More books are needed like this for our youth of this next century..

Thank you Jacuqelin McCord for this wake up call. It's so easy to forget what its like to be a child and how things that we consider unimportant are important to children. This story is such a wonderful way of working through the issue of fogiveness for parents who love their children but sometimes fall short of being perfect. I hope that many parents will read this book!

It is very possible to go into this book not knowing what to expect and come out fully educated about Martin Luther King Jr.'s and Fred Shuttlesworth's endeavor to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama. In his eloquent style of writing, King patiently explains the situation for African Americans before, during, and after his movement for equality. One admires him as a human being much more after reading his own heartfelt words as he remembers these times. King uses simple logic to delineate exactly why he did what he did. Suddenly, after reading this book, a nonviolent direct action movement makes so much sense. History lesson? Story? Documentary in words? Why We Can't Wait is all of these, but above all, this is the work of one man's private and public struggle for civil change. Why we can't afford not to read this book: It looks back at a darker time in American history, more specifically, in 1963. As a student, just knowing that these turbulent times were not too long ago is somewhat upsetting. However, this book serves as a document marking how far America has come since then. The afterword by Jesse Jackson demonstrates this purpose perfectly.

This is a fantastic work by Martin Luther King Jr discussing the 1963 situation in Birmingham, Alabama, where King and others took a big step towards bringing down racism.

King's words and ideas are truly provocing, and should be read by all - they are not just applicable to the situation in 1963, but also to our lives today.

If everybody read this book and listened to its message, the world would be a better place.

Dr. King's "Why We Can't Wait" is a remarkable book. The chapter containing the famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is one of the great political, religious and social works humanity has ever produced. If you read nothing else about the civil rights movement, or about Martin Luther King, this letter will show you why it was the right thing to do, why he won a Nobel Peace Prize, and why America (and the world) is a better place because King lived.

Every American should read two documents: The Constitution and "The Letter from Birmingham Jail."

The author has previously written for such unusally reliable sources as Time, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. There are 1,078 references in this book in 426 pages of text covering an introduction, a prologue, and 18 chapters. The references are from such sources as memoranda and reports from U.S. government agencies, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and the New Republic, to name only a few. The author, therefore, cannot be dismissed as some sort of right wing crackpot. What Timmerman does is document Jackson's unashamed schemes to line his own pockets and those of his friends and family in the name of racial diversity, economic opportunity, and other buzzwords popular with income redistribution leftists. But Jesse is the quintessential capitalist. He doesn't do anything he can't get paid for, to include NOT speaking up in favor of minority groups who have sought his assistance in the past but didn't have the money to pay his fee! SHAKEDOWN is an appropriate title for this work, as Jackson has managed to get governments and businesses to pony up for his schemes in order to keep from being branded as racist by Jackson. This book could have been subtitled "Show Me the Money!" He has definitely helped himself, and made himself rich in the process. Whether he has helped others is truly open to question, as the author has convincingly documented.

What an eye opener! This books seems to be very factual. The events and circumstances surrounding the Reverend Jackson, excuse me so called Reverend Jackson, are appalling. This book shows a sad fact in America today. That the corporations, the press and even the average white person are petrified by the thought of being accused of racism against an African-American. And Jesse Jackson has taken full advantage of that to enrich himself and his family. This book is a must read for anyone who would like to see some of the details of the stories we have been seeing on the news. Adding credibility, in my opinion, to the facts presented in this book is the fact that this book has been reviewed on many news programs and talk shows and Jesse has refused to make any appearances rebutting the facts. Those that have attempted to defend him on these shows have reverted to pointing out the good he has done (I'm sure there are good things). This book presents information on the bad things he has done, with indepth information that does not appear on the evening news. This will not be the last book I read on the subject but I feel that it is a very important book for anyone to read that is interested in the man, the history and the smoke screen that Jesse has created.

This is a magnificent expose of one of the most evil and destructive creatures of our time. It is truly a tragedy that a cretinous subhumanoid like Jackson has been given the power and influence that he has-and that the number of honest and ethical black leaders is so very small. Timmerman makes very clear the horrific crimes with which this phony so-called "Reverand" is affiliated (street gangs, African butchers and many others), his racist contempt for whites, his hatred for the United States, affiliations with Communists etc. This of course will not affect the loyalty of his horde of brain-dead followers-and their imbecilic chanting, slogans and "boycotts"-but it is vital information for the rest of us!

This is a good book and he sermons read well. But while this is not bad on paper, this might be better as an audio book or on CD. Havign heard Rev. Franklin's sermons on the radio as a child (including some of the ones included in this book), I could testify that you would be better off hearing this.

In this collection of sermons and a narrative of a life, delivered to Jeff Todd Titon by the Reverend Franklin himself, the language and performance ability of a gifted preacher are presented carefully and revealingly. We learn how Franklin interpreted his conversion to the ministry, what it means to give a good sermon, and how Franklin's life history affected his religous work. The sermons themselves are presented with effective ethnopoetics which reveal the rhythms and pacing of Franklin's sermons. Yet, the texts of the sermons fail to reveal how the congregation responded to Franklin's sermons, and that audience response is integral to understanding the way Franklin spoke and paced and performed his sermons. I would also be interested in some analysis of the sermons, though I like that their presentation is in fact privileged, and absent of the editor's voice. Overall, an important and affective work that should be read by anyone who's interested in African American sermonic discourse, music, or religous traditions.

To begin with some background on Rev. Franklin: he was born in that hotbed of Afro-American culture, the Mississippi Delta; was a prodigy like his daughter Aretha, in that he was called to preach at fifteen; and was one of the ministers who backed Dr. King whenever the civil rights movement needed funds. Rev. Franklin became nationally known in the black community for the beauty, the literacy, the poetry of his song sermons. Besides his church work, he became a recording artist and toured with Aretha. His song sermons are divided into a prose development of his theme, which are studded with home truths about human nature and find deep and original insights in even the most well-worked veins of Biblical interpretation, and then break into the "whooping" of black preachers, which is rendered in the book as poetry. Finally he often turns to outright song. It is hard to exaggerate the important of Rev. Franklin as an artist. His is a God of kindness, power and patience; his is a vision that sees hardship as the teacher of wisdom, and his poetry are parables which lift each piece into a realm of exaltation. Several of the sermons recorded in the mid-1950's are uncanny predictions of the upcoming civil rights movment, when Afro-Americans took matters into their own hands and faced their oppressors by appealing to their better natures.

And if I say this book soars with the music of Mozart, do not say I exaggerate; and if I say this book is as wise as the wisdom of Solomon, do not say I am foolish; and if I say this book touches with the beauty of the Good Samaritian, do not say I chase dreams; for we are better than we think we are.

I wanted to read this book so that I had an understanding of what some of the "folks" were hearing from people they trusted. The thought was: How can I help someone if I don't understand what they may have heard?

Now that I'm finished with it I have a few quick thoughts:

GOOD: The book tries to strike a balance between being technical and practical - It explains some of the "concepts" well, but then goes into specific deatil about "WHO" to call for things (i.e. credit reporting agencies, SBA etc.)

GOOD: The book touches on all the major subjects that people unfamiliar with personal money mgmt trip over. Insurance, home-buying, investing, insurance, credit, avoiding scams etc. are all topic that you MUST understand (to some extent) to avoid financial pitfalls.

BAD: Occassional references to the bible are a nice idea, but there aren't enough of them to have a substantial meaning to a reader. In the end they are jsut distracting.

BAD: The book doesn't have much of a "recommended reading" or additional reading section. Very helpful for those just starting out.

GOOD: Chapters are easy to read during lunch. At 15-25 pages, it is easy to read this books during lunchtime over the course of 2 weeks.

GOOD: Forget the msgr and your issues with him. The advice is solid, and right in line with what most financial planners would tell you (although, it is NO substitute for a professional - which the authors give advice on how to hire one)

BAD: May be helpful to have a good dictionary handy if you are a novice reader.

KB

This book covers all you need to know in planning your financial future. I found it to be comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and very well written. There is no substitute for having a good analysis of how to use financial planning strategies. Mary Gotschall's attempt is a 5-star winner. "It's About the Money" is definitely the bottom line in financial planning - a must read.

This is one of the best books on personal finances ever written for the layperson. In easy-to-under prose, it explains how to amass wealth and how to manage it. An indispensable addition to the library of anyone looking to improve their financial situation over the long haul!

If you want to read an excellent NONFICTION book about Jesse Jackson, read "Shakedown : Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson" by Kenneth R. Timmerman.

Jesse Jackson does a wonderful job of not only appealing to the emotions of the readers, but to stun with great statistics to support the truth that the phrase 'justice system' is, in fact, an oxymoron. Rev. Jesse Jackson reflects accurately the need for reform, and even provides names and addresses of a great number of organizations nation-wide so that readers can get involved to fight the injustices of the criminal justice system. It is not only a great book for those who are at all interested the criminal justice system, but those who are interested in politics, race-relations, and history. He takes a broader look at the death penalty than most of the other articles and in-depth analyses that I've read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in learning the truth about race-relations in the United States.

Jesse Jackson has written a wonderful argument against the use of the death penalty. It is too bad that most of those who need convincing will not read this, and those who do will disregard all information or logic to maintain their support for the death penalty and their demonizing of its victims. Jackson provides interesting tidbits of information. For example, when death penalty supporters pointed out a decrease in murder in the two weeks following the first execution after the Supreme Court's moritorium, Jackson replied that the decrease occured only in the Eastern states, and was due to major blizzards at the time.

Jackson points out what should be obvious to everyone, that black persons and poor persons are more likely to get the death penalty than the white or rich. The representation of poor defendants in court has been terrible. Jury selection may exclude persons who oppose the death penalty. Since many opponents base their opposition on concern about executing an innocent, while many supporters are wilfully blind about the possibility of a person's innocence; that means death penalty juries are more likely to convict on the flimsiest of evidence.

Jackson discusses the Ehrlich study of 1975, the study most prominently cited to ostensibly show a crime-reduction effect of the death penalty. He discussed various criticisms, and pointed out that no other study has repeated the results, but he left out the most damning indictment of Ehrlich's study: the strong dependence of the results on the last year of the study. (Finkelstein and Levin, Staticstics for Lawyers (1990) pp. 446 and 534) If the final year analyzed was 1969, 1968, or 1967, the result was about eight murders reduced per execution. If 1966, seven murders reduced. If 1965, 4.5 murders reduced. If 1964, 1.5 murders reduced. If the study ended earlier in the 1960s, the results would have been two and eight murders INCREASED for each execution.

That kind of result was predictable from Ehrlich's use of logarithms of the numbers of executions. In the years 1965 - 1969, there were seven, one, two, zero, and zero executions. Earlier years had double-digit or triple-digit numbers of executions. Using logarithms strongly emphasizes lower numbers over higher numbers. (Decreasing from 200 to 100 has the same effect of decreasing from 2 to 1.) In any case, studies in which the results vary with endpoint are worthless.

I believe that the Ehrlich study illustrates a fundamental difference between physical science and other fields of study, such as economics or law. In the sciences, the mathematical error might have been caught by peer review. Even if the study got by peer review, once the error was exposed, the consensus would be to dismiss the study and forget about it except as an example of bad science. But in law and politics, the trend has been to cite the study prominantly and then possibly cite

criticism of the study, letting the reader decide for himself. Supporters and opponents take sides based on their proclivities and ignore logic from the other side.

In discussing public opinion regarding the death penalty, Jackson tells of a faction of death-penalty supporters who dig in and retrench whcn confronted with negative facts on the death penalty. That faction truly does exist. Some can be found on the newsgroup alt.activism.death-penalty, where they persistently and wilfully disregard evidence of innocent persons being executed, or that execution doesn't deter murder. These pro-death-penalty persons are little more than malicious know-nothings.

I saw one post (in 1994) that replied to an article posted about the innocence of Roger Coleman, that summarized the article as something like, "Account of Coleman's brutal murder of Wanda McCoy deleted." Another post around the same time responded to statistics showing a drop in murders after Canada

eliminated the death penalty, and amazingly asserted that the drop would have been greater had Canada not eliminated the death penalty. There was absolutely no basis for such an assertion in the statistics.

In fact, when the governor of Illinois issued a moritorium on executions, because of too many innocents having been convicted, our estimed Texas governor and future Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush, not only refused to join the moritorium, but went ahead to execute an innocent man March 1st, Odell Barnes.

Neither a smear sheet or puff piece, this is a very objective and thorough look at the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Here you see both the good and bad. The infamous "King's blood" incident, the womanizing, the crudity and rudeness (that I've had the misfortune to expereince once), and the scandals are all here minus the Angela Parker case in 1971, oddly.

However, Frady does not let the reader forget the good that Jesse Jackson has done for society. We also him getting tearful Israeli and Palestinian children to come together in peace. We see him trying to unify poor Whites and Blacks in America (who even THINKS of doing that anymore?), we see him encouraging Black kids to forego delinquency and do better in school (I first saw him on one such occasion in 1978), and we see the successful instances in which he helped in the release of hostages. We also see that contrary to popular (mis)beleif, he has encouraged far more cooperation among the races than this far lesser contemporaries among what remains of "Black leadership."

Frady lets the reader know that in spite of Rev. Jesse Jackson's considerable and numerous flaws, the good that he has done cannot be dismissed.

In spite of this, there is a minor complaint. Frady gets to be a bit much with the dialect in trying to capture Rev. J/J's speech patters ("Yawl," "Great Gawd a mighty," "Looka heah," etc.).

"Jesse" is a compelling examination of the fascinating life and times of an American original, civil rights leader and two-time presidential contender Jesse Jackson. This detailed, nuanced biography benefits from the author's nearly thirty years covering Jackson as a journalist, as well as the access Frady was granted his subject as a frequent traveling companion and from many interviews with Jackson, his family and colleagues. As a result, Frady has been able to create a intimate account of his subject's life and thought which seemingly allows the reader to get inside Jackson's head and understand his motivations and actions. Striving for a balanced portrayal, Frady does not shy away from Jackson's faults; commendably, he deals with them in a frank, fair manner while avoiding sensationalism. Ultimately, Frady suggests, all of Jackson's activities, from his early work with PUSH and Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, to his presidential campaigns and his incessant world travels, have been motivated by a common spirit of "gospel populism" and a desire to be seen not simply as a black leader but as a moral leader with a vision that transcends racial, cultural and economic boundaries. "Jesse" is not a perfect book; it seems at times a bit lengthy, and often Frady devotes seemingly endless attention to minor or obscure events and breezes over major ones (example: we repeatedly hear references and anecdotes about Jackson's 1989 trip to earthquake-stricken Armenia, but his 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention - probably his most memorable public moment - is cursorily dispatched in two sentences). "Jesse" is probably not, as one reviewer suggested, the definitive biography of Jesse Jackson, but it is an important key to understanding the man, and in the absence of a definitive portrait, it will no doubt be the best Jackson biography available for a very long time.

Charley just moved into a new neighborhood. He is the only black kid, and also has the only black family in the neighborhood. He finds things are harder than he had imagined. He dosen't understand how kids can exclude someone for the color of their skin. He likes himself, but for some reason other kids don't. He has only one friend, which is his best friend but even he does not know what Charley's going through.

fathered a child out of wedlock while giving advice to clinton how to be slick.

Not since Andrew Hacker has a white author been as conversant and intuitive about both sides of the race issue in America. Jim Meyers presents both black and white 'world views' thoroughly and fairly and without rose colored glasses--a feat not often accomplished by privileged whites. In my experience, black authors write from a more reality-based position than do whites, but Meyers obviously walks the walk.

Meyers guides the reader through a variety of situations in which we all find ourselves. Of particular interest to me was his discussion of how a person of color might feel upon meeting a white stranger and vice-versa. How might each person be feeling, what might they be thinking, how are they conditioned to respond, which self-preservation behaviors kick in? Useful information for those of us who try, as best we can, to encourage cross racial and cross cultural friendships and understanding.

Icon charts incorporated throughout this book provide powerful, at-a-glance imagery of the ratios of blacks to whites in America and help illustrate why some blacks may be hesitant to speak their minds in certain social settings. Since much race-related literature speak in abstract terms, Mr. Meyers use of math and numbers is also a powerful learning tool.

Like the author, I am also a white person previously married to a black spouse who surrounds myself with friends of all ethnicities. I believe race relations is the single most important issue facing America today. I give Jim Meyers credit for presenting this topic in a fresh, conversational way that is easy to read and very enlightening.

I recommend this book to people of all races who want answers to questions that many may find too difficult to ask in the real world.

I recently read this book after feeling lost in my understanding of "race" relations in America. This book cleared up a lot of details for me and in so doing illuminated a few of the ways in which American discourse on "race" can be improved. However, after seeing the numbers as Myers so thoroughly lays out, I am incredulous that such discourse will enter the public arena any time soon.