A fresh perspective on Black history.
Reclaiming Black people’s botanical heritage.
Plant biologist Montgomery melds scientific expertise with memoir and family history to reveal the multifaceted connections of trees and plants to the Black American experience. She focuses on seven trees in particular: pecan, sycamore, willow, poplar, oak, mulberry, and apple, each of which—along with the cotton shrub—bears witness to enslavement, emancipation, and a legacy of racism. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Montgomery was surrounded by trees in her neighborhood and in the woods where she and her siblings played. Some connections to trees came from childhood experiences, others from family stories. She discovered that in the segregated South in which her parents grew up, “Black Americans frequently were not allowed to purchase or consume vanilla ice cream—it was considered a ‘pure’ ice cream reserved for white Americans.” To flavor their homemade ice cream, Black people added pecans; butter pecan ice cream was a family favorite. Trees had tragic associations, too: throughout the South, many types were used for whippings and hangings. The connection between poplars and lynchings appears in the popular song “Strange Fruit.” Sycamores, besides being hanging trees, also helped enslaved people to escape: Their girth was large enough to hide a runaway. In fact, Montgomery discovered, part of the Underground Railroad is known as “Sycamore Trail, so named due to the rows of sycamore trees growing on the banks” of a creek in Ohio. Blacks and Indigenous peoples developed sophisticated botanical knowledge, both in plant cultivation and medicinal uses. Leaves of the willow, for example, were made into poultices or infusions for the treatment of aches and swelling; bark extracts for treating dysentery; root infusions as an anti-diarrheal. Botanical knowledge, Montgomery argues persuasively, was intrinsic to Black people’s survival and sustenance before and after emancipation.
A fresh perspective on Black history.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781250335166
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
This is our life, these are our lighted seasons, and then we die. . . . In the meantime, in between time, we can see. . . we can work at making sense of (what) we see. . . to discover where we so incontrovertibly are. It's common sense; when you-move in, you try to learn the neighborhood." Dillard's "neighborhood" is hilly Virginia country where she lived alone, but essentially it is all those "shreds of creation" with which every human is surrounded, which she is trying to learn, to know — from finite variations to infinite possibilities of being and meaning. A tall order and Dillard doesn't quite fill it. She is too impatient to get about the soul's adventures to stay long with an egg-laying grasshopper, or other bits of flora and fauna, and her snatches from physics and biological/metaphysical studies are this side of frivolous. However, Ms. Dillard has a great deal going for her — in spite of some repetition of words and concepts, her prose is bright, fresh and occasionally emulates (not imitates) the Walden Master in a contemporary context: "Trees. . . extend impressively in both directions, . . . shearing rock and fanning air, doing their real business just out of reach." She has set herself no less a task than understanding emotionally, spiritually and intellectually the force of the creative extravagance of the universe in all its beauty and horhor ("There is a terrible innocence in the benumbed world of the lower animals, reducing life to a universal chomp.") Experience can be focused, and awareness sharpened, by a kind of meditative high. Thus this becomes somewhat exhausting reading, if taken in toto, but even if Dillard's reach exceeds her grasp, her sights are leagues higher than that of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea, regretfully (re her sex), the inevitable comparison.
Pub Date: March 13, 1974
ISBN: 0061233323
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper's Magazine Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1974
IN THE NEWS
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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