An unsung hero of the civil rights movement takes center stage. Manis (Southern Civil Religions in Conflict, not reviewed), religion and southern studies editor at Mercer University Press in Macon, Ga., has written an exhaustive and compelling portrayal of Fred Shuttlesworth, the Birmingham minister who labored in the trenches for years, often risking his life for the greater good of all Alabama citizens. Shuttlesworth helped Martin Luther King with his Montgomery bus boycott and James Farmer with his freedom rides; he even supported sit-ins conducted by students on various southern college campuses in the 1960s. The group he founded, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), had been doing battle with Alabama authorities since the mid-1950s. But Shuttlesworth remained in the margins of the movement (and its histories) because of his brash style, his unpolished manner, and his strong, uncompromising will. Manis points out that King commanded the national stage while Shuttlesworth fought to integrate Birmingham’s buses, lunch counters, police force, and parks. Some of the book’s finest chapters examine the strategic battles and confrontations between Shuttlesworth and Birmingham police commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, which come to a bloody conclusion in 1963, when King’s forces finally join with the ACMHR after much prodding by Shuttlesworth. The author takes time out from the movement to cover his subject’s preaching and home life. The latter is more often than not depicted as stormy, but this helps humanize Shuttlesworth. A good read for those who think Martin Luther King Jr. carried off the civil rights revolution by himself, as well as for those who know better and seek more details about some of the other men and women involved. (24 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8173-0968-3
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Univ. of Alabama
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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