Gregory’s devotion to civil rights and his global recognition add to his appealing writing style and clever sense of humor...
The comedian, activist, and social critic highlights key events in black history in America.
Gregory (Callus on My Soul, 2000, etc.) notes that his perspective is unique because he was there—at least for many of the 20th-century events he chronicles. The author traces black history from the beginnings of the slave trade out of Africa, a history with which most readers are familiar. But Gregory adds further facts that got left behind. For example, regarding the horrific middle passage: “Prior to the Middle Passage sharks had a natural migration….Then [it] came along—all that blood in the ocean. The blood of millions of black people. The sharks changed their migration pattern to follow the blood.” The book is full of such eye-opening—sometimes shocking—historical tidbits, about everything from Rosa Parks to the Dred Scott decision to Pullman Porters to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Million Man March to W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and the Atlanta Compromise. The book is full of heroes and heroines, many that history books overlook—e.g., Dorothy Height, the “godmother of civil rights.” Not surprisingly in a book from Gregory, the conspiracy theories are in abundance, and many make perfect sense. Certainly, there have been white supremacists who hatched plots to defeat and even kill blacks who tried to band together for their rights. Gregory’s attitude is not one of anger, and he shows a deep respect for God: “I plant the turnips, but it’s your sunshine…your rain that waters the crops.” The author believes most in the need for progress and change, which, he admits, “does not come quickly.” But it is crucial, and it requires knowledge. “Along with my activism,” he writes, “I have spent my entire life in the pursuit of knowledge.”
Gregory’s devotion to civil rights and his global recognition add to his appealing writing style and clever sense of humor to make this a book for a wide audience.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-244869-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Yet another Kennedy bio from the school of journalism that mistakes an avalanche of minutiae for the thoughtful examination of a life. No irrelevant detail—from the length of her skirts to the thank-you notes she sent her dressmaker—escapes examination in this account of Ethel Kennedy's life. If Oppenheimer (Barbara Walters, 1990, etc.) has a point of view, it seems to be that being rich and famous is hell, and it is hell squared if you're both a Skakel and a Kennedy. A brief review of Ethel's ancestors takes the reader back to Yazoo County, Miss., and her great-grandfather, who was one of 11 children. Ethel herself was one of seven in an unruly tribe, wealthy and privileged but undisciplined. Her brothers terrorized Greenwich, Conn., with their antics, as some of Ethel's 11 children would later terrorize Hyannis Port, Mass., and Hickory Hill, Va. The young Ethel was nevertheless a good fit for the Kennedy family. Athletic, schooled by the nuns of the Sacred Heart (as were Rose and her daughters) to give husband and children priority in life, she was an exuberant, extroverted complement to the sometimes melancholy Robert F. Kennedy. She also bravely faced tragic loss—her parents, her brother, her brother-in-law, her husband, a son. But she was a notorious penny-pincher, could be vindictive and unreasonably demanding, and was given to rages after Bobby's assassination. That her flaws and her family scandals overshadow her virtues and accomplishments make this unrewarding reading. Arranging index cards in the right order does not make for enlightening biography. With her children leading relatively useful lives and with a personal history of philanthropic activism, Ethel deserves better. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) ($150,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11040-5
Page Count: 521
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
A copious account of the modern American experience with terrorism that substitutes descriptive detail for thoughtful analysis. Although the book's title implies a comprehensive history of terrorist activity in America, the text covers the period from 1776 to the 1950s in less than 30 pages. The narrative proper develops after 1968, which Simon, editor-in-chief of TVI (Terrorism, Violence, Insurgency Report), pinpoints as ``the beginning of international terrorism as we know it today.'' He explores three central themes: the growing frequency of terrorist acts; the presidential role in countering terrorism; and the potential for terrorists to exploit sophisticated weaponry and technology. Using interviews with terrorists, hostages and other victims, government officials, and, most effectively, former presidents, Simon conveys the personal drama inherent in these often tragic events. These episodes, however, are frequently mired in excessive detail and lacking in critical analysis. Simon accepts the ``endless nature of terrorism,'' and thus falls into a pattern of describing individual incidents without considering their larger causes or their common linkages. For instance, Simon does not discuss the relation between America's economic, political, and social ties to Israel and its increasing position as a target of terrorist activity. Thus the connections among the 197981 Iranian hostage crisis, the 1983 bombings of the US embassy and marine barracks in Lebanon, the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, the Persian Gulf War, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (to which he devotes significant space) are never drawn. Simon deserves credit for broaching such a broad and overwhelming subject as terrorism—a subject he has obviously studied at great length. Though he may understand the manifold definitions of ``terrorism,'' however, these distinctions are not clearly identifiable for the reader. Despite its various limitations, the book proves a worthwhile read on a thorny and highly sensationalized topic. (45 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-253-35249-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Indiana Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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