Book Reviews
The First Biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Crusader Without Violence, Is Reissued 60 Years Later
Jo Freeman Reviews: In a long chapter on Family, we learn why the name on his birth certificate is Michael Luther, and why he was called 'Little Mike' in his early years. In fact, Martin Luther King wasn't named for Martin Luther, but you'll have to read the book to find out why. Nonviolence came to him easily. Even as a boy he didn't want to fight, or hit those who hit him. In 1950, while studying at Crozer Theological Seminary, he went to a lecture on Gandhi by a well-known black preacher. He was so intrigued that he read everything that he could find on the Mahatma and his philosophy. The future leader didn't leave home until he graduated from Morehouse College. However, he was ordained at 18 and made associate pastor of his father's church when he was 21. His theological training was not necessary for a career as a Baptist minister; he was going into the family business. more »
Revisiting Favorite Books: Kristin Lavransdatter, the Trilogy - The Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby and The Cross
Julia Sneden: We find that it an interesting process, looking back at books we read in our twenties and thirties. The books themselves haven't changed, but thanks to the varied experiences that another twenty or thirty years have added to our lives, we read them from a different perspective. Herewith, the first review of an old, beloved book (actually, three books):"'When you yourself had borne a child, Kristin, I thought you would understand,' her mother had said once. Now, she understood that her mother's heart had been scored deep with memories of her daughter, memories of thoughts for her child from the time it was unborn and from all the years a child remembers nothing of, memories of fear and hope and dreams that children never know have been dreamed for them, until their own time comes to fear and hope and dream in secret.'"
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Benjamin Franklin and the First Age that Witnessed Extensive Communication Among People Across the World
This year marks 275 years since Benjamin Franklin helped to found the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States. He served as the postmaster for North America when the colonies were under British rule, and he was instrumental in establishing a postal service system, known today as the United States Postal Service. A lot of Franklin’s letters basically say things like, “Please introduce me to this famous person. Please share my ideas with that influential person.” If there had been LinkedIn, he would have signed up. more »
Jo Freeman's Review of A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope and Innocence Lost
Jo Freeman reviews and writes: Race and war entwined during the riots. Most people have forgotten that the first riot of the decade was in Birmingham in 1963. They spread North in 1964, but it was the Watts riot of 1965 that really woke people up. The number of riots peaked in 1967 but didn’t decline until the next decade. The riots as much as anything pushed race off of the public agenda in favor of war. Racial progress stalled while the anti-war movement thrived. The Sixties was a period of major cultural change, so it is fitting that this book comes out as we enter another such era. more »