Thoroughly enjoyed her essays! You had an opportunity to travel with Alice as she journeys all over the world and other worlds greeting her ancestors. Each essay gave you the feel that she was in your living room, sharing from her life. Really enjoyable.

How could I not give it 5 stars?? All the emotion that is evoked coming from her soul & compassion for all living beings truly make for a beautiful compilation. Each new story is precious & makes one feel the need to pass this book around to all friends & acquaintances...

"Living by the Word: Selected Writings 1973-1987" is an excellent collection from prolific author Alice Walker. In this collection of essays and journal entries, Walker demonstrates the essential union of her political, spiritual, and artistic "selves."

Walker writes about many topics: animal rights, her daughter's smoking habit, her father, the problematic legacy of Joel Chandler Harris, pioneering African-American thinker Benjamin Banneker, vegetarianism, Reggae legend Bob Marley, her own 1983 trip to China, and more. Particularly fascinating are her thoughts on the controversies surrounding her great novel "The Color Purple."

Although the "New Age" vibe of much of the book may be too much for some readers, I found the book to be well-written and consistently interesting. Walker is a writer who has created a remarkable body of work, and "Living by the Word" is an excellent example of her passion and insight.

Buku ini sungguh luar biasa. Saya telah membacanya beberapa kali dan tetap amat menyentuh.

Buku amat menolong kita dalam proses menghayati makna Natal di tengah kondisi perayaan Natal yang sering kali kehilangan makna karena nilai-nilai komersial.

Saya merekomendasikan buku ini untuk Anda dan keluarga!

I checked this book out of our local library while searching for short inspirational pieces to use for our church women's Advent tea. I wanted meaningful short stories or pieces that were not too HEAVY. I found so much that I had a hard time limiting my choices to fit the time given over to entertainment. I chose two by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nativity by Philip Gulley. This little book is a gem. While I am online today, I am ordering a copy for myself and one for a friend.

I've never bought a book for my step-father for which he said "Thank you" until "Christmas Stories for the Heart". He has read it over and over during the past year. I'd recommend it for any age to uplift the spirit.

Clearly no ground-breaking storyteller in the mold of Joyce, Ellison, or Hemingway, Walker IS, however, a very entertaining and resourceful author who is able to make up with charm what she lacks in originality and clarity of aesthetic vision. These stories, however, lean too hard against the trunk of Hurston's Eatonville folksy charm to make an indelible impression, and the sordidness which is featured in the narrative remains ill-conceived and dangerously ill-informed. For Walker's simple best, pick up a copy of her "The Color Purple", which remains landmark in its singularity of ambition and revisionistic approach to an otherwise- tired narrative form.

A collection of short stories that I first read for a Black Literature class when I was in college in the '70....and here recently, shared it with my book club as our book of the month. Ms. Walker's writing style makes you feel you are right there with the character. While each story presents different experiences of African-American women, women of all nationalities will be able to relate to the stories and the emotions. It's a fast paced book that is heart-warming, amusing, sad,....every emotion is touched.

Mumia Abu Jamal is undoubtedly correct with regard to his opinions about the American Judicial System, and many of the essays in this book, on everything from rap music to jail suicides, are heart rending and angering. But with regard to Jamal himself, the claims his supporters make of his innocence get more and more tenuous the harder one looks at the case. And his silence on the matter is also a bit disturbing. If an innocent man were rotting in a jail cell on death row in one of the worst prisons in the country, he would not be reminiscing about the past and the significant flaws of the system--he would write ceaselessly about the circumstances of his case, why he is innocent, what really happened that night between him and Officer Faulkner, and perhaps give us a little insight into why even his own brother would not testify on his behalf. A lucid, unsparing mind, an amazing talent, a true political activist and revolutionary, yes, all this and a vicious murderer to boot. When the smoke clears and a fair trial finally happens, some of these young kids who worship him are going to be mighty disappointed. All the lefty lawyers and goofball celebrities in the world can't cloud the actual truth, as romantic as Jamal's background may be.

I'd still recommend the book. Just remember what kind of a human being wrote it.

This wonderful collection of Mumia Abu-Jamal's essays is a priceless view into the life of an oppressed inner city black man. The horrible injustices done to these people are conveyed through Mumia's eloquent essays and radio commentaries.

However, some of the essays are repetitions of previous ones, such as the ones on the "drug war" and the May 13 MOVE bombing. I really appreciate Mumia's radical mindset, but I think the editors of the book could have left out some of the repetitious essays.

All in all, this is a great book with multifaceted insights into police brutality, the structure of our "democracy", and the lives of urban blacks everywhere.

All Things Censored

Mumia Abu-Jamal has not only a good oratory style, but also writes vividly and convincingly. Mumia has a rare perspective, as his background as a reporter and his long and unjust incarceration give him an understanding of the political economy of the media, which serves to silence dissent, and the prejudice of the trial and punishment system. This book is essential for anyone who has an interest in US politics, justice, the issue of the death penalty and Mumia's case in particular. It is also an excellent insight into modern American society - the aspect that we are discouraged from seeing by politicians and the media. Any person who has a grasp of America's recent history knows all about police brutality, the oppression of minorities and the choking conformity of censorship, but rarely has a writer conveyed all of this so clearly. If this book is inflammatory, it is only because that is the rightful response to an injustice of the magnitude Mumia has been subjected to. His case encapsulates the blatant and ruthless prejudice of the police and the courts, and their highly pervasive and authoritarian grip on mainstream media discourse. His case echoes that of Nigeria's Ken Saro-Wiwa, and it would be to America's shame if he were to pay the same price for his dissent. Don't believe the corporate-controlled mass media - reject censorship. Find out the facts of Mumia's case and then decide.

In "Banned" Alice Walker continues to do for her readers what she has done throughout her writing career: challenges us. She challenges our ideas, our perceptions, and our life choices. This is a large part of why her writing is such wonderful literature and excellent teaching material.

To Walker's credit, much of this book is devoted to the ideas of those who oppose the inclusion of her works in state-wide CLAS tests. She could have easily written the book with only opinions in support of her own. However, were she to do that then she would be as guilty as those who oppose her without ever having read her stories in their entirety.

It is unfair to take any piece of art or literature (including the Bible, of which this is often done) and judge its value solely on specific quotes taken out of context. Neither Walker's nor any other artist's brilliance is given justice when this happens.

Reading is usually a solitary experience -- the reader engaged with the writer's words. That relationship can be enlarged with reading groups and in English classrooms. Banned further expands the relationship between reader and writer. What happens when what we read, or what teachers assign students to read, is challenged as inappropriate? The book's focus is the controversial decision by the California State Board of Education to remove two of Alice Walker's stories, "Roselily" and "Am I Blue?" from the 1994 California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test. The book includes both stories, as well as an excerpt from The Color Purple, and nearly forty pages of letters to the editor and transcripts of the public hearing held by the California State Board of Education in response to the decision to remove the stories from the CLAS test

"Roselily," a short story of an African-American single mother marrying a Muslim man, and "Am I Blue?" a reflective essay about a woman's musings of her place in the world and the relationships with others in that world, are worthwhile reading in themselves. I found them both to be provocative pieces for different reasons. As a high school English teacher, I would use -- and have used -- both in my classes. Of course, the pieces have characteristics I want my students to learn and possess: voice, passion, writing with a purpose in both fiction and non-fiction forms. They are, indeed, controversial; but shouldn't writing provoke us to not just think about our world, but perhaps, to re-think our place in the world around us?

Banned's focus, however, is not the literary power of Alice Walker, but the power of her ideas. In the nearly forty pages of materials that either support or criticize the Board's decision to pull the pieces from the CLAS test, we witness the heart of the argument between censorship and free speech. "Roselily" was attacked as being "anti-religious" while "Am I Blue?" was challenged as being "anti-meat eating." Good argument has both emotion and logic in it; the editorials and the hearing transcripts reveal both the emotion and the logic in the censorship argument. Some of the arguments on both sides are heavily laden with emotion that distort the issue; others use emotional appeals very effectively to help prove their point. Some arguments attack the Board's decision as politically correct and motivated by the wrong reasons. Others reveal that there are clear thinking people on both sides of the issue, people who make a logical defense of their own positions whether in supportive or critical of the California State Board of Education's decision. As one who leans toward the side of free speech and is very cautious about pulling materials from library shelves or from a class reading list, I was impressed with several of the arguments supportive of the Board.

Alice Walker's stories cause us to examine how we live our lives, cause us to question our beliefs, cause us to wonder about our relationships in our world. Similarly, Banned makes us think about what we read, and what we ask our students and our children to read. If you're a teacher, this small book will cause you to think about the readings that we give our students. As a parent, hopefully, you will ask your children what they are reading and what discussions they are having in their classes. As members of a democratic society, we will all ask what we should do with ideas that that may conflict with our own ideas. This book, a book of dialogue, really, about the issue of censorship, should become a focal point for further dialogue.

This book is a must read for any serious Walker fan.It tells you a lot about the war behind the scenes to get books like The Color Purple removed from schools and libraries."Banned" is an important companion piece to Walker's books.The book brought up some issues I'd never thought of when I was reading the books.

When I first started reading this book, the first thing that caugth my eye was the stlye of writing. Every couple of pages Alice Walker would change the speaker and would headline the section with the name of the person talking. The book was about one women and her struggle with her african heritage and trying to find her self and the "secrets of joy". This book seems familar to another book of her's that I have read called "The Color Purple" which also about the struggle of one women and her society. The reading was interesting and I enjoyed the way she wrote the book because I could the view's of everyone in the story. But sometimes it would get confusing and I would lose the idea. Overall the book would go up and down, but in the end the story came together and left a good imprint.

This is the first book that I've read by Alice Walker and I walked away from it very impressed. I've always been fascinated with other cultures and was drawn to the subject of genital mutilation in Africa. I've always found this to be a shocking and controversial topic whenever I've heard it discussed.

This book is the story of Tashi and her husband Adam and some surrounding friends of theirs. Tashi suffers horribly from her past experiences with the mutilation ceremonies. I found Walker's account to be heart wrenching and brutally honest. One can only imagine the emotional and psychological effects of such a traumatic procedure.

The book itself is a gem. The story unfolds a small piece at a time, like a secret being whispered to you. It all fits together wonderfully and forms a thought-provoking tale.

When I first came across this book, it beckoned me. The fact that it was only in hardback didn't even deter me from buying it, despite my limited budget, and I was not disappointed. I read it three times that week, and couldn't put it down. To this day, I read Possessing the Secret of Joy once or twice every year, to recharge the inspiration that it always provides. After some twenty readings over the years, I firmly believe that this is a book of chilling import as a literary masterpiece. Walker's craft is marvelous in this book. From the story of the panther named Lara to the chilling conclusion, this book is impossible to put down.

My only reservation about recommending this book to everyone freely is that some people can't stomach the frightening reality of female genital mutilation. Despite the fact that it is a difficult issue to read about, the presentation of the topic is artfully done.

I am an avid reader and have read a multitude of classics and contemporary works. I have read most of Alice Walker's fiction and nonfiction as a result of my love for Possessing the Secret of Joy, but this remains my all-time favorite work of literature!

Alice Walker seems to love the color blue. I didn't count how often, but blue is woven in and out of the poems. It is like there is a blue ribbon of healing words sent out to the reader.

The poems weave a tale of the wonder of life and send out a call for the end of war and mistreatment of each other. Alice Walker sets an example of thanking and honoring friends for being who they are.

The poems in this book dusts off the reader and sets him/her off to do the work that needs to be done.

"This is the true wine of astonishment:
We are not
Over
When we think
We are."

Thank you a thousand times, Ms. Walker, for the gift of your new poems. They literally danced off the pages and into my soul as I read them. I enjoyed the preface and especially being introduced to the shaman/priestess/healer, Maria Sabina. My favorite poem is "Thanks for the Garlic". You are a beautiful, amazing Apprentice Elder and someone I definitely will emulate in my own journey to become......

I saw Ms. Walker read poems from this book last night in Los Angeles. She spoke of how she thought she was done with writing and then the poetry started one day. She described the return to poetry as a "spring" beginning to flow again. Anyone involved in creative pursuits, such as writing poetry, can surely relate to the "spring" metaphor. These poems are simply beautiful and seem effortless as you read them. They seem to come from a vast, open space. Reading the poetry engages the reader in a celebration of life, the spirit, and hope for humanity. Highly recommended!

I thought that this book was very harsh and critical of some groups of people. I thought that it was quite insulting to men and whites. I thought it was well writtten, and i loved the first couple sections about Walker's ideas of activism rooted in love, but i found that as the book progressed it seemed to become more of a praise of certain kinds of people rather than praising all people and loving all people like it was claimed earlier in the book. Overall, Walker had good ideas, I just found that sometime they were expressed in a manner of insult.

This is a very interesting book. One of the things that I enjoy most about Walker's writing is her ability to convey her perspective of the world. I esspecially liked the first two essay's, and the essay on her cat. I don't agree with absolutly all of Walker's points (Though I do agree with most of them), but this does nothing to undermine the power of the book. The book is sub-titled "A Writer's Activism" and it left me thinking about the place of activism in my own life. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind, especially when read in conjunction with Walker's book of short stories, "You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down".

This book of short stories, letters, and poems captures the soul and hear of its readers. I read the letter to President Clinton over and over. I first heard this letter read by Ms. Walker at a speech she gave at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and I was deeply moved. One does not realize the affects of the embargo against Cuba until reading this moving piece. I can hear her words over and over each time I read it. Also, her poems are always a MUST! This book is simply a classic that can be read for years to come!

I've been wearing locks for over 2 years, and do so simply because I wanted to wear my natual hair in a flattering, manageable way that honors its texture and the sense of pride I have celebrating my unique African-American features: the way some of the wearers come across in this book is that people who choose to wear locks for these reasons are ignorant frauds, intent on picking and choosing from an honored way of life simply to seem "down". Is it a problem if people like the way they look and want the dreads for that reason? Do we all have to shun soap/shampoo/locticians/any appearance of uniform size to be "real"? The look may have originated with the Rastas, but just because you're not Rasta when you grow them doesn't mean that you're mocking the way of life or that you don't have a bond with your locks, just like those who wear relaxers don't necessarily want to be white or hate themselves. The overall arrogant, pious "My locks are more sacred than thou's" tone offended me when I thought it would re-affirm the beauty I find in dreads. All in all, a great coffee table book for the photos (especially of Keith Hamilton Cobb---AAHHH SOOKIE SOOKIE NOW!!!) and the skimming of history, but look elsewhere for true dread brotherhood (and sisterhood).

One day I was walking into the bookstore with my aunt who wears dreads, and I picked up this . I was captured by the cover,it was so intriguing. It all began with my family members, and the culture I know as "Black". I am a 19 year old student in college, and all my life I have been around people of my own race who have worn dreads, and have worn them very intricately. My understanding is my own, I am not against the diversity in which people of different races, choose to wear their hair. It's just that I have looked at dreads as being something of my culture, and something that we created, to beautify ourselves even more.However after closely excamining the different points of this book, I have become more openminded. I am aware that it is not who wears their hair in dreads, but it is more of how the dreads are being worn, and the statement that is being given, when being worn.I give this book an ultimate two thumbs up.It is a must that people who feel very strongly about different races becoming comfortable with the intricate ways and lifestyle of ones other culture. Thankyou for opening up my mind.

i find it sometimes best to inform people by simply placing a book on my desk to check out the response as well to inform....pictures are worth a thousand words! My coworkers are enthralled with the beauty of the black and white images..also the size of the images...... everyone from asian, indian, african and european decent magnifies the beauty and majesty of coiled hair....from refined american inspired locks...to the sea and salt enhanced locks of jamica...this pictorial pays tribute to the sublime beauty of locked hair. Is this pictorial exploitative as a another reviewer suggested? ..this does not appear to be the intention...the participants appear proud to contribute and demontrate a different kind of beauty. Since locking hair is a process that takes fortitude and time, this book is inspiration.

... This is not an in-depth study of the racism/speciesim connection. It is, however, a thought-provoking introduction to the topic. The way in which societies foster master classes is a timely subject, particularly in the fact of the new wave of burgeoning imperialism known as globalism. I expect this issue to attract much interest in the near future. It will be a turning point for all social justice movements when we see and acknowledge the interconnected nature of oppression.

This is an unforgettable and powerful book, by an author who has captured the essence of violence; and shows how violence towards non-human animals holds the key and ultimate solution to the creation of a violence-free society. Alice Walker, who writes the Foreward says that once this book is read, it will take a lifetime to forget. Others say it should be required reading in our schools and homes. It provocatively reveals the similarities between the violence humans have wrought against other humans, and our treament of non-human animals. It is brief (128 pages) but is a chilling testament, well illustrated with photos and sketches, and altough a small book it speaks volumes to the pain and suffering we have created as a result of so-called human progress.
Majorie Spiegal is a documentary photographer and author of several books. Her fields of study include biology, philosophy, environmental studies, history, nutrition and medicine. In 1989, she founded IDEA (Institute for Development of Earth Awareness), a non-profit educational organisation whose mission synthesizes three areas of concern: environmental, human and animal issues.
In this startling book, Spiegal gives a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves, and points out the 'dreaded comparison' between the pain felt by abused human beings and the pain felt by abused non-human beings, recognising it as the same pain. Why is it unacceptable to treat humans 'like animals', but it is considered a proper manner in which to treat non-human animals? For some, this book my be too challenging to their most closly-held beliefs, but it is truly a consciousness-raising exercise. Most people would say they are against slavery, yet animal slavery is alive and well even in the most 'civilized' society. The author draws parallels, and the illustrations stunnily juxtapose those of captured black slaves and those of captured non-human animals, sometimes wearing the same sort of restraining equipment. There are illustrations of branding to calves and of slaves, the muzzling of dogs and of slaves, the auctioning of slaves and of non-human animals, and many other examples. Families were torn apart, just as calves are ripped from their mothers without even the chance of a lick. There is undisputed evidence of non-human animals sufering the intolerable pain of mourning. In today's factory farmong, chicks never see a hen, cows and sows are kept in stalls, with their young taken from them almost immediately after birth.
The author covers many related subjects, including the language of oppression, transportation, experimentation, food production, hunting, profits and power. A term like 'breaking a horse'- which really does man breaking the spirit of the horse, to tame just as 'uppity' slaves were tamed. Photos of sheep and cattle being transported, are shown with sketches of slave ships; 15 million slaves survived some thirty or forty million transported to the West, and there is a ghastly mortality rate today for cattle and sheep transported from Australia to the East. Hunting continues around the world, with th UK House of Lords in March this year voting to continue hunting with hounds. In the US the object of desire for many hunters is to get a buck's head complete with antlers, stuffed and hung over the fireplace. Many travellers today search for items such as a gorilla's hand for a paper-weight, exotic skins and other tropies, and so many other creatures including whales being hunted. As segregation of blacks was a means for committee to conceal a disturbing reality from the wider society, so today's secrecy protects a profitable but disgusting cruelty to non-human beings. What goes on in laboratories, in abbatoirs, in factory farm? Nowadays in place of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens living peaceably on farms, we see long sheds. Those in power used to say that if slavery were ended, the economics of society would collapse, but it didn't. Today's society that relies very heavily on the exploitation of animals, says the same sort of thing. But the author doesn't give up hope; she urges on her readers to the realization that the non-human we enslave and treat as things, are alive, and hopes that this realization will change our actions. This book is one that you will keep referring to, and it does have a comphrehensive index. Jeffrey Masson, author of When Elephants Weep, said The Dreaded Comparison is a wonderful book, and he urged everyone to read it. So do I.

This book compares human and animal slavery in a way you can never ever forget. The words and pictures are unforgettable. You will feel the feelings of those humans and those animals who are used (and being used now) as slaves.

Read this book, and change your life! (it really helps) Many thanks to Amazon.com for recommending this book to me...