Poets Books

These compelling narratives span post WWII Europe to contemporary USA -- the speaker, raised in a convent in Europe traces her life in the cruel environment of the convent to her married life here in this country. The poems are of daily life -- its joys and horrors. They are generous poems, long and meandering. They are accessible, always. Funny, sweet, scary and sumptuous.

Bosselaar's collection is electric. These narratives, often harrowing, speak the stories of many characters. The geographic and emotional terrain of this book is panoramic. This is a book of narratives that speed down the page and take the reader on one hell of a ride.

laure-anne bosselaar is one of the most gifted and moving poets of the past twenty years. seeing her read at Stockton College in December of 1999, I was moved to tears during more than one of her poems. "My Little Sisters of Love and Misery," for example, evokes a beauty and pain that is both striking and poignant for it's attention to detail and lack of self-pity. She speaks for the women who cannot speak for themselves, to the people in her life that she must forgive to survive, and to the world, she gives her unique view of love and laughter. her brilliance lies in the important fact that she never feels the need to sacrifice her sense of humor to get at the tragedy of life, because she realizes they are often one and the same.

when i met ms. bosselaar, she pinched my cheek and called me "dear poetry sister." it spoke volumes about the kind of person and writer that she is. here's hoping she continues to bless us with her unique gift.

"[N]o girls, no jokes, no wine// Is that what art demands?/ ... I can't endure such sullen habits, I want distraction,/ need my gaze to waver, wild as moths on my window: ... Let me be fickle as the Mistral, lazy as Provencal lizards;/ give me the nuances of tenderness,// longing's appetites, the pagan buzz of sex--and may my art/ be mortal ... a daily brush with grace." If the moral of mortality is treasuring the world, then moral intelligence is steeped in its particulars. Laure-Anne Bosselaar's poems make the case as art, or if you prefer, meditation--pagan Ignatian, procreative, or in its most inclusive, practical, caregiving sense, charitable. In modeled stanzas she recaptures good-burgher Nazi sympathizers, spent vegetable gardens, snowstorms, a fatally overinspired poem, her husband's morning Rorschach shock of graying hair, convent school underwear, her mother's Gauloises Bleues dipped in Chanel No. 5, and other coups de grace. The last poem celebrates Thanksgiving, an immigrants' feast, a fitting reminder that the book's language--in one of the author's adopted languages--is comfortably, confidently expressive. It's a good cook's English that savors the telling as well as the tale

This collection is always startling, intensely amusing, and all-around wonderful. When my husband saw me doubling over with laughter and then heard me say, "Okay, listen to this," he knew I was going to read him a poem from _The House of Blue Light_. David Kirby deserves a wide, WIDE audience. I intend to order additional copies of this book for friends. Do yourself a favor and order a copy for yourself today.

I came to Kirby from the 2001 issue of BAP which included one of the poems from this book. Long lines, similar to whitman, ginsberg, or Campbell McGrath, very anecdotal in nature, funny, and insightful. My favorite poems in this were James Dickey's Dream, Tige Watley's Whoah, and My dead dad, but every poem is amazing. It's a quick read, very accessible, and after each poem you sit back and just think, wow. Kirby's one of my three favorite poets now, with McGrath, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, Kay Ryan.

I realized how much I liked this book when I found myself reading aloud poem after poem to my roomate, a psychology major, and her boyfriend, a physics major. I promised after each poem that it would surely be my last one. Then I'd come across a poem that contained an "Ah Oui Girl" or Roman Polanski and I'd be reading again despite that I had a sore throught and coughed every five lines. I brutally killed each poem, but when I finally put the book down, my roomate remarked that I should "leave the book lying around" so she can "read it sometime." I think what draws the reader into Kirby's poems is an interesting voice and humor, but what keeps the reader lingering is an unexpected twist, an unseen destination that brings the poem together, that makes the reader scratch his head and expel an 'aaaaah hmm.'

Refreshing to the era, David Kirby presents a narrative-reminiscent book of poetry that appeals to even those that are verse-shy. He is wonderful, with vivid descriptions and pertinent symolism that is many layers deep. My poetry teacher says that a good poem usually has at least three things going on in it...Kirby exceeds this and stil gives us an understandable and intellectual piece of work. He is an amazing poet, and this book is a must-have for anyone interested in poetry, life, fun, sex, food, travel, people or themselves. Get your hands on this one, and share it with your friends.

A must for anyone interested in 1 of the 3 greatest poets [writing in english] circa 1950 to present. Gizzi's essay is illuminating and steers clear of obfuscating what Spicer meant by "dictation" and the "outside".

The House That Jack Built is a must have for any serious poet or reader of poetry and poetics. Spicer's lectures on dictation, the serial poem, and the practice of reading lay a foundation for the art of writing poetry that is without default. His ideas are instrumental in poetry's process. Peter Gizzi's afterword enlivens the spirit of Spicer's practice and makes it available to the reader. Exhibiting a close relationship with Spicer's work and method, Gizzi both completes and opens the material discussed in the lectures. A stellar accomplishment.

This book is simply amazing as Jack Spicer had amazing martian forces driving him. The lectures are excellently transcribed and annotated. This part of the book holds amazing inspiration. Where the book fails is that Gizzi decided to start writing about Jack. I could hardly begin to read his tacked on essay before putting the book down in disgust. Jack spoke for himself just fine. The essay belongs somewhere else.

Hey, Jack Spicer is still the hidden force and westcoast "genisu loci" of US poetics, and Peter Gizzi has done a yeoman's job of putting these probing and lost lectures together to do new work. The poesy game will not be disturbed however, and putting J Spicer on cover of American Poetry Review will not alter the pastoral fact and fate of downfall and lost aura. Still, this is must reading.

This is one of the greatest books I have used as a reference guide for teaching poetry. In the past 8 years I've used it to help non-native English speakers write poetry; I've used sections of it to teach educators how to teach poetry. Great to use as a whole or in chapters, especially for people who might feel intimidated putting pen to paper.

My mom used this book to help her write wonderfuly poetry about herself and her life. It was non-intimidating, interesting, and inspiring for her. Has great examples and ideas for getting started. Good for beginners and advanced writers alike.

Clear, concise, and expert. Morrison wastes nothing and introduces everything. Written with experience and a vast knowledge of the art of poetry. A magnificent instruction tool.

I highly reccomend this book to anyone wishing to express themselves through writing. Through its great exapmles and detailed instructions, this book gives the reader all he will need to begin the long journey into the world of creative writing.

I read a lot of poetry, but it never hurts to hear well-thought insight on the topic, and Ms. Peacock provides just that. The poems she chooses are diverse, excellent, and far from war horses. Her comments impart true value. I enjoyed the poems when first reading and then even more so when reading her take on them. There should be more poetry books similar in format. It is a great way to learn the appreciation of poetry. Plus, it even benefits the seasoned reader.

(Also, look up Ms. Peacock's own poetry. She is very talented in her own right.)

Do you know Robert Pinsky's talisman poem? How about the favorite poem of Robt. Bly, W.S. Merwin, Joy Harjo, Mary Oliver, Jane Kenyon, Naomi Shahib Nye, or Donald Hall? Molly Peacock does and she presents the list of talisman poems from 60 contemporary poets in the back matter of her book. This list provides a great springboard for further reading! Peacock begins How to Read a Poem--And Start a Poetry Circle by discussing her JOY of language and poetry and then goes on to present 13 of her favorite poems. She explains how these poems have enriched her journey. This book does exactly what the title promises. Peacock discusses the rich qualities of her favorite poems and then tells the reader how to find the same enjoyment in starting a poetry circle of their own. If you love poetry, you'll love this book. Like a good poem, you'll come back to it again and again.

This book is, in short, a gift - luminous and elegant and joyful. Buy a copy for yourself and you will give one to someone you love...and you will have forever a place inside of you to return that only great art can create. Lovers of poems and thoughtful, soulful prose that gives of itself in a nearly endless fashion will cherish this book, I believe. And so the 'Circle' becomes larger where everything that is true of human experience is welcome in the most well-wrought form. Molly Peacock is the finest kind of teacher.

The only other book that hovers in the "shimmering verge" between essay and lyric poem the way this book does is Anne Carson's Eros the Bittersweet. Peacock's book is written in a style that never talks down to seasoned poets, yet clarifies even the most complex poetics for those new to this art. When all is said and done, that is precisely what this book is: a thrillingly beautiful work of art. I am enriched by it.

One of the most intense books ive ever read.....you should check out Tony Bledsoe...hes a great writer too......and you can get cheaper Sheilds books from him too...

I poured my life out in this book & now it'sout of print.But it does exist

I must admit that when I picked this book up six years ago, I was still a little wet behind the ears as a reader. I had absorbed most of what was available by Bukowski, Celine, Rimbaud, Harry Crews spotted with bits of Jean Genet, Henry Miller, Yukio Mishima, Sartre and Proust... AND I was STILL totally unprepared for Bill Shields. "Human Shrapnel" is 63 pages thick so I had naturally assumed that I would start and finish it within the same hour. I did manage to start and finish it within the same month and even then I had to push myself. I could always manage a couple of pages before I would have to put it down, try to think about something else and forget about it, (though Shield's writing is ANYTHING BUT forgetable) and give it another go the next day. Each poem in this book is reportage from a war that is still being fought, inch by inch in the privacy of one man's home where one is not even safe from one's own thoughts and remembering is the last thing you would want to do. What is most harrowing about Shield's writing is his delivery. He is efficient and even, so totally accustomed to horror that his tone hardly flinches. He has lived with these demons for THAT long. There comes a point with Bill Shields where it is no longer a matter of whether or not you "like" his writing as it is a matter of RESPECT. You have to respect Bill Shields for surviving what he knows. You have to respect Bill Shields for living through all it took to summon these things up so that they may be put to paper. And you have to respect the ability of these lines to completely kick you to the floor and break your heart several times over. This book completely ressurected for me the power of words. Unfortunately, it rendered other writers and their work completely ineffective.

Bill writes words that will live with you for days. In a world where so much poetry and prose is weak Shields brings it home and puts it right in your face. You bleed, cry, taste, and smell the post "Nam" world of Bill Sheilds. Strap on a flack jacket and give it a try.

Bill Morgan's new book about the poet Allen Ginsberg, "I Celebrate Myself", rates at the top of my favorites list. I was immediately captivated when I read in the Introduction about an incident where Ginsberg saw a poor woman who was about to be attacked by an angry dog.Ginsberg went to her and asked,"Would you like a fig newton?" From then on I couldn't stop reading.
The book is full of many interesting facts about Ginsberg's life and poetry.His writings represent the turbulence of the cultural revolution of the time and this book is a wonderful testament to this eccentric and unique writer's talent. I applaud and congratulate Bill Morgan for his superb book.

There are now many biographies of Allen Ginsberg. Shumacher's Dharma Lion stands out as a particular favorite, and the book-length poem by Ed Sanders is not to be overlooked. Most take a bird's-eye view of this poet and his life. Because of his long personal relationship with Ginsberg as his archivist and bibliographer, Morgan stood closer to his subject, both personally and through his access to the prolific journals Ginsberg diligently kept from the age of eleven to the end of his life, than any previous biographer has, or any future biographer is likely to.

The result is a biography whose intimacy and authority are unparalleled. For or some at least, this will be a decidedly mixed blessing. Those with a strong aversion to sexual revelation and description will be distracted if not put off, for Ginsberg was possessed of a ruthless, at times self-defeating, candor in all matters sexual, as readers familiar with his poetry will know. But, as Morgan shows, he was equally candid in all other areas of his life and feeling.

He was also deeply flawed, persistently naive and hopeful about the numerous lifelong friends he made in his days at Columbia and shortly thereafter: Kerouac, a drunk Republican mama's-boy and anti-semite, whose friendship Ginsberg treasured and whose work he championed to long after Kerouac's death; Huncke, who mooched and stole from him repeatedly; Burroughs, who, for a time lusted after him, but at others was inaccessible and gratuitously mean to Ginsberg's life partner, Peter Orlovsky; Cassady, an insatiable womanizer and artful dodger, or worse; Corso, who embarrassed and abused him often; and Orlovsky himself, heterosexual, chronically unstable and addicted to alcohol and amphetamines, and not infrequently interpersonally and physically destructive. To all of these, and to scores if not hundreds of others, Ginsberg's loyalty, generosity, and his efforts to support them financially and promote their work and enhance their lives never wavered. In his close personal relationships, Ginsberg could be, and often was, a fool, but he was not a fair-weather friend. Among the flaws that Morgan addresses and clarifies was Ginsberg's peculiar and persistent blind spot for women, their strengths, virtues, and talents. Even those close to him, not rarely in love with him, could in important ways escape his notice.

In fairly documenting his flaws, however, Morgan's treatment does not throw Ginsberg's virtues into shadow. His intense interest in all things human, his passionate commitment to free speech and unfettered thought and social justice and, some will be surprised, his patriotism, all come through. But what comes through most powerfully is the loving pains he took to care for others, more often than not one-at-a-time. Undivided attention, a meal, a place to stay, the reading of a poet's work brought to him for comment, his personal responses to virtually all the letters sent to him, from friend and stranger alike; Ginsberg cared and gave.

Until the last very few years of his life, and despite the popularity of his books, readings, and recordings, Ginsberg was chronically close to poverty, on many occasions simply broke, and sometimes temporarily stranded. Even when his income was nominally adequate, he bought his clothing in second-hand stores, rescued his friends again and again and again, and made up the difference. As he supported his friends, sometimes over many years, he supported numerous younger poets and writers, as well as working tirelessly to benefit the many causes, programs, and institutions he cared about; he gave and gave and gave.

In the end, Morgan's biography, its chapters proceeding year by year, covers the life of a great poet who was not less a man of truly heroic love and candor, a flawed human being who can stand as a model and a beacon for that which is most tender and dear in each of us.

Its obvious that Bill Morgan had access to alot of primary materials in writing this biography of Allen Ginsberg, which is clearly a labor of love for the author. And rightly so. Ginsberg's humanity shines thru on these pages - generosity, kindness, creativity, eccentricity, but mostly a dedication to live fully and richly without excuse.

I didnt know much of Ginsberg before I read the book; he seemed at best a minor talent in a discipline I knew little about, at worst a mentally ill crank. But Morgan's book drew me in deeper and deeper, and I soon saw the genius of Ginsberg, a genuis manifested in both his art and his life, which I assume Ginsberg would say were one and the same. In this age of greedy hucksters passing as 'artists', Ginsberg was the real deal. A fascinating human being in the best sense of the word.

Thank you Mr Morgan for such a labor of love.

I highly recommend Bill Morgan's "I Celebrate Myself", a biography of the late poet, Allen Ginsberg, a "Beat Generation" writer. Bill Morgan allows the reader to understand and appreciate, in such an interesting narrative, Ginsberg's unique style of poetry. I was truly captivated by this poet's life and work that the book seemed to be much shorter than it actually was. In addition to the title "I Celebrate Myself" from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," I especially enjoyed Bill Morgan's innovative approach of describing occurrences in Ginsberg's personal life that influenced his writing by placing in the margins of the book, the titles of the poems that Ginsberg was writing at the time. This creates for the reader an immediate interest and desire to read Ginsberg's poetry. "I Celebrate Myself" was a joy and adventure to read, and I learned so much about this sensitive, brilliant, and compassionate poet of the twentieth century. Fascinating Book!!

Mr. Hughes brings a zen like quality to his stories regarding his life and what he was forced to endure. He persevered, triumphed and soared. If you want to feel at peace with yourself this is a book to help you get there. Mr. Hughes is a role model that we should be glad we have. a gracious kind compassionate human. imho ;>)

Mr. Hughes, in my opinion, is the best African American writer, whom describes the life as a balck man traveling throughout the world. This book is poignant and evokes a sense constant despair and the writer confronts different predjudice throughout the world.

When I started writing here on Amazon reviews I was thinking of placing pieces of my memory from books that shaped our family so that my daughter who was reading and living on-line might share a few minutes with me as I reflected back on things that might tell the stories of us. Being very ill it seemed a logical kind of thing to do. One of the reasons I waited until Christmas to write this particular piece was it fits, the title of this story taken from an Appalachian melody of Christmas, among the most beautiful I know for my playing on dulcimer. The tune which inspired his title is just a simple,hill country piece of handiwork. The other reason I waited was having made an Amazon friend who is inspired at a fundamental level by Hughes and who is dear to me, it gave me awhile to think about what to say here of this book. I know he lives in close connection to Hughes spirit and may indeed embody and carry this work and truth. Not an easy thing at all...but the world is better for this. I hate to do it a disservice and I'm inadequate to the task, and yet the book is among my most favorite ever read. I'm surprised that it isn't reviewed by many more here , this volume for me one of the most amazing secrets ever kept. It is an autobiographical journey, a tale from his life; it serves to create inner spaces, visceral visual ones, to consider Hughes and to look upon his perspectives. All I can conclude is something I find tonight as I type, it's daunting to write to the book and do it any real justice. It is worth purchasing for anyone, especially for someone who loves to read of the times of our lives in the 20th century..

Hughes opens the book, which covers time from 1931 to 1938 as a piece to carry on from The Big Sea his first autobiographical work. As I read them out of order I cannot say I am sorry this was my first. It stays solidly in my head. He tells of traveling in a car on a reading tour in the South and the west. On opening the tale of wandering we are where he was reading his work in small often rural settings and revealing black community and his meager circumstances as he was essentially becoming the writer. He becomes involved in a film project and goes to the Soviet Union which is such an amazing thing to read....it is a project that doesn't work out and he stays and continues traveling. Just to know more about this time in history from his perspective in areas we could not know enough about is worth the book....and it is these observations and how he finally returns to the US, I found the most compelling of the narrative. I felt I was wandering, wandering free of some of the limitations of American political shaping, looking at the Soviets as they took on the start of building their country, listening to Hughes describe the adventure, what he sees. Hughes is not given to excessive internal dialog, he is almost remarkably absent of this-which of course is a vehicle he creates-he relates what he sees and it has a kind of universal journey construction...almost ...so perfectly of those times, so completely crafted that I lose my "self" in the pages...I am a train, or a days delicious seafood with boiled bananas and Spanish rice learning to rumba. I am ill equipped to summarize but Hughes is a genius, creating a kind of tableau that for me stands as visually there as the great human artists of these times, this he does so easily. And I feel this trip across Russia as an experience. I think what moves me is that Hughes recounts human interaction, the simplicity, the everyday as it might be felt by myself or was felt by himself. I've spent most all of my life living in teaching in ordinary everyday, poorer worlds by choice learning of the dignity and indignity, suffering, laughing, discovering others, in the valid and real lives of ordinary people. It makes me anecdotal and determined to honor lives. And I note in the book foreword him stating, "I've now cut out all the impersonal stuff down to a running narrative with me in the middle of every page...the kind of intense condensation that, of course, keeps an autobiography from being entirely true, in that nobody's life is pure essence without pulp, waste matter , and rind-which art, of course, throws in the trash can." Ah always genius.

Because I had read a great deal of these times interested in Lillian Hellman and many other figures, his recounting his story with Arthur Koestler was so interesting. Again threaded through this personal anecdote was so much good information and his perspective. He talks of Haiti and I've given these pages many times to friends connected to this country, of Cuba, China and Japan ending in Carmel in an area I lived with close life there for 9 years, which was remarkable for me as I first encountered the book reading it sitting in a bookshop in Carmel and wandering the streets reading and thinking and enjoying thoughts of his times there. These were times of Communism, Marxism, the Scottsboro Boys, and only a bit becomes part of the book though I was discerning much because I did know of the times from my interests, reading and from reading more to understand his times.

I have stated in writing I've done of my teaching life that Hughes lived writing of black America, of politics, of difficult constructs, from his background, then his education, from his broadening views, from traveling, meeting such a wide spectrum, he was writing of the lives of the poor, living the lives, but also a writer, thinker, a man apart. I sense his frustration as much as I can from my inadequacies in trying to speak to these issues of fairness, of poverty, of the travesty of greed, of human lives affected by prejudice and economic and political failure. I write anecdotally of teaching in South Central, in migrant areas trying to reach out and tell the stories of kids hoping those that read can draw conclusions and understand better their real realities. I sense Hughes left to his readers a responsibility to use his journey, his insights, to think about how to make America a fairer place. How to work to create a just world. And to understand how broad a world it is.

I read in the forward about the books reception as "shallow". And I wonder....as I too wander. There is an elegant powerful truth that Hughes carries, a silent power in a poets voice spoken in the face of revealing things no one can hear or will hear. There is a basic return to the voyage as meaning itself, a telling of a life, a looking at life as a movement forward. I just cannot find that shallow. I find Hughes as ever one of the touchstones of my life.

As the sequel to "The Big Sea", Mr.Hughes again speaks the language of a poet so well that he makes the reading of his life seem like a first-person experience. After his travels on several ships and the taste of his first successes(and failures), he simply explores and writes: of Paris, Russia, and Cuba, and shares his experiences with the reader. His writing is so rich and vivid that he makes every location in the world seem like poetry in motion. This book and "The Big Sea" should definitely be on reading lists everywhere-or, if you have a friend or relative who feels like they're a "wandering spirit", these books would make great gifts. Mr.Hughes touches on everything human: from the strained relationship with his father to the blatant racism he encounters everyday; to the women he becomes fond of and his neverending thirst for experience and knowledge; to the countless sights of wonder in the world that one never sees when they are ignorant. Beautiful writing by a true poet.

IN THIS BOOK , MR. HUGHES REALLY OPENS UP AND LETS THE READER INTO HIS WORLD. IT IS NOT HARD TO IMAGINE BEING IN THE PLACES THAT HE DESCRIBES. THE EVENTS AND CHARACTERS POP OUT AT YOU. THIS BOOK IS AN ENJOYABLE READ

This is a precious work of art. The experiences of Billy's life take him through a journey of discovering the face of God. This is not an 'apologetic' but rather an honest approach to finding the heart of the Creator in the worst and best of times. Since this is based in experiences, it is a living testimony. It isn't preachy, nor does it have to be. Very wonderful. What a prize of a book. Blessings to those who read it ....

First let me say that I chose to read this book by the title alone. I've never heard of the author, his songs nor am I a devout person. Secondly, my mother probably has heard of the author, heard his songs and is a devout Christian. I will HAVE to get a copy of this book for her if she doesn't have one now.

So why did I find this book such a page turner when I came to it with nothing in common with the author? It's well written!

Ice Cream... has the sort of pop culture analysis that I was expecting (and didn't find) in The Ethics of Star Trek. Sprague takes the day to day experiences, including reading the comics, eating ice cream and watching The Andy Griffith Show to do an epistomological run down on how he has grown to be the person he is.

Unlike some books that are meant to be inspirational, Sprague does not preach. He's very upfront about what he believes and why he believes what he does but he does not fall into the trap of "It's my way or the highway" to true happiness, salvation or whatever. I respect him for his self restraint and respect for viewpoints contrary to his own.

In closing, read to the end of the book to the Appendices. There is a fantastic sounding ice cream recipe and a lovely lullaby by the author written for his daughter.

When I was growing up a lot of us kids wanted to have X-ray vision like Superman, and not always so we could use it for good like he did. Billy Sprague doesn't have X-ray vision (at least as far as I know), but he does have a unique kind of vision for life-and he uses it for good.

Drawing from his own experiences, many of which are simply our experiences with a different cast of characters, Billy asks important questions about who we are and what God's role in all this is. Without insisting that you come to exactly the same conclusions, he gives his answers to those questions, and he does so in a very light hearted (but not light) way. Some Christians may be frustrated that the answers aren't more dogmatic. I for one appreciated the tone and thought what a great gift this readable little book would be for anyone who is struggling with the vagaries of life, whether Christian or not.

Billy is one of the finest songwriters around today, and many of his insights are revealed in his thoughtful and well crafted lyrics, inserted in just the right places in the book. He also gives a recipe for homemade ice cream, which I haven't tried yet, but if it is as good as the rest of the book I know I'm in for a real treat.

This is an outstanding book that I read in one sitting. Billy uses the difficult trials and the glorious victories in his life to reflect on the image of God, His plan, and the tough questions we all face. I literally found my self in tears on one page only be laughing out loud the next! A must read if you love God and ice cream.

Grades 5 and up will find this an excellent biographicalcoverage of the mother of the civil rights movement, providing 178pages packed with facts and black and white illustrations. Thisexamines the life and times of Ida Wells, considering her early years, her civil rights campaign, and her anti-lynching campaign which succeeded in nearly abolishing the popular practice. An eye-opening account of not only her life, but her times. Highly recommended and vivid.

Ida B. Wells needs to be better known among the American public. This book introduces her to middle and high school students, and it is very well done. She is one of the early voices in Civil Rights.

Ida B. Wells was an African-American woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born and grew up in the South, born in Mississippi during the Civil War. It is significant the impact of the legacy of slavery on her life -- she recounts how her parents, who were married as slaves, remarried each other as free persons after the war. Wells was a determined and intelligent woman -- her parents died while she was young, yet old enough to be left with the responsibility of her younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 14 she found herself at the head of a household with five younger children.

She worked hard to make sure that her education did not suffer, and eventually (a rarity for women of any colour in America at the time) went to work for a newspaper.

In an incident that foreshadowed Rosa Parks, she was once removed from a train for sitting in the wrong section, despite her ownership of a valid ticket for the seat. She sued the railroad and won (newspaper headlines read 'Darky Damsel Gets Damages' without concern for the racist tone), but the judgment was overturned on appeal, and she later discovered her lawyers had been paid off by the railroads, and the appellate judges had thought she was just being uppity to pursue the matter.

Such was the state of the African-American community that none came to her assistance as she pursued this fight. This made her more determined to organise and fight.

Several of her newspaper partners and other friends in Memphis were lynched for these efforts, and Wells was threatened herself, and left the South, but did not give up her crusade. Where ever she went, through cities and towns in the North as well as over to Europe (where, she said, she felt like she was treated as a real human being equal with others for the first time) she decried the injustice of laws which dismissed charges or gave light sentences if victims were coloured, and prosecuted more strongly, gave out harsher sentences, or even resorted to lynch mobs if the defendant (who was often not guilty) was coloured.

'She fought a lonely and almost single-handed fight, with the single-mindedness of a crusader, long before men or women of any race entered the arena, and the measure of success she achieved goes far beyond the credit she has been given the history of the country.'

She continued speaking and publishing up to her death in 1931. She was never afraid of making herself unpopular, and often upset the African-American community by being critical of their complacency (especially the upper and middle classes). She became unpopular by standing against the military service during World War I, because of prejudicial and discriminatory practices, and never quite recovered in popular esteem from that.

But Wells had courage and determination that is rare in persons, male or female, of any colour, of any time, to take on such a task as the exposition and combat of lynching in the South during the post-Civil War decades. Talking directly with governors and even a president, Wells made her voice heard, and it was a difficult hearing in a difficult time.

It is a travesty that the name of Ida B. Wells-Barnett is not more widely known in the most common lists of American heroes. This great woman, though little in stature, was a giant in the fight for justice and racial equality in this country. This book was a very thorough look at the life of an early champion of the civil rights movement in America. After my chilren an I read about her being physically thrown off a railcar, sueing the railroad company and actually winning her lawsuit, we could not put the book down. Although many of the discriptions and photographs were gruesome, they offered a realistic and brutally honest look at the horrors of lynching. I would recommend this book for sixth grade and up.

If you are not familiar with Ida B. Wells and her work, by allmeans become so immediately. I will be recommending this book toeveryone I know, and I am a children's and young adult librarian. Ida B. Wells is one of the greatest Americans of all time, and most of us have never heard of her. What she did to better the lives of African-Americans and, especially, to stop lynching, is moving, stirring, and heartbreaking. I never knew that people were burned at the stake in the USA, but they certainly were--and the crowds who came to see them die were happy to have so much fun watching "the nigger burn". A great book.