Mr. Charles provides very detailed specifics into the making of the Black American Heritage Flag which few knew about in the 1960s. I gained insight into his great love for his culture, and his persistence in creating a flag which represents the struggles and triumphs of African-American people. It was interesting to discover the challenges involved in the journey of two middle class gentlemen and their quest to be identified and acknowledged as proud African-Americans.

The fact that Ralph Bunche is little known on university campuses nowadays just proves that white male patriarchal systems of 'scholarship' are making it almost impossible to learn about all the great African American figures in the twentieth century. Why are we not told about him? Because we are supposed to care about conservative white males like Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt! As a feminist and a white woman, I side completely with African Americans as they try to access their glorious past, including celebrated people like Ralph Bunche, who, until now, was hardly known outside the postage stamp that featured his portrait. Not any more!

I bought this book to use it for some research and here is why. You can not find a lot of books on the Selma Marches, only bits and pieces in a whole lot of books. Selma, 1965: The March That Changed the South, is a great book. It has a whole lot of information in one place. It made it very easy for me to look up specific dates, marches, etc. This is a great book to use if you need information. I gave this book 5 stars becuase it is a great research tool and it tells the story of Selma in 1965 very well. I strongly recommend that children use this book as a research tool for a report.

Students of slavery or the narrative form will find this book invaluable. This is a unique collection of essays concerning various aspects of slave narratives. Essays consider difficult questions, such as textual authenticity, in terms of whether texts were written by ex-slaves or abolitionists; fictional and nonfictional elements in slave narratives; and dialect usage.

Nearly all of the essays effortlessly tie in analysis of the narrative form with the subject of slavery. The essays focusing on narratives as literature are especially good. These essays include essays on slave narratives as autobiographies; the slave narrative of Juan Francisco Manzano, whose linear organization is punctuated by moments of torture expressed by textual discontinuities; the feminist slave narrative of Harriet Jacobs; and picaresque slave narratives.

In my opinion, this book is an outstanding work on Soil Fertility because of its extensive revision on the pertinent literature. The professor C. A. Black came out with a brilliant book wich covers this issue in completely different way. This book is indispensable to researchers in soil fertility and plant nutrition.

This book is a beautiful introduction to Nikki Giovanni's childrens' poetry. Each piece, written from the viewpoint of a black child, graces us with the experiences common in the life of a kid. Ranging from the childs eye view of 'Mommies' and 'Daddies' to the monsters in our dreams to the invincibility of youth, and the realities of being black, the poetry lyrically gives a peek at the soft sides of everyday life. I've loved this book since my mother first read it to me, and recommend it to ALL parents, but especially to Black parents and their children.

Anyone even remotely interested in folklore, folk music, or American history should get this book. It contains over 400 rhymes (some with music) collected in the early 1900s by Thomas W. Talley, a black chemistry professor from Tennessee. Most of the rhymes are American, but there are a few from Africa, Jamaica, and elsewhere.

This alone would be worth the price of admission, but this edition also contains a new essay on the work, plus an updated bibliography and index, plus the original introduction by Thomas W. Talley (an excellent 50-page essay which covers performance practice and even details of instrument construction), plus additional rhymes and music that didn't make it into the original edition.

Great to page idly through or to read cover-to-cover, this book would be a fantastic addition to anyone's collection.

Anna Sewell's novel Black Beauty is a timeless classic for readers of all ages, but has a main demographic of females from the age 9 to 16.
The story takes place in 19th century England. IT follows the life and experience of a horse named Black Beauty. The horse is born on a farm and sold at the age of four. His first owner Squire Gordon is a great loving man. Black Beauty is treated with respect and dignity. The story follows the horse as he is then sold from owner to owner. He becomes neglected and abused by carriage owners. A loving and gentle man finally purchases Black Beauty. He cares about the horses and treats them well. Black Beauty is finally happy as a carriage horse when tragedy strikes. His owner is struck with illness and is forced to sell the horse. Black Beauty is sold to a poor owner and is neglected. He longs to go back home to squire Gordon's farm and live a happy life once again.

The book is uniquely enough from the horse's point of view. This helps children connect with the horse, and makes the book more interesting and easy to follow along with. The heart breaking tale of a horse's life that will readers leave on the edge of their seat wanting to keep reading, dying to find out what happens next. The book goes into detail about how animal abuse used to be in the early 1900's. Older children have and will continue to enjoy this book for generations to come.

Since pictures & illustrations are as much a part of a child's imagination as the written word, then this book beautifully combines both, with the abundant B&W line illustrations by illustrator Lucy Kemp-Welch, in addition to the 12 colour plates included - all in keeping with the time period this novel is set in. A wonderful edition to any child's library. I've been reading horse-topic related books for as long as I can remember; but the very 1st horse story that left an indelible impression on me was ANNA SEWELL's " BLACK BEAUTY ".

It really openend my eyes as to the abuse and cruelty - and majestic fraility - that these wonderful creatures suffer at the hands of their human counterparts.

Ms Sewell opted to write this book from " the horse's point of view " and she was one of the very few authors that was able to pull this off with such great success.

This book also, laid the cornerstone for the ASPCA aims and goals, and brought to light the conditions and treatment of working horses in 20th century London, England ( and elsewhere ).

The story is such a wonderful tale of a horse's life from start to finish; told with a quiet dignity and warmth - and serves as a successful analogy also, as to how humans should interact with one another.

This book also laid the cornerstone for my interest and love of horses, and further spurred my interest in reading about all things Equine.

From there, and I went on to read all of Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion" series ( I used to collect the hardcover editions), and Marguerite Henry's books, and National Velvet(which really wasn't about a horse per se, but more about a little girl who's dreams come true), and anything else I could get my horsey-hungry hands on!

I now keep a copy of Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" in my library at home, and have given a copy to my daughter to read.

This is a tale that sensitizes the reader to the plight of horses at the hands of their human caregivers, trainers, etc - all told from the horse's mouth ( so to speak )..!

And lest we think that the inhumane treatment of horses has abided since this book was written - one only has to follow the controversy surrounding the use of "Premarin", or abusive training methods of gaited horses, or the Thoroughbred racing industry, or rodeo...etc.

There is still much to be gleaned about the exploitation and abuse of animals from this book - which will always remain a timeless classic.

Kim C. Montreal, 05/2000

Since pictures & illustrations are as much a part of a child's imagination as the written word, then this book beautifully combines both, with the abundant B&W line illustrations by illustrator Lucy Kemp-Welch, in addition to the 12 colour plates included - all in keeping with the time period this novel is set in. A wonderful edition to any child's library.

I've been reading horse-topic related books for as long as I can remember; but the very 1st horse story that left an indelible impression on me was ANNA SEWELL's " BLACK BEAUTY ".

It really openend my eyes as to the abuse and cruelty - and majestic fraility - that these wonderful creatures suffer at the hands of their human counterparts.

Ms Sewell opted to write this book from " the horse's point of view " and she was one of the very few authors that was able to pull this off with such great success.

This book also, laid the cornerstone for the ASPCA aims and goals, and brought to light the conditions and treatment of working horses in 20th century London, England ( and elsewhere ).

The story is such a wonderful tale of a horse's life from start to finish; told with a quiet dignity and warmth - and serves as a successful analogy also, as to how humans should interact with one another.

This book also laid the cornerstone for my interest and love of horses, and further spurred my interest in reading about all things Equine.

From there, and I went on to read all of Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion" series ( I used to collect the hardcover editions), and Marguerite Henry's books, and National Velvet(which really wasn't about a horse per se, but more about a little girl who's dreams come true), and anything else I could get my horsey-hungry hands on!

I now keep a copy of Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" in my library at home, and have given a copy to my daughter to read.

This is a tale that sensitizes the reader to the plight of horses at the hands of their human caregivers, trainers, etc - all told from the horse's mouth ( so to speak )..!

And lest we think that the inhumane treatment of horses has abided since this book was written - one only has to follow the controversy surrounding the use of "Premarin", or abusive training methods of gaited horses, or the Thoroughbred racing industry, or rodeo...etc.

There is still much to be gleaned about the exploitation and abuse of animals from this book - which will always remain a timeless classic.

Kim C. Montreal, 05/2000

I wish I can give 'The Burnt Orange Heresy' the same sort of glowing review the others have posted. However despite its originality (at the time it was written) and overall quality I found myself curiously bored by it all. Why? Well...

The story is certainly bizarre. A rather obnoxious art critic is obsessed with getting a glimpse of paintings by a living art legend who happens to be a recluse. No one has seen this fellow's work in decades. Our art critic will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Think deceit, betrayal and murder and you've got the right idea. Sadly, I think such art critics actually exist in this world. ;-)

But Willeford unfortunately devotes too much time during most of the book blathering on about the art world: competitiveness between critics/reviewers, different styles of art during the last century, and how to judge the quality of art. For this reader, who couldn't give a monkey's about art, became quite bored with it all. Towards the end when the story picked up I was too disengaged to really appreciate the shock/horror of our art critic from hell.

...Bottom line: perhaps best left for those who truly hate art critics and love Charles Willeford.

What I liked best in this book was that there was not merely a surprise ending, but surprise twists throughout. The sole drawback is that the dialogue became a bit teachy at time when the main protagonist was explaining the artist that the book centers around to his love interest (or not). On the other hand, that dialogue was realistic; it reminded me of real conversations with critics and experts that do tend to get long and boring. The book is short but the pace of events is perfect, and enough happens by the end to make it interesting.

Willeford's interrogation of the battle between Christianity and Platonism with Sophistic postmodernism is so concretely placed within Miami's seething Bohemian art world as a rotten critic takes on the sacred role of art in our society and has to confront the massive realm of the western aesthetic clear back to the Renaissance shows what a powerful mind Willeford had built for himself. Forget Joyce and Umberto Eco. Willeford's the man to show us the problems of relativism, and the importance of Kantian aesthetic judgment in creating a lasting culture. Delhi, NY

For those of you who feel this is not a "normal" Abbey book, you are right in one sence but not totally. You must take into account that this book was written shortly after his wife passed away. So there were thoughts and feelings and emotions that he was going through that dictated the lay of this book. The woman who disappears, never seen again, all boils back to the heartbreak Abbey was going through after loosing his young wife. This is a great book to pick up if you want to read one of Abbey's different styles of writing.

Edward Abbey (Cactus Ed) describes the American southwest like no other American writter. This book, "Black Sun" is one of Abbey's earlier works. It is a rough, profane and moving look at a man's love affair with the Red Rock Desert. It's not for the tame or the easily offended. I believe Abbey said once, "And if there is anyone left in the room I have not offened, I apologize". His views on conservation and preservation of our National Parks are extreme, but he puts these views in the format of a novel. It is a book I have read and reread many times, and the many people I have shared it with have all loved it and have not been able to put it down. It is a tragic book, just as the loss and destruction of the desert southwest is tragic. If you love the desert and love good writting, this book is a good read. Abbey said, "Oh my desert, yours is the one death I cannot endure". That passion for the wild places of America comes through on every page of this wonderful book.

The person who wrote this review must be completely immune to subtext. Abbey is such a raw, emotional expositor on nature. This book he considered his masterwork, I think because he saw it as his best, most personal expression of how he felt, both about the red rock region and his late wife. In this book he reconciles the loss of the later and diminishment of the former, yet doesn't succumb to any easy answers about what happens to either. Vicious in its simplicity. I recommend it if you've read some Abbey and want to get into his head a bit.