Fraser Smith's account of Schaefer and the period of Baltimore history during which he 'reigned', sparkles with vitality and rings with truth. A must-read for anyone interested in Baltimore or Schaefer!

Having lived nearly my entire life under Schaefer's management, first as Mayor, then as Governor, I wanted to read about his personal qualities that made him such a success. This books explains that, as well as the many undercover forces as well. The only element missing is a discussion of why many of his successes were not enough to save the city from its current decline.

If you are interested in the politics of American cities this marvelous biography of the four-term mayor of Baltimore should be on the top of your reading list. C. Fraser Smith, a veteran reporter for the Baltimore Sun, has used the life of William Donald Schaefer -- a lackluster ward politician who surprised almost everyone by becoming one of America's most successful big city mayors -- as a vehicle for examining the inner workings of Baltimore during the last half century. In doing so he opens up a window through which to view and better understand every American city. With a sharp eye for detail and a knack for compelling narrative, Smith guides us through the morass of city politics, introducing us up-close-and-personal to an array of interesting characters who, at one time or another, performed on center stage with Schaefer. They include members of the mayor's staff, party godfathers, business leaders, neighborhood activists, obscure but powerful civil servants, black political leaders, and owners of sports teams, to cite a few. In his ability to employ ordinary citizens to tell a city's story, one is reminded immediately of J. Anthony Lukas' Common Ground, the Pulitzer-prize winning dissection of Boston. The reader senses that Smith, as a reporter on city and state beats, knew personally and had earned the trust of most of the key players he interviewed. They felt comfortable revealing to him the most intimate stories and opinions.

Yet despite all its attention to the political context, the book stays true throughout to its basic purpose of creating a rich, reliable biography of a remarkable public servant. It will be as valuable to scholars of urban America as it will be enjoyable to persons wanting simply to immerse themselves in big city lore.

I'm very interested in the powerful tapestry of the US homefront during WWII. This book provides a wide variety of first hand accounts of what was happening and more importantly how people felt about these events. The power comes from the fact that the words were written at the time rather than as later rememberances tainted by subsequent experiences. The only selectivity is in the letters people chose to save. But I think the authors have done a good job in trying to mitigate this natural bias by drawing from a wide variety of sources.

This book of letters is so revealing of that period in time. It lays the emotions of the women left behind during war time right out in the open for all to feel and experience. This book has become a part of my life. I work at a college and when we have a program that needs a reading done I am always called on to read from "my" book of WWII letters from home. I feel like these letters are my children and each one is crying out to be heard and I really do hate to have to pick only a couple to read. This book is that good. I feel that this book should be read by everybody especially young people. I get very good response after my readings and some very emotional responses as well. This is a truly wonderful book and I recommend it to everyone.

This book is a wonderful new view of government in the United States. Unlike the typical cynicism filled book that points out all problems in our society stemming from our government, this book makes specific recommendations to our government. Instead of sitting back and complaining, these authors tell us exactly what needs to be done!

This book is very refreshing and will fit in a college, or even an AP High School Government classroom, perfectly. Students have a wonderful opportunity to evaluate their reccomendations, come up with their own, and examine the problems raised b the authors.

I found alot of info. about William WcKinley in this book. It is very good.

I've been studying Washington, DC a lot, but I've learned a lot about the development of the city from this book. For instance, I didn't realize what an important center of factory work the Navy Yard had been, in a city which always had relatively few factory jobs.

Each of the neighborhoods are very different, and their colorful histories are well described. The photographs are good, and there are enough maps to keep you oriented.

The discussions of race relations and demographics are refreshingly honest.

There are good references in the back that will help you dig deeper into a particular neighborhood.

It's also interesting to see that some of the realtors and developers who were very central to the covenants (and other shennanigans) that kept blacks and Jews out of many neighborhoods were sponsors of the publication of the book.

Today, despite the progress that has been made since the Civil Rights Act, systemic, and often unconscious discrimination persists against African Americans. Why is this the case? I believe Walters and Smith would argue that presently Americans are lack the ability to analyze society in political, economic, and structural terms. The result is that we, as a society, and African Americans, as a minority, are blind to the very obstacles that must be overcome. The value of "African American Leadership" lies in its ability to situate the discussion of African American leadership in the midst of a social, political, and historical exegesis. The weakness of the book rest with its deficiency in theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as its lack of attention to how other societal inequalities besides race (socioeconomic stratification, for instance) should be part of the discussion. Walters and Smith, take on the challenge of educating their audience about the social and historical forces that influence "Negro" and later "Black" leaders' effectiveness throughout history and even today. Towards this end, I feel "African American Leadership" has met the challenge. The contemporary pioneers of the movement towards social equity must build on and learn from Walters' and Smith's discussion.

Lillian Smith is known by most people as the author of Strange Fruit, the compelling story of a doomed relationship between two southerners; a Black woman and a white man. Upon its publication it stirred controversy in the south and propelled Smith into the swirling cauldron of racial debates. This wasn't the first time Lillian Smith expoused her views about the south's apartheid. Throughout her life she challenged the convictions of her southern region and refused to condescend to the conventions of her time.

In this volume of the Southern Biography Series, Anne Loveland takes us into the heart and mind of one of the south's most outspoken crusaders about race. Dr. Loveland presents us with an intellectual biography of a complex woman who was far ahead of her time in racial, feminist and political issues but never felt the affirmation she deserved. The Lillian Smith presented by Loveland is uncompromising, used discretion in presenting her views, attempted to form coalitions and was a prolific writer.

Here we find a woman consumed by a passion to confront the wrongs that made one less than a human being regardless of race. Even though civil rights was her platform, Smith saw herself moving beyond race. In this book we find a tireless worker and a person who is uncompromising in her views to the point of isolating herself from those who believed in her cause. Smith could become so extremist to the point of being just as bad in attitude as those she opposed. Although a prolific writer she was never taken seriously as a literary writer. She was praised for Strange Fruit but merely because of the racial conflict it brought out.

Dr. Loveland did an excellent job in presenting the complexity of this woman filled with energy in her fight against injustice. What is missing is Lillian Smith, the personal woman. What were her deepest feelings? Did she have any lovers? What was her life like beyond civil rights? Was her relationship with Paula Snelling a lesbian one? Why wasn't she recognized as a significant literary figure? The personal woman is left out giving you a one sided picture of a woman who is totally cerebral in her views on life. Loveland recognizes this and attributes it to Smith's deep sense of privacy. Unfortunately we have missed a balanced view of a very special woman.

This was the most disappointing book I have ever read. The excerpt on the back cover is probably the only redeeming part of the book. She proposes a fantastic idea, to get into what WAshington,D.C. is all about by talking to the top people and media there, but her book never gets past her own self-interested affairs and mundane, uneducated theories.

And she talks to such great people, but you only read a paragraph or two of their interview. To top it off, she introduces no one, gives none of their ideas and then leaves them completely.

As for the racism against blacks she decries throughout the book, Ms. Smith does a good job of being racist against whites herself, and strongly so. Does that justify her own case against racism? Hardly. At one point she wrongly attests that white and black women never could be friends back when she was a child. That would put it back in the 1960s. What an uneducated idea.

I was not impressed and only pushed through to appease my book club. Still, I only made it part way. What the book really needed was a good editor, less of her own ideas and more of those she talked to. I'm just glad I checked the book out at the library.

I had seen this author interviewed on several different forums and was eager to read "Talk to Me; Listening Between the Lines". This book has so much promise, bringing to mind the work of Studs Terkel.....and that promise is never realised. Anna Deavere Smith emerges as a "talking head" interested in putting her spin on what she hears rather than listening. There is no lack of potentially engrossing material, Washington,D.C. or the Beltway as insiders call it, a women's correctional facility, access to rich, famous and powerful....and it is all wasted. This book was a real disappointment.

"Speaking calls for risk, speaking calls for a sense of what one has to lose. Not just what one has to gain. Speaking calls for heart."

The real gift in "Talk to Me" is Anna Deavere Smith's small revelations about her process as an actor, writer and director. Throughout my reading of the book I found myself scribbling down her observations of language and conversation/dialogue.

She centers the book on her journey to Washington D.C. to research a performance work on Thomas Jefferson. What happens in the book is what often happens to us as writers and creators: her initial intention is shifted by events and personal truths. What Smith discovers with the aid of her researchers, what she unexpectedly finds in D.C., reorients her path.

Smith is very honest about her D.C. experiences in relation to race, reflecting on her own segregated childhood. Some may be uncomfortable with these realities and her upfront honesty as a black actor who did not get work in the theater for many years (because she wasn't "black enough" to play a black woman or "white enough" to play a white woman - this, before she began writing and directing her own works).

"Acting, the study of the authentic, puts a high premium on vulnerability. When there is vulnerability there is a greater possibility that something will actually happen."

In the end, this book really is about language and performance. I found it to be useful in my work in the theater and I recommend it to anyone interested in the creative process or interpersonal communications. Anyone looking for a memoir about her career or for a discussion of her past theater works ("Twilight", "Fires in the Mirror") would be disappointed, and I could see some not liking her meandering narrative method.

Her snippets of interviews with Washington D.C. notables and media insiders like George Stephanopoulos, Studs Terkel, Mike Wallace are a definite bonus and support her argument that the language on the Capitol is very different from the language of the people.

If you are a Washingtonian who hangs around galleries, etc. then you'll recognize a lot of names in this book, and that may make it fun. But most of the time the story really drags and it takes some prodigious leaps to actually swallow some of the scenes described. The worst is the ending, which is a very deflating experience. Definately not one of her best.

I'm a fan of Margaret Truman, but I found it laborious to get through this one. I found most of the characters shallow and totally unlikeable. The ending was absurd. Even Annabelle and Mac can't make this one worthwhile!

Luther Mason, respected senior curator at the National Gallery, hatches a complicated plan to "discover" a long lost Caravaggio painting in Italy, brings it to Washington to be a part of a Caravaggio exhibit and has 2 forgeries made, one of which will be sold and passed off as the original to a San Francisco mobster thug/art connoisseur who happens to be bankrolling Luther's activities to get the painting in the first place. Whew. . . It's an interesting story at times, but there are a lot of characters to keep track of. The last third of the book is where most of the mystery and action occurs. I would not recommend this book if you want something fast-paced and suspenseful.