In a well-researched re-creation of the heady days of the Civil Rights movement, the story of one of its white martyrs. Siegel takes great care to place events firmly in context: after establishing Selma, Alabama's deep involvement with slavery and segregation, she emphasizes that African-Americans led the struggle against those evils and that substantial white support materialized only with mass-media coverage of escalating police violence. Further, she presents the background of poverty and an idealistic struggle against injustice that led to Liuzzo's impulsive drive to Selma, including some details of her civil rights work and her death. Particularly commendable is the sensitive account of the effect of Liuzzo's dying on her family. The contemporary photos are well placed and captioned; this dramatic treatment brings history to life. Illustrations not seen. Annotated bibliography; reading list; index. (Nonfiction. 12-17)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-782632-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Four Winds/MacMillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
The Lightmans have created a massive, illuminating alphabetical listing of 447 Greco-Roman women, who are each profiled in entries that range from a few lines to a few pages. The intriguing information is often presented in a lively manner, profiling women who influenced the times in which they lived. Through their lives, a picture of this particular era, from 6th-century b.c. to a.d. 476, emerges (with details often omitted from other history texts covering the same period) that powerfully evokes the past roles of women. Sources for the information are given following every entry. The format gives rise to one small problem, in that so many of those included have the same name. The book, by necessity, covers 15 Cleopatras; students seeking information on the one who got mixed up with Mark Antony will have to cover almost a dozen entries before locating her. The same is true for all the Agrippinas, Julias, Livias, etc. The glossary and bibliography will be useful to more scholarly readers; the hope is that less-practiced researchers won’t be frustrated by the stumbling blocks of the volume’s organization, and barred from its entertaining, solidly educational gems. (b&w illustrations, map, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8160-3112-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Facts On File
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
In the ``Contemporary Women'' series, a sympathetic but uninvolving account of the life and work of a woman who gave up her own career to further her husband's dreams—and continues to pursue them 24 years after his death. In an odd mix of a stilted formal style and studied informality (they refer to King as ``Corrie''), the authors paint a broad yet shallow portrait, chronicling major events, including changes of leadership at the King Center for Nonviolence, but giving few of the details that would stimulate interest. Giving sources for only a few of several direct and indirect quotes, they attribute to King many thoughts that could only have come from her autobiography, My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr. (e.g., ``It seemed to Coretta as if she had been waiting for this call [telling of her husband's death] for years''). Throughout, they emphasize King's personal growth from housewife dissatisfied with her lack of public role to unofficial stateswoman, speculating that ``she may have felt partly justified in her new role by the growing acceptance of the women's rights movement.'' Chronology; bibliography; index. B&w photos not seen. (Biography. 12- 16)
Pub Date: May 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-89490-334-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Enslow
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1992
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