizing campaign in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with chapters being founded in several Northern cities.

The success and expansion of the program brought interest from the FBI, coverage by an oftentimes adverse media and linkage - oftenetimes quite temporary - with a number of revolutionary organizations.

But through the comparatively brief time the Deacons operated - about four years - Hill successfully argues that the organization forced the federal government to aggressively enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act and was the bridge to the Black Power movement that emerged later in the decade.

The Deacons' legacy continues, as former members have strongly stated over the years that the group has never actually gone away. And, as Hill writes, "Finally, there is something inspiring in a story of people who stood up to injustice when everyone around them was afraid. That is a fable that will always serve us well."

The Deacons for Defense lives in the souls of those who do their part on a daily basis to bring real justice to this country.

This book is a great "picture book" for anyone interested in art and/or women artist. The descriptions of the work are concise, giving enough information to make you want to investigate further. A necessary addition to any art book collection.

I saw this book reviewed in Bust mag and am so glad I got a copy for myself. Peggy Phelan and Helena Reckitt have accomplished a "portable gallery" in this book--it is like seeing all of the works themselves, but with commentary that helps at every step of the way.

Peggy Phelan's introduction is great because she draws everything together in a way that I couldn't do on my own, and actually, I am amazed ANYONE could do it. Wow.

The book is expensive but worth it because otherwise you would have to buy about 100 books to try and do for yourself what they did here.

Peggy and Helena, and all the artists, YOU ROCK!!!

H. Reckitt and P. Phelan wrote a good introduction book to understand women artists in summary. A widerange selection of artists are interesting to read with the help of sufficient amount of quality pictures. The articles of artists and feminist theoreticians in the last section are very useful and valuable especially for those who want to have a clue of what to read in theory. The only unfortunate thing about the book, like most of the similar examples is that women artists outside Europe and America are not given equal interest except the ones that live in the West like S. Neshat, M. Hatoum, etc.

This book would be an excellent textbook for a Women In Art course. It doesn't have much information on centuries prior to the twentieth and largely focuses on art, artists, and issues from the 1960's on, so it wouldn't do as the only text for such a course. But this is all you need for late twentieth century concerns.

The early essays are dripping with Freudian psychology and psychoanalytical social criticism. The issues surrounding why it took so long for there to be a sense of equality of greatness amongst artists of all genders is explored deeply. The issues of representation of all races and sexual orientations then follows. The book stops just short of discussing the newest research on intersex persons (persons born with an extra chomosome, among others {XXY, for example}).

For a movement that was intending to create a sense of equality, feminist theory highlights both the vast differences as well as the profound similarities between the perception processes of men and women. This includes both the perceptions of and different approaches to art as well as life. Yet, when all is said and done, more recent artists are primarily interested not in these issues, but more a sense of having their work judged based on its quality, not their gender.

The only disappointment I have in this book is one that no other book addresses either. So, I mean this only as a minor criticism. In short, the book does not answer the following: Is ther an intersex mind state? Feminist theory either didn't reach the point of asking this in time for the extensive research put into this book or it has come to its conclusion and will transform gradually into a whole other movement.

The art chosen to represent the above ideas and explorations is top quality. The reproductions are sharp and colorful. I would recommend this book to anyone with interests in women in art or in feminist theory.

A very cool appraisal convincingly indicating that Freemasonry provided a social cement for the post-revolutionary era.

Steven Bullock has added a great deal to the study of Masonry with this book. If nothing else were accomplished he makes clear to the Freemason the true difference between ancient and modern Masonry. This book is also a fine study of the social history of the United States in its early years. Often overlooked by historians, the importance of the Freemasons in the early republic is finally looked at in depth.

Freemasonry often claims a large role in the advent of the Revolution which according to Bullock does not seem to be the case. On the other hand its importance to the American cause during the Revolution can hardly be overstated. Southern planters like Washington and Lee had little in common New Englanders such as General Greene, a Quaker from Connecticut. They had even less in common with the likes of Lafayette and von Steuben. Their one common link was Freemasonry. It seems that the officer corps of the American army forged its strong bonds around the fraternity. Not just the generals but many officers of all ranks seem to have bonded through Masonry. Military lodges spread the fraternity through out the army and soon some regiments actually marched with the officers wearing their Masonic badges of office.

Freemasonry as the title of this book suggests seems to have been important in the transformation of the American social order after the war. Masonry acted somewhat as a school for democrats but the fraternity itself began to grow into an elite order of "nobility" that almost became a new aristocracy. This status would help bring on the antimasons as the brotherhood which had helped mold early America's social order failed to change with changing times. The more open democracy brought on by the age of Jackson made a seeming aristocracy like the Masons seem out of place. In an odd twist, the father of this age was himself an active Mason. Jackson in fact served two terms as Grand Master of Tennessee.

There are only two small things about this book that I can fault. The writing style as is often the case with history professors is just a tad dull. The wealth of information to be found tends to make up for the style though. The more serious problem is the manner in which Bullock decides the Masons grew out of the stone masons guilds. There are many ideas about the origins of Masonry that deserve more attention. Bullock may well have taken the true path but he fails to document his conclusion in the way he documents his other insights.

Finally, this book which was written as a history offers important warnings for today's fraternity. As the brotherhood failed to change with the times during the antimasonry frenzy and almost died the changes in society today are also slowly killing Masonry. The fraternity must take the warnings given us in this book and learn from our past mistakes. Change is hard but sometimes necessary.

As the first third party in an American presidential election (1832) the Anti-Masonic Party has usually appeared suddenly in the story of the Jacksonian Era with little explanation except that the Masons were suspected in the murder of one William Morgan, who threatened to reveal their innermost rituals and secrets. The prosecution of the case was hampered by the fact that Masons dominated local and state government, which came to be seen an secret, elitist plot against democratic institutions. Steven C. Bullock traces the history of the Masonic movement from England to America and demonstrates how Masons were critical to the success of the American Revolution and the creation of a new nation under the Constitution of 1789. As such the Masons were not a sudden a aberration in American history but a group central to the early history of the nation. Masonic meetings gave members a place to learn how democratic government worked, how to socialize, how to argue without resorting to force, and how to participate in establishing a concept of national interest, or virtue, in the language of the times. Bullock's volume is one of the most critical interpretations of this period in American History. Do not be put off by its academic style or philosophical tone, especially in the first chapter. It really moves along afterward and demonstrates how an organization that boasted such diverse members as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism), and Andrew Jackson came to be seen as a conspiratorial institution that needed to be curbed for the betterment of an egalitarian American democracy. It also illustrates how the Masons sprang back from near destruction to be the charitable organization better recognized by Americans living today. It's well worth while!

This is a "must have" book for the person wanting to add a solid, well researched, and reliable study of the history and role of Freemasonry in these United States.

Opens a window on the lives and deeds of those who were the most ferociously persecuted under the regime of Stalin and his Soviet successors: the oppositionists who stood firm on the platform of the Russian Revolution. While most of this generation were wiped out in the mass executions of the 1930s and 40s, some lived through it and told their story, as part of the rising Samizdat ("self-publication") movement of the 1960s and 70s. The "Memoirs of a Bolshevik-Leninist", some 130 pages long, alone make Samizdat worth reading. Former Major General Pyotr Grigorenko, imprisoned in the 1960s for four years in a psychiatric hospital for counterposing Marx and Lenin to the rotting Soviet regime, also tells his story here. Essential to understanding the course the former Soviet bloc has travelled from the 1917 revolution to today.

Opens a window on the lives and deeds of those who were the most ferociously persecuted under the regime of Stalin and his Soviet successors: the oppositionists who stood firm on the platform of the Russian Revolution. While most of this generation were wiped out in the mass executions of the 1930s and 40s, some lived through it and told their story, as part of the rising Samizdat ("self-publication") movement of the 1960s and 70s. The "Memoirs of a Bolshevik-Leninist", some 130 pages long, alone make Samizdat worth reading. Former Major General Pyotr Grigorenko, imprisoned in the 1960s for four years in a psychiatric hospital for counterposing Marx and Lenin to the rotting Soviet regime, also tells his story here. Essential to understanding the course the former Soviet bloc has travelled from the 1917 revolution to today.

This volume shows a view of the history of Soviet anti-bureaucratic opposition that is not widely known in the U.S. Samizdat is the term for self-published political writings in the former Soviet Union. This volume includes documents ranging back to revolutionaries purged by Joseph Stalin, and as late as the early 1970s.

My favorite section is the anonymous "Memoirs of a Bolshevik-Leninist", written by a veteran of Lenin's Bolshevik Party and member of Leon Trotsky's Left Opposition, imprisoned by the regime until the 1950s.

The current leaders of Russia and the other parts of the former USSR are a different name for the same old group of bureaucrats that muscled their way in under Stalin. Workers, oppressed nationalities, women have to fight them at every step to preserve the gains won during the workers revolution in 1917, to move forward for a decent life. The words of these Bolshevik fighters who refused to let Stalin and his successors stop them from defending the revolutionary ideas of Lenin and Trotsky, their words, and example and struggle will be come weapons for the new generation of fighters in these countries.

I watched Myrlie Evers-Williams talk about the book and so much more on C-SPAN II, Book TV. She was appearing at Karibu Bookstore in Hyattsville, Maryland on 6/17/05 and I was so moved by what she said that I bought and read the book. I wish the book were bundled with a copy of that talk because in her talk it is beautifully and forcefully made clear that although Medgar Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963, his spirit and his work survive and continue to nudge, persuade, inspire, and demand of us that his vision is not nearly fulfilled and it is our job to join together to keep up the work. And dare I say, in the midst of such serious considerations, that the man had a wicked sense of the satiric? His letters to Eisenhower, to the admissions people at the white college that refused admission to him, and others are not only important historical documents about the civil rights struggle in the U.S., they are also really wonderful writing and make great reading-aloud material. I'd love to see one of those moving one-man theatrical productions staged based on this book, his writings, and his wife's continued growth, struggle, and determined leadership after his murder. What a story! What wonderful American lives!

Not a bad text. I have heard a rare recording of the underrated hero Medgar Evers speaking once, and no he was not a "personality cult" leader who dazzled the masses with snappy slogans, but a sincere individual who appealed to people on the grounds of reason and integrity.

In texts such as the 1958 Ebony magazine article and the 1963 television show in Jackson, Miss (where he lived and died), he appeals to those unconvinced by his fight against segregation to put themselves in his place. His stands for human dignity as described in his NAACP reports in the book is heartwarming when you consider that he risked his life to make such statements.

The Life of Evers cries out for a DVD or an "American Experience" episode. Unfortuantely, the so-called "leaders" and their paper-tiger soundbyte "causes" of today are a far comedown from the true heroes of Evers' era (and Mrs. Myrlie Evers herself makes this point in far more polite terms in her intro). Sadly, most of the truly great ones like Evers are now dead. Hopefully, this will inspire a future generation to get it right and back on track.

Medger Evers was truly a Pioneer of Change. He died far too young at only age 37. this Book traces His speeches,writings&Letters at about bringing changes.He was One of the Most Important figures during the Civil Rights Movement.Much Respect to His Widow Myrlie Evers-Williams for sharing these Important Documents of History that speak of a Ugly chapter in America.this is a Must Read Book&Have Book.very Educational&a Book that reflects a time period that wasn't that long ago.

If you are looking for a book that actually SHOWS pictorial work in color, this is the one to buy. It has an incredible number of images of all the greats. It is 100% a "must have" for the photography shelf--and I share no connections to the author/editor/company.

I was lucky enough to see the once-in-a-lifetime exhibit for which this book is the catalog, and for that alone it is outstanding. The Pictorial movement produced some of the finest photographs by some of the greatest masters ever to pick up a camera. Impressionist Camera does a great job explaining the motiviations, tribulations and triumphs of the likes of Steichen, Kasebier and Coburn. This loving and detailed examination of the genre makes a great addition to the library of any fine art photography practitioner, collector or historian. A good companion work is Steichen's Legacy

Pictorial photography flourished at the turn of the 20th century and crossed genres, styles and international borders as it produced celebrated artists and fostered artistic change. Here to celebrate these changes is Impressionist Camera: Pictorial Photography in Europe, 188-1918, a narrowed focus on European community photography approaches. Selections consider how photographers created unique works and visions, how they influenced on another, and how they contributed to the fusion and symbolism of pictorial photography as a genre. This book represents the first comprehensive country-by-country examination on the topic and draws together contributions by an international team of art and photography scholars and historians. Sepia and black and white photos throughout capture the creations and sentiments of the era.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch