Can't review because my third party order was never received. It's been over a month! I ordered a total of 4 books (3 were third party orders). I received all of them in a matter of days and was very pleased with the conditions of the books and the quality of the packaging the books were shipped in. However the
seller still has the same book up for sell! After reading some of the reviews and finding out that several others have not received their orders I'm wondering if we ordered from the same seller. I gave this book a rating of one star simply because I couldn't enter anything less plus you can't rate what you can't read! I'm sure the book is excellent and would love to read it and give it a proper review.

This is an excellent introduction to writings by Black men. A must-have for people of African descent. The writings consist of pictures, short stories, poems and novel excerpts; some writers included are Sterling Brown, Howard Thurman, Countee Cullen, Haki Madhubuti, Ishmael Reed, James Baldwin, Robert Hayden, Richard Wright, Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois and many others

I first read this book as a required reading for my English class in college. I kept this book throughout the years as it reflected on the African-American man (and sometimes woman). The stories discuss history, our beginnings, love and heartache, the issue of race, death and life as we know it. I recommened this book to everyone who wants to understand themselves through the various stories, fiction and non fiction. The book is so simple to follow, you don't have to read the whole book, you can pick and chose stories to read.

Singh seeks to understand the causes of Farrakhan's rise and its implications for the United States; religion and worldview have only the slightest importance for this author, whereas black American politics are paramount. Although shakey on the Nation of Islam (referring mistakenly to its seven daily prayers and female Fruit of Islam guards) and also on conservative politics in the United States (thinking Farrakhan shares important features with Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan), Singh has a thorough grasp of American racial politics and a clear sense of his subject's place in them. Correctly, he de-emphasizes the importance of antisemitism to Farrakhan's message while placing much greater emphasis on his vituperative attacks on other black leaders. These are based on the leaders' social liberalism, which is so much out of tune with the electorate's conservatism: "Farrakhan's popular appeals are also in part based upon his persistent exploitation of the disjunctures between elite black attitudes and popular African-American beliefs." In Singh's view, the Nationa of Islam's (NOI) religious doctrines and Farrakhan's eclectic theological claims are most appropriately regarded as merely an embellishment of more fundamental traditionalist and populist political tenets." Arguing against those who see Farrakhan as a media creation, Singh points to his having built up a large constituency without help from the mainstream newspapers and television. He concludes from this that the best way to fend off Farrakhan's ugly and threatening influence is "to accord him the opportunity-and even the responsibility-for implementing effective political, economic, and social change." However scary this course, the author maintains, it is the best way to call a demagogue's bluff. Middle East Quarterly, December 1998

Louis Farrakhan is an unusually emotive subject in the United States, inspiring extreme feelings of love or hate; feelings that are not common in the American political psyche. Robert Singh, a British academic, examines the rise of the leader of the Nation of Islam, and tries to explain his ascendency within the confines of the politics of paranoia. Stiring Stuff indeed! Yet, be warned - this is not a journalistic account of the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan's style or racial politics in America today. Those looking for an 'easy read' should turn elsewhere. Instead, this is an academic work, with all the trappings to match - the complex language, the unnecessary terminology, and the cluttered page. (Singh seems to have a particular penchant for commas, and utter disregard for full stops). Having said that, however, this work is an intellegent look at one of the most divisive and important issues in America today. Robert Singh is careful in his approach to the subject and provides worthy anaylsis. My advice? - read it slowly, stick with it and be enlightened

The pace of this book moves as briskly as that of a fry cook slapping out the patties for another day spent at one of our nation's greatest industries: fast food. At the Nation of Fry Cook, there are more patties waiting to be flame broiled for those hungry enough to slap down the moolah for the musk from the mosque -- and this book tells you how to cook 'em just right. Comes complete wid one of the Honorable and Most Reverend Louis Farrakhan's recipes for barbecue sauce.

This is an important and well-researched study of the image of African Americans as presented in the media (mostly TV and Movies). Indeed, it is a "must read" for anyone interested in white attitudes regarding African Americans. The authors begin with a nice review the dominant survey research approach to gauging change in racial attitudes. They also discuss their own survey and qualitative study of Whites living in the Indianapolis metro area. The findings of the in-depth qualitative interviews are particularly interesting and valuable for folks interested in the validity of survey research on racial attitudes.

Rightly reserving the use of the counterproductive term "racist" for those who feel Blacks are a "lower order of humanity," the authors develop a framework for categorizing White American views of the African American population from "low denial" (enlightened) to "high denial" (overtly racist) (chapter 2).

In their view, most whites fall between these poles--termed by the authors as "ambivalent" (a mix of positive and negative views about Blacks.)

Unapologetically integrationist (assimilationist?) in their views, the authors see "low denial" whites as those folks who view African Americans sympathetically and empathetically, (as brothers/sisters), who share fundamental interests, but who suffer unique barriers to equal opportunity.

What seems to differentiate the "low-denial" whites from their well-meaning but "ambivalent" peers is that low-denial whites uncritically accept the victimization explanation for the social problems of the Black community.

This is where the trouble begins...

According to the authors, enlightened Whites see the Black community as largely helpless in the face of White dominated society. Hence, for example, high rates of crime and non-marital births stem from forces external to the Black community. These "enlightened" Whites appear to believe that if anti-Black stereotypes and discrimination were to end, the social problems experienced by African Americans would be resolved.

On the other hand, the mass of "ambivalent" whites is less likely to let struggling Black folks off the hook. They tend to see each person as a moral agent with the freedom to make choices even in the face of discrimination and inequality. They also feel that the stereotypes of Black folks have a grain of truth to them--e.g., that blacks do tend to be, say, less educated, more violent, more likely to bear children out of wedlock than Whites or Asians, as evidenced by empirical evidence reported in the media. These folks wonder (rightly in my opinion) whether current discrimination is really so powerful and dehumanizing as to engender the social problems of the black community.

The weakness of this morally laden framework is that it perceives folks who have honest questions about the role of individual choice and moral responsibility (i.e., character) in shaping life chances as somehow unenlightened ("in denial"). With the huge social problems associated with the Black community, I think it is fair to say that "ambivalent" attitudes towards blacks are justified. Indeed, survey evidence suggests that African Americans also share ambivalent attitudes towards their own racial group. (Even Jesse Jackson has made public his personal ambivalence towards young black men, admitting that he often has felt relieved to discover that the stranger walking towards him on a darkened street is not Black.)

If the majority of African Americans also recognize that endemic social problems exist within poor black communities, does that mean that they too are "in denial?"

Later in the book the authors go on to encourage the media to construct positive images that encourage "racial comity." They frame this as an ethical and political responsibility. But because the authors emphasize IMAGE over REALITY, the book often takes on an Orwellian tone. In my opinion, if the media seeks honest portrayals of African Americans, it will often reflect the reality of difference.

The authors seem to assume assimilation as a valued goal by finding flaw with any racial differentiation in fictional portrayals in movies and television. While multiculturalism celebrates group differences, the authors find problematic any racial differentiation whatsoever. This is a flawed perspective. African Americans are have a distinct history and culture and are not simply white folks in dark face. I suspect the authors would erase expression of these existential differences from the media if given the chance.

So while the book is a valuable contribution (as discussed by the previous reviewer), it suffers from a naively self-righteous and assimilationist perspective.

This is a very important book of research. Though written in sociologist language (lots of statistics and repetitition claims), this is one work that provides meticulous reserach about how the media help perpetuate racial stereotypes and prototypes in this society.

As a teacher who is studying widely literature about the media, I found Entman and Rojecki's work useful for providing a lens to better analyze media representations of Black and White people. The authors contend that "Blacks now occupy a kind of limbo status in White America's thinking, neither fully accepted nor wholly rejected by the dominant culture. The ambiguity of Blacks' situation gives particular relevance and perhaps potency to the images of African Americans in the media."

They show that though representations of Black people are quantitatively better than in the past, these representations still convey stereotypical or ambiguous images of Blacks. For example, though there has been sharp increase of Black male actors in movies, their roles still revolve around plots that focus on sports, crime, and violence. In the area of news media, Blacks are usually presented as sources of disruption, as victims, and as complaining supplicants. These type of images, they contend, help to maintain a gap in what they refer to as comity on the part of Whites toward Blacks and other racial minorities in this country.

They provide a well known but much needed reiteration of why the media maintains these stereotypes and marginalizations of racial minorities: largely it's eoncomics."Media workers," they argue, "seek to make money for their organizations and advance their own careers. That means that they must stay vigilantly attuned to the presumed tastes of their target audiences. These creators operate in a professional culture and organizationl milieu that transmits lessons about what attracts and sells, what upsets and repels. Ratings and market research increasingly inform decisions, whether about news coverage or entertainment plots." They argue that political and White ethnocentricism play an equal role as well

Though critics may disagree with some of the authors'analysis and conclusions, this book deserves wide reading in media studies, communications, ethnic studies, and sociology courses. It should be read as a useful resource by concerned teachers and media activists.

Don't be fooled by the 160 pages. There are only one or two lines of text on each page. They might be helpfull in a relationship, as far as "little things you can do" but it is not a book about marriages or relationships.

The bits of advice in this book were sometimes humorous, sometimes thought-provoking. I bought it for my husband and we both laughed together as we read it. It was wonderful!

It is to bad that someone so capable of telling a good tale could take a dive with such vivid subject matter at his disposal. It is extremely over priced for such a dismal read. Anyone who has purchased the Box set has read pretty much the same info given in this minute pamplet of wash. We need a vision of this man not a paint by numbers acount of times,places and song verses. Then again If you do not know the tale of johnson then this is the book for you. let me also highly recomend Robert palmers book Deep Blues. Also the finest attempt to give an acurate portrayal of such a god is the book LOVE in VAIN by Alan Greenberg...

The recent packaging of the Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson has shown this bluesman to be one of the most influential musicians in American history. He is more popular now than he ever was in his lifetime. It is his life, rather than his legacy, that is the subject of music historian Peter Guralnick's book. Little is know about Johnson's life, but Guralnick brings what little there is to light in a fascinating work that is more like a ghost story than a biography.

The 96 pages of this book are pack full of information about legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Virtually everything that is known about Mr. Johnson is vividly detailed in this work. Makes for excellent reading.

After finally completing "Blessed," I found Antoni's relationship between Lilla and Vel quite contrived. The beginning was confusing and it seemed as though the only reason why I continued to read was to find out what happened to Lilla and Vel. However, I didn't really care if they overcame the religious and racial boundries set before them, nor did I care for the characters themselves. Finishing this book was more of a mission than a pleasure.

Antoni overwhelmed the senses with many intimacies of island life and of women's beautiful and exclusive suffering. The fact that some parts of this novel were written by a white person or by a man was hard to believe. Reading this novel was like dreaming about a past life.

Lil Grandsol lives alone in the decaying old house that is all that remains of her family's plantation wealth. Vel is the young woman who has come to replace the long-time house servant. Together, Lil and Vel battle their histories and personal demons in a poignant attempt to survive. Antoni's tale of two West Indian women, one black and one white, from different socio-economic backgrounds is a wonderful example of stepping out of oneself to write. Antoni, a male writer, did this so well that one can only attribute his artistic ability to the unique mastery of mental gender crossing. Rich in West Indian culture, with pages of perfectly rendered dialect, and one in which religion plays heavily, this novel weaves in and out of sexuality alternately confusing and intensifying the narrative.This is a novel about the power of women and connections, and it forcefully evokes the real emotions that go into unexpected and untraditional love. It is amazing that the book has not gotten more attention. Antoni is brilliant, and his book deserves to be a West Indian classic along the order of Jean Rhys' WIDE SARGASSO SEA.

Let me compare the points from this book and the points from the Bible.

Some of the author's conclusions: (from back cover of the book)
-Noah's flood was a local river flood about 2900 B.C.
-The ark was a commercial river barge.
-Noah was a king of the Sumerian city Shuruppak.
-The river flood last only six days.
-The ark grounded twice but not on a mountain.
-After grounding, Noah met other survivors of the flood.
-The site of Noah's altar has been found and excavated.
-Noah lived to be 83 not 950.

The author also thought that the ark only carried fewer than 280 animals, there were no elephants, no kangaroos and no giraffes. (from Chapter 6 of the book)

The Bible says:
-The Flood was a worldwide flood and covered the whole Earth.
-God ordered Noah to build the Ark. (Noah's Ark was not a commercial river barge.)
-Noah was the only righteousness man in the world. (The Bible does not say Noah was a king of the Sumerian city Shuruppak.)
-The Flood last more than a year: 40 days were under the rain, for several months the Flood covered the whole Earth. After the Ark had stopped in Mount Ararat, Noah, his family and the animals waited in the Ark for several more months until the dry land came out from the water and later God ordered Noah to leave the Ark.
-Beside Noah, his wife, Noah's 3 sons and their wives, there were no other human beings survived in the Flood. Only 8 people were survived in the Flood, they were all in the Ark. All other people at that time were killed in the Flood.
-God told Noah to bring 2 animals (a male and a female) of every kind into the Ark, all those animals in the land and the birds in the air. Insects of every kind were also brought into the Ark two by two. Some clean animals were brought in seven by seven.
-Noah lived up to 950 years old. One week before the Flood came, Noah and his family went into the Ark, Noah was 600 years old at that time. After the Flood, Noah lived 350 more years until he died.
-God created rainbow after the Flood.
(from Genesis, The Bible)

This book is meant to destroy and undermine Biblical Fact. So many of the other biblical stories have proven to be true. Many legends, and so called myths are based on fact. Some things that we are not able to understand - just because modern day science, which is supposed to be able to explain all things, can't explain are now considered 'myths' by the secular world.
A great example of how the secular world thinks is evolution. According to evolution, species appear from nowhere. Since modern day science can't explain it, millions and billions of years are required to account for it. It's [weak]! A much better book - although not perfect, is Noah's Flood.

A great book.An excellent guide to the origin of the Noah myth and the other flood myths from the area.Great detail had been achived in researching possible origins for the many wild statements made in Genesis,and in showing that the flood was not global. A great book to give to a creationist as a present.

As a fact witness with personal knowledge of Eddie's experience in Europe and my own interview with Anson, I can confirm that Anson was far more interested in marketing his book than discovering, let alone understanding the facts.

David W. Nance, Esq.

Best Intentions by Robert Sam Anson is an engaging and sensitive invistigation into why Edmund Perry, a black Exeter student who received a scholarship to Stanford, died in a dubious encounter with a police man. Anson traces Perry's stories from his years attending primary school in Harlem to his unsteady times at Exeter, a high class boarding school. Anson then crafts the Perry's story into a comprehensive and clear examination of race and education in America and the challenges that face black students. For those interested in education, race, or sociology, I would recommend this piece. It certainly isn't a cover-to-cover read, but it stimulates quite well.

I read Best Intentions several years ago and to this day, I cite the book as a major reason I decided to be a writer. Compelling and thorough, the book unfolds like a detective story, as we learn more and more about the life and times of Edmund Perry, the book's tragic subject. After learning about Perry's plight, Anson spent years researching this book and that exhaustive investigation comes through on every page.

Perry, an exceedingly intelligent young man, came from a poor family and Harlem and earned a full scholarship to Exeter Academy, one of America's most elite preperatory schools. Making a long story ferociously short, Perry returned to his neighborhood during his senior year at Exeter. During the visit, Perry was shot by an off-duty police officer who claimed that Perry tried to mug him. We learn all of this in the opening pages, the rest is a moving, poignant story, artfully told.

I was so dispappointed in the presentation made in this book that I sent it back. The cover and even title give the impression that the book will include photgraphic and descriptive information regarding landscaping. What actually comes across is a very boring, poorly presented reference type of book that simply seems like an elaborate dictionary on various landscape terminology. The photographic connections were especially done poorly; all pictures relating to topics were simply united together in a large section at the back of the book. When a reference is made by an author regarding a specific subject, it is certainly best understood and appreciated by the reader when both are on the same page. It was also misleading in their title reference to Florida plants, shrubs, etc., that there would be direct inclusion of information of those subjects, but all that comes across is very general information relating to the words themselves. I have been working on my own Florida yard area now for over 5 years, enjoying what I have been learning by simple hands-on techniqe and questions to my neighbors. None of my own 26 personal plants were even directly mentioned in the book. Again, possibly some of the topics regarding pests or plant diseases might have been appreciated if the information would have been on the same pages as the related photographs--needing to turn clear to the the back of the book every time was a frustrating way to try and understand the connections.

Although not the most interesting "read", this is a great reference book for gardening in South Florida. Straight forward without too much fluff. The section on pest control is a little heavy on identifying pests and little light on how to control them but the rest of the book is very clear on the basics. Probably not the best book for an advanced gardener but I highly recommend it for the novice like me who wants the nitty gritty on how to get going in Florida but doesn't care about a fancy looking book.

I thought this was an excellent reference for selecting Florida bedding plants. I wanted a book that had lots of pictures of various plants and told me when and where to plant them. This book does that. It is limited on pest control, but has a good basic section on digging and prepping your bedding areas. It would be a great reference to take with you to the nursery when you are trying to decide which plants to purchase for your beds. It has more color photos for identification of bedding plants than most of the Florida gardening books out there.

True, while not a collection of Howard's very best, there's good stuff in here. ... And there are some good, but flawed pieces.

Black Canaan - A story of back-woods blacks being led to rise up and kill a lot of back-woods whites, by an evil conjure man who seeks to make himself "king," and his supernatural femme fatal assistant. Howard's racist streak is nowhere more apparent than here, which is ashame, since this is a truly well-crafted horror-adventure yarn. Lots of great atmosphere and creepy imagery.

... And no one writes about "the horrors of the pine-lands" quite like Howard!

"Black Canaan" is an interesting collection of some of Robert E. Howard's lesser tales, essential for the REH enthusiast but not a good introduction of this writer for the first time Howard reader. Only three of the yarns were published in Howard's lifetime. The best is the title story, an exciting tale of piney woods adventure and black witchcraft (Howard used a similar mileu in his excellent horror story "Pigeons fron Hell"), which first appeared in the legendary pulp magazine "Weird Tales" in 1935. Modern readers will probably be troubled by Howard's use of racist language and cliches in several of these stories ("Moon of Zembabwei" as well as "Black Canaan"). They probably won't know that REH, who died by his own hand at the age of 30 in 1936, was less racist than most of his Central Texas friends and relations, and far less racist than his pen pal H.P. Lovecraft (Lovecraft's defense of Hitler is pretty inexcusable). The collection also includes the story fragment "Delenda Est" which was later used as the basis for the round-robin novel "Genseric," published by Necronomicon Press a few years ago, one of those posthumous collaboration between Howard and living fantasy writers. Howard wrote many fine stories but these are not included in this collection which was printed in that period in the 1970s when practically everything the man ever wrote was published in pursuit of a fast buck.