Races Books

I found Mr. Lewis's approach to exploring multiracial issues down-to-earth and mindful of historical context, and this sets his book apart from some of the other works addressing the same subject matter. I used an entire pack of Post-Its marking pages containing uncommon insights and/or useful information. Thanks for a great read! -Louie Gong, MAVIN Foundation

This book covers the shared experiences, both historical and psychological, of multiracial individuals.

This book is about what every multiracial person knows. This book is also teaches the reader the things every teacher, parent and partner of a multiracial person needs to know.

This was a wonderful and lively work touching on a very timely topic in the ever shifting demographic make up of our country. Elliott provides fresh views in a personable way that helped me with discussions with my own children in accepting those that may come from bi-racial families. Wonderfully eye opening and very touching. It's a great read!

I found this to be a very illuminating read. Elliott Lewis looks at multiple facets of the lives of mixed-race persons in America, and the book will be an eye-opener especially for readers who have little exposure to the subject. This is no dry sociology text: the style is lively and loaded with anecdotes and interviews that bring the topic to life. Lewis' observations on the formation of racial identities in children - and the unique challenges for multiracial kids who find themselves forced to "choose" - are of particular interest. This is a timely subject and Lewis is an engaging writer - definitely give this one a try!

Elliott Lewis travels the country, but mostly the West Coast, and talks to biracial people about their experiences and activism. He gets the point across that mixed-race people are seen by different people differently in different settings. He also does a great job in showing how they want to be recognized in their wholeness.
Mr. Lewis has a unique positionality. Like Lisa Bonet's and Lenny Kravitz's daughter, he is mixed on both sides. His status as a second-generation biracial person is fascinating and fresh.
The late legal scholar Trina Grillo, who was also biracial and wrote on biracial persons, once stated, "It used to be that biracial issues never came up, now you can't turn on the TV without hearing about it." I was worried that this book would just rehash what other books have already stated. I was pleased to be proven incorrect. This had interesting topical chapters. I think both experts and novices can enjoy this book.
Near the end of the book, the author admits the text's most serious flaw: it almost entirely covers black-white mixed people like himself. He gives all this focus on black-white individuals, yet lists numbers that prove there are more white-Latino, white-Asian, and white-Native people than there are white-blacks. I think people from these groups will be gravely disappointed. This book shamelessly falls into "the black-white paradigm" that Latino and Asian-American scholars have lamented.
When he does mention others besides Eurafricans, he focuses on Eurasians. However, the most common interracial couple in the United States is made up of one Latino spouse and one white spouse. The children of couples like Ricky and Lucy make up the majority of mixed folks, yet they are virtually ignored. Lewis never mentions Bill Richardson, Christina Aguilera, Raquel Welch, Benjamin Bratt and numerous other Anglo-Latins. Latinos are now the most numerous group of color in the US, yet they get no attention here. Further, those mixed-race people who are fully of color, like Tiger Woods, get ignored just like they did in Rachel Moran's interracial text. The black and white colors on the front of the book signify the black-white focus here. "Fade" does not just refer to diminishing colors, but also a hairstyle popular among African-American men in the late 1980s.
While the author quotes many male biracial writers, most of his interviewees are female. My Spidey sense tells me that biracial issues may be more salient to women than men. This book seems to hint at that during its discussion on exoticization.
Mr. Lewis mentions that there are more biracials on the West Coast than in the East. Again, I think this can be explained by the heavy white-brown and white-yellow mixing over there compared to the rare black-white mixing east of the Mississippi River.
In a similar fashion that Spike Lee often creates characters in the arts like himself, Mr. Lewis paid especial attention to biracial people working in the media and from Washington State.
I think the author may have fudged a fact in the book. He says that the late NAACP head Walter White was only 1/64th Black. However, Wikipedia says Walter White had 5 great-grandparents and 17 white ones; that's about a quarter Black.
The author has a photo of himself on the back cover. This is similar to the photos in Maria Root's multiracial books. I guess visuality is important in this area. Whatever the cause, one gets to see that Mr. Lewis is incredibly cute.
This book would be good for people of all ages. It has good quotes for students writing papers in college or high school.

African-American genealogy is a field that few non-Black researchers know very much about, myself included. The essentials of family research are generally the same, of course, and this well-written book reflects that -- but there are also a great many special considerations, techniques, and applications of old ideas that Woodtor presents clearly and in detail. Several chapters lay out the basic principles for the novice: Working backward from the living generation, moving from the known to the unknown, developing good research habits, checking all the sources, and so on. But they also point out the importance of oral tradition among African-American families, the necessity of identifying the last slave owner, and the tendency among many families to "disremember" unpleasant periods or relationships in the past. The author also relies on anecdotes, mostly from her own family, to illustrate the research process and to warn of special problems the researcher may encounter. A number of important topics are discussed at length, most of which I had only the most superficial knowledge of. Among these were the several extended exoduses during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the great out-migration from Edgefield County, South Carolina to Tennesse, Arkansas, and (via Charleston) to Liberia; the "exodusters" movement of 1878-1879 from most of the Od South to Kansas and the Midwest; and the effects of World War I on the formation of a Black artisan and middle-class. Even searching the censuses of 1870-1920 brings special problems for the African-American researcher, since race was often incorrectly reported and surnames often changed over time. Another important consideration is possible enlistment in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War; this is especially true for Louisiana (my special research area), which supplied more enlistees than any other state, North or South. There are several rules to keep in mind in working your way back before 1865: The smaller the slave owner, the fewer the records created. Rather than analyzing nuclear families, one will be looking at lists of slaves in an effort to reconstruct kinship ties. The general principle of working slowly from the present to the past tends to break down in slave research, with very wide gaps between records. In order to understand the movement and selling of more than one million slaves in the South between 1790 and 1860, one must understand the principles and mechanics of the slave trade. And, perhaps most important, the genealogy of slaves is the genealogy of slave owners. The author also explains the reasons behind "protective" slavery and slave ownership by free Blacks, the place of free Blacks in the North before the Civil War, and the question of American Indian ancestry among African-Americans. Several closing chapters discuss special topics, including Caribbean ancestry, sources of African-American institutional records, genealogical research at family reunions, and what to do with your research. I highly recommend this volume to any and all genealogists, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Dee Parmer Woodtor, Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity (New York: Random House, 1999) is a superb discussion of resources and methods, with a well-developed (and essential) emphasis on interpreting evidence from records. Includes examples and case studies throughout. The best book of its genre yet written.

As a serious researcher for over twenty years of various ethnic origins, regions and time periods, I found this book to be packed with information and encouragement for anyone researching African Americans. She not only includes hundreds of resources but gives examples of what you may find. She continually encourages the reader to keep looking and finding slave ancestors is not impossible. She also dimisses many myths about the lives of slaves as well as slaveholders. The book is very readable, for the beginner or experienced researcher. It is particularly helpful for someone who believes they have hit a brick wall. The author has combined her book into a "book of sources" with a "how-to book" in a most successful manner. Other genealogy writers would profit by studying her methodology.

The book itself is beautifully laid out with photos, tables, quotes and sample documents. But don't let the good looks fool you! This book has real meat to it! I heartily applaud Dee's efforts to:

describe the type of records available

suggest how to organize research

handle the delicacies of slave trading, and the consequential short history of many African Americans

discuss the usefulness of tracing European ancestry

assist you in finding your own voice during the process

guide readers to a thoughtful presentation of results.

Chapter headings include:

Regaining Our Collective Memory, Reclaiming a Lost Family Tradition

Beginning Your Genealogical Pursuit

Techniques & Tools

Your Ancestors on Record: The importance of documenting the life cycle

A Place Called Down Home

Unraveling the ties that Bound 1870-1920

Finding Freedom's Generation 1860-1865

Close to Kin, but Still Waiting for Forty Acres and a Mule - Searching for your ancestors during the reconstruction

A Long Way to Freedom - The genealogy of your slave ancestors

The Last Slave and the Last Slave Owner

The Records of Slavery

Reconstructing Families and Kinship in the Slave Community

The Records Freedom Generated

The Last African & the First American

Conclusion - Family Reunions & Regaining a Collective Memory

Special topics include:

Sources for Advanced Research in Slave Genealogy

African American Institutional Records

Caribbean Ancestry

American Indian Ancestry

World Wars I & II

What to Do with Your Research - Writing family memoirs or the family story, and 101 genealogy research projects waiting to be done

Further Note on County Courthouse Records

Personal Recordkeeping with exercises for Beginners

African American and Genealogy Web Sites

African American Genealogy Societies in the United States and Canada.

Dee's bibliography, referenced by chapter, is found on 24 pages of closely spaced lettering -- a literal MUST READ set of resources to augment her offerings.

Notable comments, which ring true to my understanding include:

"...Once you find the last slave owner, you are using his family history and genealogy as a guide to identify his recorded transactions that named slaves he and his extended family owned over time using primarily the family's personal records, if you can find them, and any public transactions that they recorded at the courthouse. " p 275.

"Dotted throughout the South are thousands of small African American Churches of every known Protestant denomination. If there are now approximately 65,000 African American Churches in the United States, over half of them must be in the south.

A recent survey reported that 70 percent of African Americans attend church. In each and every county of the historical Black Belt and in every small place where Black folks lived during slavery, you will find that they established independent churches within a few decades of emancipation. Many were extensions of churches established during slavery or through a bequest by a former slave owner." p 107.

Regarding African Americans serving in the military during the US Civil War from page 148: "Anoder ting is, suppose you had kept your freedom without enlisting in dis army; your chillen might have grown up free and been well cultivated as to be equal to any business, but it would have been always thrown in dere faces --"Your fater never fought for his own freedom." Private Thomas Long, 1st Carolina South Colunteers Cited in Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the Civil War.

The author, Dee Woodtor, is a member of the Genealogy Forum staff

copyright 2000

Best book on the market for a genealogical researcher. It is easy to read and reviews in detail, how to reseach your ancestor, who may have once been a slave. It reviews records that other guides do not explain or may not know exist. Finding this book, when I hit the brick wall was heaven sent. Not only did it help me decide what to do next, but it also help me to review the work I had did before and to see what steps I had missed. This book should be recommended reading for all genealogical researchers, beginners and advanced. Even though this book details African-American researching, it could be used for all types of genealogical researching.

The start of the book was slow but necessary to get some background into the characters that populate the book. Then, things really start to take off. 1/3rd of the way through, I could not put it down.

As a Texas genealogist, I found this book really compelling. As I read through it, I surfed over to Ancestry.com to pull the 1920 census from Freestone county Texas. This helped to flesh out the characters all the more. I was amazed to learn that of the sampling of the census records I reviewed (2 of 10 districts) over half of the inhabitants were black or latino. This points up another injustice that is often overlooked historically: These were taxpayers that were supporting the government that was hobbling them in every way.

While some may be amazed at what "God fearing" citizens would do in a mob, I, for one am not. I am never amazed at the violence perpetrated by our White fore fathers though I am often saddened. A land born of blood will take a very long time to shed itself of that origin. We can't do it over night and it seems as though a couple of hundred years won't be enough time either.

Kudos to Mr Akers on his well researched work.

What can cause civil, "God fearing" citizens of a small Texas community to commit such atrocities? What can cause the breakdown of rule of law and complete abandonment of American values? What can convince individuals that it is necessary and proper to burn a man alive on the town square of their community?
This book is a reminder that hatred and evil does not just live in some foreign land or some corrupt urban metropolis. It exists down the street and may be harbored by our neighbor or our drinking buddy.
While the events of this book happened more than 80 years ago, the author conveys what we Texans know; Too many civil "God fearing" people in our communities would say "he had it comin to him".
This book is important not just to Texans but to everyone to remind us that the monster is still there and can still be awakened. This book reminds us that we must be forever vigilant, not just in a small Texas town but anywhere.

"Flames After Midnight" is an expertly researched and documented bit of history that reads like a suspense novel. I was so interested in the drama of the events and people that it was easy to forget it is real - its reality of course, makes the book even more important. A great read for fans of suspense and history buffs alike.

Much of what is taught of Texas history in schools points to the proud and honorable past of our state. Flames After Midnight tells of a part of our history that we are too often reluctant to relate, but a pert of our past that we should never forget. The outrage of which should never be repeated.

Much of what is taught of Texas history in schools points to the proud and honorable past of our state. Flames After Midnight tells of a part of our history that we are too often reluctant to relate, but a pert of our past that we should never forget. The outrage of which should never be repeated.

I think it is a great book for children to read because it shows them that people their age can make a difference in the world. The stories are inspiring.

Freedom's Children was a very good book because it involved different interveiws by thirty people so every person's story was different. It is probably one of the best African-American books for children. I really recommend it to people who like true stories and the 50's and 60's. At some points it was depressing, and at some points it was happy.

Freedom's Children is filled with inspiring real life stories of children who lived in the 1950's. It tells about their separate lives and how they fought for Civil Rights. This book describes many aspects of the movement. One part is about the Little Rock Nine. I admire them for having enough courage to attend an all white school. They were made fun of and even physically threatened by fellow students. The book also tells about the bus boycott, Freedom Riders, and all the laws passed to make a better life for African Americans. I enjoyed this book mostly because of how much it taught me and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn

Many figures and groups of people are marginalized in the study of the Civil Rights Movement. This book is an excellent forum to give voice to the children of the movement. Especially powerful are the stories of students who were among the first to integrate. One student recounts the time when he asked a white friend to sign his senior year book. the white friend wrote "there was a time when I was a bigot and a racist... but knowing you changed me. I now know that people are people, black or white." He ended the entry by saying, "We shall overcome." Annecdotes like these illustrate the profound effect young people had on the movement. This book is a rich resource, and I recommend it to anyone. Though some parts are quite depressing, enough to make you cry, in the end you will feel a respect and appreciation for what "everyday" young people did to contribute to the movement. Essentially, a priceless collection.

Touching and powerfully honest personal accounts of the daily lives of children / youth in the Civil Rights Movement. Children surviving domestic terrorism in a culture of violence, ever hopeful of realizing " all men are created equal". Though it documents 'traumatic' incidents the focus is on courage , hope, and our personal responsibility for making the world a better world. For the children each day, each choice, each action made a profound vote for justice and equality. They are truly activists, and advocates for 'humanity'. Our elementary class uses this book to learn about and portray each person. They often seek to emulate them.The children respectfully honor these young heroes, and find their own 'voice'.

This is an important book about human relationships and how conditioning must be transcended to allow a new order of humanity to emerge. Chris's honesty is remarkable and refreshing. The forces against human beings coming together are big - the black/white racial issue just further highlights what most of us try to pretend isn't there. Their willingness to trust in God and something bigger than themselves because they know how important it is for the sake of humanity, is very moving and should not be missed. This is an unusual book because although the foundational faith is Christianity, the issues are human and can be appreciated by anyone interested in solving the complex issues of what it means to be a human being.

This is an important book about human relationships and how conditioning must be transcended to allow a new order of humanity to emerge. Chris's honesty is remarkable and refreshing. The forces against human beings coming together are big - the black/white racial issue just further highlights what most of us try to pretend isn't there. Their willingness to trust in God and something bigger than themselves because they know how important it is for the sake of humanity, is very moving and should not be missed. This is an unusual book because although the foundational faith is Christianity, the issues are human and can be appreciated by anyone interested in solving the complex issues of what it means to be a human being.

Chris Rice is brutally vulnerable and honest about his attempts to achieve the goal of racial reconciliation in partnership with Spencer Perkins. And, while the goal is important, the means of achieving it takes center stage in this poignant and absorbing chronicle of life in an intentional biracial community. Chris and Spencer discover that, when it comes right down to it, the only way they can overcome their own personal hangups and self-centeredness, and achieve true reconciliation between them, is by fully accepting God's grace. As they accept God's grace, they become transformed people who are whole, healed, and capable of truly seeking the best for others. The book clearly documents the work of God in the deep, private recesses of peoples' lives. It should be read by anyone who wants to achieve lasting change in their own life and the world around them.

What a tremendously honest book. There are no shortcuts to true racial reconciliation and justice. Attempts at shortcuts usually lead to a perpetuation of racial injustice or merely a reversal of who is oppressed. Reading "Grace Matters" clearly indicates this truism. Most of the books on race relations are dogmatic about the ultimate solutions there are to racial harmonty. This book is a more honest reflection of the struggles we will have to undergo so that racial reconciliation is possible. Rice does not make himself the "hero" of this book. He freely reveals the ugly side of himself. But just as important he does not deify Spencoer Perkins - his best friend in the book who is black - or blacks in general. This is a real book about real people.
If you want to just rely on those who pretend that they know all of the answers to racism, from color-blind whites to afrocentric blacks, then this book is not for you. The answers in this book are not offered through an unrealistic idealism but through the blood, sweat and tears that happen when people of different races really start working at racial healing. So if you want to gain a little sense of the type of struggle that we are going to have to undergo to eliminate racism then go get this book as soon as you can.

This memoir by Chris Rice is important, not because of the people involved, though they are in the forefront of evangelical ministry with the poor. It is important because for the first time someone is being brutally honest about what real relationships across the black-white chasm will cost and why they are worth the effort. This is no sugary, "Can't we just all get along" picture of the ideal "brotherhood of man." This is a chronicle of misunderstanding, miscommunication, determination, reconciliation and forgiveness. But finally, the story of Antioch Community and the friendship of Spencer Perkins and Christ Rice is about grace--God's grace working through flawed and struggling Christians who are radical enough to take the Sermon on the Mount as a call to lifestyle and mission.

Everybody who is interested in miinistry with the poor, racial reconciliation, Christian community and social justice should read this book.

Carl Sommer does a great job of utilizing age old concepts in teaching children character education concepts through his stories. My son absoutely loved the book and it will be a must read book on our family list. The book is easy to read and is illustrated magnificiently. Virtues such as hard work, obedience, self-acceptance, perserverance, truthfulness, kindness and respect for parents are taught through this story. All things we are trying to teach our children.

This is a fun story that would be great for kids. It's a story that shows motives can be hidden but will usually be discovered. A great lesson for kids!

The Great Royal Race was one of my favorite Carl Sommer books. It's a story about Princess Elizabeth who must choose between three suitors to be become her new husband and the next king. Her father had a wonderful idea on how to find him, and put all three suitors to a true test of loyalty. As the story ends you find out who her true love really is as he passes the royal test. What a great lesson in loyalty, love and wisdom.

The Great Royal Race made my heart race. It kept my interest and I was anxious to see who would win the princess. I couldn't wait to see what obstacle Sommer would put in the race to see the real true love of the destined prince. It made me smile and I was glad she married the the one who wasn't intested in riches. Hooray for the king.

What youngster hasn't dreamed of being a king or a princess? All children love to hear tales of the royal kindom, of competition and love. This one contains the elements and virtues of perseverance and wisdom. A fun story that has a valuable lesson too.

In January of 1925, a diptheria epidemic broke out in Nome, Alaska. One Dr. Welch treated three children who were deathly ill. Since the town was under quarantine and an emergency alert was sent to the governor in Juneau outlining the need for the vaccine.

The necessary serum was in Anchorage, which was over 1,000 miles from Nome. This was during the early days of air travel and at that time no planes flew to Alaska during the winter months due to the lack of closed cockpits and the inclement weather would cost pilots their lives.

Trains were the popular mode of transportation. A train brought the serum from Anchorage to Nenana. In Nenana, the mushers and their teams of malamutes and huskies took the medicine for the rest of its cliff-hanging run to Nome.

I like the way a map of the route is included in this book and the way the dogs are introduced to readers. Balto, the most famous dog was the husky who led the team on the last leg of the journey. He has been credited with getting the medicine through in time to save the stricken children. Togo, a beautiful male husky is also featured. He was one of the huskies on the first run. Sadly, his part is eclipsed by Balto's now famous heroic journey. Still, this is not to discount what this brave curly tailed dog accomplished. Togo's stamina got the first team off to a flying start.

I like the way each musher is credited in this book; the distance of each run to Nome and each participant, musher and husky and malamute alike are listed. Each one of these people and curly tailed dogs are given their due recognition. If it had not been for those teams, the medicine would never have reached its destination before deadline. Truly a treasure for all ages. It makes me think of the 1979 song, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now."

Debbie Millerýs masterful retelling of the Serum Run, which saved the children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly diphtheria epidemic in 1925, goes well beyond the facts of this heroic team effort. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail includes well-researched factual information, reference tables, maps, and photographs. Millerýs narrative comes alive as she skillfully interweaves many little known fascinating details of how the mushers and their dog sled teams endured their individual treks from Nenana to Nome in such deadly weather conditions. The story behind this famous dog sled team relay was inspiration for the world famous ýLast Great Race,ý the Iditarod. Jon Van Zyle, the official Iditarod artist, complements Millerýs text with vivid, captivating illustrations. Readers of this book will gain a sense of the unbelievable accomplishment of these dog sled teams. People of all ages will treasure this book. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail should be included as a first resource for teachers interested in providing thought provoking discussions about the Iditarod, teamwork, and manýs interaction and dependence on animals.

About the Reviewer: Ann Morgan has taught lessons about the Iditarod in grades 2- 6 for the last 18 years, and is currently teaching at Chatham Middle School, Chatham, Massachusetts. In 2000, she was in Alaska at the Iditarod and acquired first hand knowledge of the race by following the mushers and dog sled teams with her own bush pilot from Anchorage to Nome.

The Great Serum Race, Blazing the Iditarod Trail by Debbie S. Miller with illustrations by Jon Van Zyle, the official artist of the dogsled race and a two-time participant in the Iditarod, is a children's book, ages 7 to 10, published in 2002 by Walker & Company. This has become one of my favorite books for introducing children to this amazing race of skill and endurance.

The book is based on the real events of January, 1925, when the population of Nome, Alaska, was in desperate need of diphtheria vaccine. Dr. Welch had not seen a case of diphtheria in twenty years and suddenly he had three young children very ill with the disease. Something had to be done. The community was put under quarantine and an emergency wire went out to the governor in Juneau that the town needed emergency help. This is where the mushers came in. The decision was made to bring serum from Anchorage, over 1,000 miles away, to Nome. In those days, airplanes only flew in Alaska in the summertime because they had open-cockpits and neither plane nor pilot would survive the weather. A steam engine (#66) took the serum from Anchorage to Nenana where the real adventure began. The rest of the story tells of the harrowing experiences of mushers and dogs in their race against time in getting the serum to its destination. At one point, it is believed the serum might be lost.

The front of the book includes a map of the dogsled trail from Nenana to Nome. There is also an introduction to Togo, a Siberian husky and one of the true heroes of the 1925 race. Another excellent feature included in this book, is the complete list of mushers who participated in the original race, each one's race segment, and the distance covered. The race's heroic dogs also have a page devoted to them at the end of the book. This book is a real treasure for both adults and children.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

Debbie Miller's masterful retelling of the Serum Run, which saved the children of Nome, Alaska from a deadly diphtheria epidemic in 1925, goes well beyond the facts of this heroic team effort. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail includes well-researched factual information, reference tables, maps, and photographs. Miller's narrative comes alive as she skillfully interweaves many little known fascinating details of how the mushers and their dog sled teams endured their individual treks from Nenana to Nome in such deadly weather conditions. The story behind this famous dog sled team relay was inspiration for the world famous "Last Great Race," the Iditarod. Jon Van Zyle, the official Iditarod artist, complements Miller's text with vivid, captivating illustrations. Readers of this book will gain a sense of the unbelievable accomplishment of these dog sled teams. People of all ages will treasure this book. The Great Serum Run: Blazing the Iditarod Trail should be included as a first resource for teachers interested in providing thought provoking discussions about the Iditarod, teamwork, and man's interaction and dependence on animals.

About the Reviewer: Ann Morgan has taught lessons about the Iditarod in grades 2- 6 for the last 18 years, and is currently teaching at Chatham Middle School, Chatham, Massachusetts. In 2000, she was in Alaska at the Iditarod and acquired first hand knowledge of the race by following the mushers and dog sled teams with her own bush pilot from Anchorage to Nome.

Debbie Miller did a great deal of research before writing this book, so though it is written for children, it is a great account for all to read. I would highly recommend it to readers of all ages who are interested in dog teams and their important role in Alaska. This is the best and most acurate telling of the story of the serum run to Nome in 1925 which I have ever seen. It is a children's book in that it explains what happened from the viewpoint of children. Beyond the story, there are facts presented in the back of the book. Jon Van Zyle is a popular artist, but I did not feel that his oil paintings for this book were all that great.

Why is this book so difficult to find? Why hasn't it been re-printed? Who knows...

This book was extremely difficult to find for some time. I had a Russian translation of it.

The fact is that translations of this relatively unknown work by J. London, actually a novelization of a movie script by Charles Goddard, are in wide circulation, especially in Russia, where it has been one of a group of favourite books.

I myself have read it a several times, bot as a child, and as an adult. In that latter occasion I was reading more critically and it is my opinion that it has nothing less than "King Solomon's Mines" or other similar books, widely read by many... Romance, exotic location, colorful portraying of characters, magnificent villains, burning sun and glowing treasure, lovely señoritas, twists - all that in a shape of a gripping narrative in one of the best books by London I have ever read. Scholars specializing on the author's work may state that it is a lot different then other more popular of his works, but I don't think anyone could say that it's not top of its genre. You will enjoy it immensely!

EDITED: it was finally reprinted in 2003 by Kessinger Publishing Co

Friendship, Love, Adventure - this book has it ALL!

Extremely hard to find in the US. Why did they stop printing it is anybody's guess.

I read this book when I was little. Since then, I have neither been able to forget it nor to find it. The book is especially ideal for teenagers/older children. Why is it out of print?

I read this book three times when I was young. It is the best adventure story I ever read. The beginning is boring a little, but further things happen so fast, so different, graphically, unlimited and smart. The plot isn't linear and unpredictable. There are love, pursuers, treasure hunting and intrigues.

Mr. Arthur Miller is a personal friend of mine and for as long as I have known him he has been telling me this story of his connnection to Emmett Till and how it has affected his life. So to now see it in a book for public consumption is really a beautiful thing. His perspective is a very unique one but this book also shows the many other parts that contributed to the Civil Rights Movement that isn't being taught in school. This book should be required reading in every public high school in America. Our children need to know who came before them so they can appreciate what they have now. Thank you Arthur Miller.

This book included the ugliness and the beauty of growing up poor to middle class and black in America. It reminded me of the burden placed upon black people to carry your race.
Most black parents that I knew said the same thing to there children, Don't embrassed your people, meaning black people. Thanks Art Miller I truly enjoyed your Journey to Chatham.

This book puts a personal perspective on an event that touched many and helped spark a movement. Set in a time and place in which all the children in the neighborhood "belonged to" all the adults in the neighborhood, the story illustrates the way the sense of innocent safety Black children in Chicago enjoyed was robbed from them when Emmett "Bo" Till was murdered. Documenting a community founded on love and trust, the story indicts the community based on hatred and fear that allowed Emmett to be killed and his murderers to go free. Simple and beautiful in its language, the book speaks appropriately to children as clearly as to adults. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the way an individual, a family, a neighborhood, and a whole people were affected by that single, horrible event.

This writer, who evidently grew up at a very interesting time. Tells a story about America. An America that I was unfamiliar with. I forgot that the people, and the neighborhood were Black. This is an All-American story that all Americans should read. We can all be stronger and better if we heed the words of the author.

An important and insightful book, that take the reader to a new place of compassion and agony. It's more than a story of Emmett Till's death but a honest reflection of a part of our disonorable history. More than a good read it's a necessary read.

As a graduate student in cultural anthropology, I find Goldstein's book to be an important contribution to modern-day anthropology. As a good example of "on the ground" anthropology, this ethnography's greatest strength lies in the material itself, specifically those social issues that CANNOT and MUST NOT be classified as social phenomena (i.e. racism, class conflict, and structural and everyday forms of violence) attributable of a bygone era. By focusing specifically on the social, familial, and economic relationships of her main informant (Glória), Goldstein illustrates how Glória's experiences-as well as her friends' and family members'-are microcosmic examples of how the lives of Rio's urban poor continue to be characterized by these very real and contemporary issues. Often relegated to favelas in the Rio's Zona Norte, members of Brazil's enormous lower class encounter social and economic hardships that most-if not all-of us will only experience through ethnographic description. In my opinion, "Laughter Out of Place" is one ethnography that successfully and sensitively sheds some light-however depressing-on these realities.

I believe that "Laughter Out of Place" successfully interweaves both theory and ethnographic data in what is a cohesive and coherent final product. In reference to theory, Goldstein's explicit theoretical discussions are not only interesting, but also helpful in trying to wrap your brain around such difficult subjects as rape, police violence, and extreme poverty. For example, she utilizes theories of political economy, cultural capital, and Freyre's "myth of racial democracy" to better understand-and best convey-the complexity of the situations she witnessed in the early 1990s. Additionally, the ethnographic content is well proportioned to the amount of theoretical material included in the book. At times, the `thickness' of the ethnographic material is overwhelming, but this is necessary when writing of extremely depressing scenarios like those so prevalent in the culture of Rio's favelas.

One of the most endearing and unique aspects of "Laughter Out of Place" is at the heart of the ethnography: the examination of how a particular cultural group comes to use a specific coping mechanism (`black humor') to confront their lived realities and hardships. Goldstein skillfully shows that this adaptation is undoubtedly culturally constructed and culturally specific to life in Rio's favelas, particularly Felicidade Eterna. For as Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philippe Bourgois suggest in the Forward, Goldstein clearly reveals "the layers of bravado, anger, defiance, and deep sadness that are built into each complex joke."

Lastly, I should mention that I reflected on my own coping mechanisms while contemplating Goldstein's detailed discussion of laughter `out of place.' As a result, I ask myself: How do I deal with pain, stress, and death in my own life? How do we in our own subcultures choose to cope collectively with our own economic, social, and political situations? The very fact that I reflect in such a personal-as well as anthropological-way makes me appreciate "Laughter Out of Place" that much more.

Donna Goldstein, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has written a true anthropological/ethnographic masterpiece. After many years of field work and manuscript writing, Goldstein's book should be added to nationwide anthro department reading lists. Each chapter deals with the core issues that any cultural anthropologist must come to terms with: gender, race, class, and violence. Black humor is also an underlying theme.

As a student of anthropology, this book changed my perspective regarding my area of study. After reading many of the required ethnographies and anthropological works for my major, Laughter out of Place was like a breath of fresh air. Goldstein's style is truly beautiful and poignant. Her storytelling style and descriptions of poverty, racism, rape, and violence cut to the core. Furthermore, the explanations of various cultural and social theories are not dry-- they flow with the rest of the book (thus making it accessible to those who are not students of anthropology).

Goldstein also does a fine job of demonstrating to the reader that although her book reflects upon her experiences in Brazil, it also stands as a symbol for any people in any country who suffer from having been "colonized".

I highly recommend this book to anyone. However, I would especially emphasize its importance for students of anthropology. This is definitely the book that will remind you of why we study anthropology: to come to an understanding of other cultures and why injustices exist in this world.

Laughter Out of Place is a wonderful ethnography in a number of ways. It captures an incredible depth of understanding of lives of the urban poor women and their families in a favela. It reveals the complexity of their predicaments, and their predicaments are many:
How can one try to move up in the society without reproducing the beliefs about black female sexual allure?
How can Gloria keep her children in line, out of prison and alive but also how can she prevent them from joining a gang?
How can she inflict harsh punishments on her children and at the same time witness the perpetual pampering of the middle and upper class children?
How can young men in the favela stay out of gangs in a situation where there are virtually no economic opportunities for them and they are constantly criminalized by the elite?
How can middle and upper classes stop their dependence on domestic workers without lowering their own class standing?
How can the women in the favela break the cycle of domination and refuse domestic work when sex work is one of the only other viable alternatives for them?
How can a black consciousness movement develop among people who believe that calling someone 'black' is an insult?
These are just a few of very complex predicaments that Laughter Out of Place reveals to the reader through a great depth of analysis and wonderful story-telling.
What might be most interesting, however, is that even though so much of the book is about violence -- either actual or symbolic -- Goldstein chose the lens of humor through which to cast the story. This choice might seem odd at the first glance but at the end of the book it is clear that the framework of humor as a survivalist strategy and also as a place of disjunction between aesthetics of the poor and aesthetics of the middle and upper classes brings all aspects of Goldstein?s work together. This book is also written with a clarity of thought that I believe will draw both academic and non-academic audiences.

Within the first few pages of Laughter Out of Place, I realized that Dr. Goldstein was going to embark on ethnographic analysis in a more personal vein. The introduction reads like a personal reflection of her time spent in "Felicidade Eterna," folding in memories of the people she met into a journal-styled ethnography, of the kind introduced to us by Ruth Behar. I found Donna's approach refreshing: a reader knew where she stood on issues, and there were no concealed objectivities in her observations. Donna's personality comes through in her writing in her style -which does not back away from harsh realities, nor delve into idealized or romanticized metaphors for Brazilian music, sex, or style. I found large scale conclusions were lacking, but her small conclusions peppered within her dialogue were cogent: clearly understood and explained by her observations.

Looking at the book's format in an overall construction, I thought she made an interesting and deliberate choice in segmenting the book around particular phenomena of favela culture. The overarching concept - of laughter in the favelas that seemed to be out of place - ran through the book, but other subjects like the aesthetics of domination, black cinderelllas, short-term childhoods, gangs and violence, and the carnivalization of desire focused the book into themes particularized to the society of the favela. The choice of these themes and I can guess were synthesized from coded observations. The phenomena addressed were concrete and drew Donna's discursive writing style along into interesting, relevant, and "involving" territory. She used theory to bolster her arguments, but didn't saddle the story with overwhelming treatises. The choice of ethnographic writing - employing themes - makes me curious though. Does the use of themes artificially differentiate the life in the favela from our own, or other social conditions where poverty subjugates its population? Are we getting a picture of what life is like there, or rather of what particularizes life in the favela from our existences?

Admittedly though the book is seductive in drawing the reader into the discussion. And issues touched upon in the book can be applied to many other geographies. Donna does not try to ingratiate herself in pure relativism, as she says, she is often shocked by the ironic attitudes of the people who seem to accept their fate much more humorously than Donna imagined prior to her experience in Felicidade. She takes issue with some theortists, including Foucault, presenting and then unraveling their theoretical positioning. She also disparages the study of elites, or "cosmopolitan intellectuals, or transnational social movements" as a form of "ethnographic refusal," and a condition "that would fail to provide density to our representations, sanitize politics," or produce "thin version of culture with a set of dissolving actors" (43). Donna does not hold back.

In her review of Donna Goldstein's book, Nancy Shepar-Hughes mentions that Golstein's book will not come without controversy because it may be painted in a "culture-of-poverty" conceptual framework. But I don't see that happening in this case because Goldstein concentrates on the conditions of life and the subsequent actions of people mired in a difficult situation and in the fragile structure of the favela. Donna is also quick to point out that she herself does not understand - at all times - the social structures in place. For example, out of generosity Donna sets aside some money for Soneca to attend a computer institute. The idea does not succeed and Gloria, the main informant of the book, is annoyed by the waste of valuable resources.

Donna also employs modern electronic resources to make her point, and bring the reader directly into current attitudes and stereotyping concerning "Brazilian Mulatas." She enters a search engine with those exact two words and finds dozens of porn sites exemplifying popular viewpoints related to sexuality in Brazil. She points out many of the inconsistentsies and ironic attitudes present in the favelas regarding sexuality and race. Gloria, for instance, views the white coroa taking on a dark skinned lover as evidence for a "reluctance of Afro-Brazilian women to interpret certain kinds of interactions as racist" (124).

While all of the discussion in Laughter Out of Place is interesting, for me the discussions on violence and gangs are/were most relevant in a changing second and third world. One can imagine the "trajectory into criminality by young men as a form of local knowledge (and as a vehicle for advancement)..." (203). Indeed, after the descriptions given of the lifestyle, poverty, abuse, and of course humor that saturate the favela, one can clearly see the seductive link of falling into gang violence and criminality. Donna also clearly demonstrates the functionality of bandit existence, quoting and borrowing from Hobsbawm the reasoning behind the formation of "primitive rebels:" "Social banditry becomes a form of self-help in the context of economic crises and social tension" (209).

In Donna's short but cogent conclusion she does not try to offer monumental solutions to the problems she sees, but nevertheless her astute observations and solutions provided are idealistic and perhaps unrealistic. She points to endemic problems in the favela such as the "differential application of the rule of law," and the need to "reform policing forces" bringing an end to corruption and abuse" (273). She points out that in order for drug traffickers and gangs to be removed from the favela, "'good faith' social services need to be put in place to treat the everyday private injustices that are currently being handled by such organizations" (274). Like so many impoverished societies, an infrastructure or support girdle of municipal services needs to be put in place (or reformed) to aid all segments of the society of Rio. This remains a common need for societies battling poverty. Great ethnography and seductive reading examining a micro-world of global inequality.

Carlos Torres, Ph.D. student

Laughter out of Place is crucial reading for those interested in exploring the hardships of Brazil and the spunk that keeps a population of oppressed and impoverished people dancing, singing, and always eager to laugh. Goldstein takes the reader through the gutters and alleys of a Rio shantytown, sharing years of experience as both a fieldworker, and a personal friend to many of the book's feisty characters. Laughter portrays the unbearableness of shantytown life and how it is expressed through laughter, ridicule, and trickery that seem inappropriate to outsiders.

From my own experience of living and working in a Brazilian shantytown, I can with say confidence that Laughter out of Place is an authentic and well-researched exploration of shantytown survival tactics in Brazil. For any person interested in learning about the Brazil that lies outside of Carnival and beautiful beaches, this book is your transport.

Annie Eastman
director of (a room of an hour) an excerpt of Brazil
floorsleepers'productions@hotmail.com