Book Description
The beating of Rodney King and the resulting riots in South Central Los Angeles. The violent clash between Hasidim and African-Americans in Crown Heights. The boats of Haitian refugees being turned away from the Land of Opportunity. These are among the many racially-charged images that have burst across our television screens in the last year alone, images that show that for all our complacent beliefs in a melting-pot society, race is as much of a problem as ever in America. In this vastly important, widely-acclaimed volume, Kwame Anthony Appiah, a Ghanaian philosopher who now teaches at Harvard, explores, in his words, "the possibilities and pitfalls of an African identity in the late twentieth century." In the process he sheds new light on what it means to be an African-American, on the many preconceptions that have muddled discussions of race, Africa, and Afrocentrism since the end of the nineteenth century, and, in the end, to move beyond the idea of race. In My Father's House is especially wide-ranging, covering everything from Pan Africanism, to the works of early African-American intellectuals such as Alexander Crummell and W.E.B. Du Bois, to the ways in which African identity influences African literature. In his discussion of the latter subject, Appiah demonstrates how attempts to construct a uniquely African literature have ignored not only the inescapable influences that centuries of contact with the West have imposed, but also the multicultural nature of Africa itself. Emphasizing this last point is Appiah's eloquent title essay which offers a fitting finale to the volume. In a moving first-person account of his father's death and funeral in Ghana, Appiah offers a brilliant metaphor for the tension between Africa's aspirations to modernity and its desire to draw on its ancient cultural roots. During the Los Angeles riots, Rodney King appeared on television to make his now famous plea: "People, can we all get along?" In this beautiful, elegantly written volume, Appiah steers us along a path toward answering a question of the utmost importance to us all.
Customer Reviews:
Anthony?.......2007-09-19
The problem with K. Anthony Appiah is that he is, like HL Gates, full of hot air. It's not entirely their fault; they are caught between a rock and a hard place. They strive to be legitimate historians and thus become the black voice for their white peers. When they agree with bias scholarship of European academia, it becomes obvious truth, "because they are black". Yet they, like most blacks who are from the upper middle class and educated at the top European and American schools, are only black in theory. They have no more insight into the commoner's black experience either in the states or in Africa than any other Harvard student.
The point is that Appiah writes for fame and not truth. He lacks balanced scholarship and masks it as philosophy, yet to call him an "Uncle Tom" would be inane and too easy. He is a victim. A victim of his relentless desire to be validated in a world where he feels he has no power but the power to be rejected or agree.
This is evident in his absurd claims that nations like Mali should not try to prevent archeaological works from being stolen. He argues that they should try to spend their money on getting art from other places in order to be cosmopolitan, because that is more important than national works since the concept of Mali or Nigeria were not around when the artist made them thus they belong to everybody. He is so absurd one has to know that he knows it but his paychecks fill his pillow like feathers so he can sleep well.
To say such ridiculous things! Non of the Pharoah's artists made art for an Islamic state that speaks Arabic called Egypt! Nor did the Greeks, living in their small city states make art for modern Greece. Nor did the Ajanta artists envision India or even early Colonial American artist make art for the modern United States. Surely the made art and wanted it to be for their closest descendants, whatever they may become. Be they Djenne to Mali or Nok to Nigeria, or Kemet to Egypt, or Gaul to France. States change but heritage remains the same even in the mist of foreign intermixture. Anthony Appiah knows this, but he is paid to combat any sense of African identity in favor of "world" identity. True the world is becoming closer, but regions like identity, and need it. Or there would be no such thing as the EU if this wasnt true. Identity creates foundation.
Identity ,Solidarity, and the Dilemmas of Modern Africa.......2002-12-18
Modern Africans find themselves at the juncture of several worlds: As Basil Davidson might have noted, revolution, episodic nationalism, and postcolonial debacles have cast a pall of chaos onto an already historically chaotic field of peoples. The philosophies of Europe, the roots of tradition, African nationalism, Pan-Africanism, racial, tribal and ethnic solidarity, and a modernity which seeks to unleash individualism all come into conflict when Africans attempt to assess the problems they face, and detail solutions for these problems. Kwame Antony Appiah calls African thinkers to take up this important work, and he offers several assessments of these problems and possible solutions in his book. He believes that a better basis for solidarity in Africa is needed to replace decaying philosophies of negritude, and he discredits Pan Africanism's ability to fulfill this role. He addresses the question of what African philosophers should be preoccupied with, and whether, in their seeking to establish, unify, or recreate cultures, African philosophers can really draw upon philosophies and identities unique to Africa. The importance of an "African" identity has emerged since colonialism, and Appiah questions what such an identity should be founded upon, using Wole Soyinka and his own father Joseph Appiah as examples of intellectuals at work on the question.
After a reading of Appiah's book, I question whether an African solidarity can be usefully articulated. Can inclusive, constructive and accessible modern culture be derived in a continent-wide scale, with some collective experience as its sourcebook? Perhaps the question rides on whether tradition is truly expendable, although so far it has apparently not been expendable (although it has proven malleable). Appiah's arguments in favor of reexamining what it means to be African, while he has labored to disassociate them from the Pan-Africanist agenda, seem unsure on the issue of Pan Africanist hopes. Pan Africanism, whether informal or economic, seems more than mired in implied racialism - it seems to ignore the idea that there is a need for modern African nations to promote overture to the world, rather than aggrandized protectionism, which invariable carries with it repressive nationalist agendas. The reality is that Africa is dependent upon its ties to the rest of the world. I believe that Appiah would argue that any "Africanism" is not useful as a method of affirming culture, either, precisely because to be simply "an African" implies such a tremendous negation of one's own past.
I still want to know if Soyinka has also successfully divorced himself from a bogus Pan-Africanist and unianimist use of an "African" culture in his metaphors and references. Does he somehow successfully escape from the confines of this label with his individual-focused explorations (which are thus really Nigerian, or Yoruban?)
Also, how usefully can a philosophical agenda be furthered by an intellectual class focused on bipolarity? The implied bipolarity of African philosophers, working to justify themselves to the world while preserving the value of traditional discourse, seems in danger of trying too hard to mold tradition, and thus lose useful contact with traditional people.
Appiah questions "...the evaluative assumption that recovery of tradition is worthwhile," implying that it is not (95). This comment seems like an important and perhaps controversial one: is it really good for philosophers in Africa, if working to establish an agenda for future clarity and intelligibility for Africans, to be ready to dismiss recovering tradition in their countries and societies? The negative effects of tradition are many, but its benefits seem easily slighted.
Appiah's critique of the ethno philosophical response to modernity seems to leaves out the important fact that a new citizen of the world, as African citizen, is rapidly, and permanently, emerging - and that as people grow up separating themselves from tradition, tribalism and rural politics, they are reassessing their traditional background while trying to create an identity. Perhaps the ethno philosophy he criticizes is in fact an attempt at an honest reappraisal of tradition, for certainly all summaries of the condition of African traditions will end up preferentially consolidating these traditions.
The question is where in the African intellectual consciousness should fit the multi-lingual, multi-national views of tradition. I think to roundly press African intellectuals to serve the highest ideals of "their people" and guide them into a modernity that is not based on European models and yet also not based upon African tradition should be recognized as especially dangerous, as such a plan may well leave its chosen flock behind.
This book, for the density and complexity as well as honesty of its inquiry, should be seen as a sold introudction to what makes Africa so problematic on the level of identity and solidarity. The existence of an "african" identity can no longer be ignored. Appiah finds all the roots of this identity and gives them rigorous criticism in light of his own personal view of Africa as well as a solid reading of African philosophy, social science and history.
Remarkably astute.......1999-10-04
Appiah's book is insightful and powerful. His mastery of language allows for a philosophical chef d'oeuvre that reads with fluency comparable to a fine novel. Appiah's unique perspective as a quintessentially modern academic whose own life has bridged gaps between three continents imbues his writing with a freshness that will captivate any fine intellect. Truly a remarkable work.
Book Description
The renowned analyst and author here provides deep insight into the process required to bring feminize wisdom to consciousness in a patriarchal culture—as struggle in which many women are more fully engaged today that ever before. Presenting the personal journeys of three wise women as maps, she points the way to the state of inner wholeness and balance she calls "conscious femininity."
Customer Reviews:
it don't get better than this!.......2004-08-22
Buy this book if
1. You're looking to go there.
2. You're tired of pretending.
3. You want to read something your body likes as well as your head.
4. The book falls off the shelf and hits you on the head.
wow.......2001-11-20
In middle age,life can seem to drag to a halt. Marion Woodman and her coauthors demonstrate that the richest part of inner work is possible when we no longer are focusing most of our energy on the outer world of our families,or our careers. the stories these women tell of their own dream journeys are almost beyond belief, and inspired me to resume dream work i abandoned years ago. the journey never ends, and Leaving My Father's House begins a whole new ring on the spiral to wholeness. my only complaint is that at times the book felt too wordy.
Required Reading For Women (& Men).......2001-07-31
If life had a reading list, this book would certainly be on it. Woodman does a supreme job of linking the women's narratives -- clarifying and filling in their experiences in archtypical and Jungian terms -- without dimming the spotlight on their individual experiences.
How long will we live our lives unwhole and blaming others (or even ourselves!) for our unhappiness? Until we all read this book and others like it, I'd guess.
An honest and heartfelt look at woman's path........1998-10-28
With this book, Marion Woodman guides us through a complex and difficult journey. Her work with women through the often painful and lonely process of coming into their own life is shared with wisdom, compassion and deep love. I have found this book to be fundamental to my growth and my process. The women who shared their stories have enriched my life and have helped guide me on my way. I've given this book as a gift to many women friends, and I feel it can be a helpful and useful tool for anyone embarking on the inner journey.
Book Description
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
warning.......2007-10-09
great read, but once you're done there's no way you could look at this man the same way again.
"PT 109" for the 21st Century.......2007-10-08
As my readers will know, I am a tough critic, but I can find precious little about "Dreams from my Father" to criticize. Of course, the book will not appeal to those who don't care about race in America, or who have extremely fixed ideas about the subject. I like to think though that the majority of the reading public at least (if not the general public) are both engaged with and to some extent open-minded about our nation's central bugaboo/crisis/character flaw.
An editorial review mentioned that Obama's mother is almost absent from the book. To some extent he may have taken her somewhat for granted -- unlike his father or himself, he always had a good idea who she was and what she was about. In the preface to this edition, Obama mentions that she has died of cancer between the original publication and his nomination for U. S. Senate from Illinois, and that if he had known she would not be around to see that, he might have written a different book, spending more time hailing her for having stood by him. In the introduction to the first edition (written in 1995), he admits that he can't speak for everyone in the world. This is the most ironic part of the book, since it was only a year after that that he first ran for the Illinois state legislature. Thereafter, he has increasingly been compelled to try to do just that.
Although finding oneself has become a cliche, especially in the literary world, it was Barack Obama's mission for the first thirty years of his life. Defined as a black man, he sought to make his race more than a social construct, but something central and ineffable, and at the same time not cut off his ties to the rest of humanity, particularly his white mother and grandparents. He doesn't take his mother completely for granted -- he spends thirty to fifty pages talking about her background and that of her parents, who moved from Kansas to Hawaii, seeing it as the last frontier, when she was about to start college. Another one hundred pages or so explore his life with them in Hawaii (with a short stint in Indonesia, where his mother married a man who had studied in America and gave birth to Obama's half-sister Maya).
Readers of any race will be overwhelmed by the sheer power of Obama's writing. I choked up reading this several times. That is ultimately the best reason to read it, not the fact that Barack Obama has become a serious candidate for the presidency. This book also helps you figure out how he did that. The only thing he feels more keenly than his own hopes and fears are the hopes and fears of everyone around him. At the end of the book, having learned the whole story of his father's and grandfather's lives, he stands over their graves and weeps, feeling what they must have felt at each turning point of their lives. Although Obama is quintessentially American, I somehow would not be surprised, given the epiphany he had there, if he chose upon his death to be buried in Kenya alongside them. But perhaps my sympathy is making me romanticize the man.
This book leaves me with two regrets and one big hope. First, it is probably unfilmable. Second, there is one man running with even more vision and courage than Barack Obama, so I won't be able to vote for him in the primary election (although I will in the general if he is the candidate). My big hope is that Obama will write a third book in 2017, having waited eleven years between books as he did between his first and second, that will combine the autobiography he did with this book and the political manifesto he did with "The Audacity of Hope" (a phrase which you have to read "Dreams from my Father" to know Obama doesn't take credit for). Although I haven't finished the latter book, there is basically no way it could top this one. I give it my highest recommendation.
Moving, eloquent and inspirational..........2007-09-26
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama is a moving, eloquent and honest book that was originally published in 1995. This is an amazing story, and not just because he is a presidential candidate. Although autobiographical in scope, it is not intended to be a complete history of the author's life. Instead, it is "a boy's search for his father."
Barack Obama had a most unusual childhood. His mother was a white American living in Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was a brilliant black Kenyan who received a college scholarship to the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two, his father graduated college and received a scholarship to obtain his PhD at Harvard. Unfortunately, the scholarship did not include living expenses for his family, and this proved the end of the marriage. After that, Obama only saw his father one more time before being killed in an auto accident when Obama was 21. Obama's mother subsequently married a man from Indoesia, where Obama lived for several years. But that marriage also ended and Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Dreams from My Father also includes Obama's college experiences, as well as the work he did as an organizer in Chicago.
The most moving part of Dreams from My Father involves his trip to Kenya for the first time several years after his father died. As a youth, he describes the reaction of others when they discover his background "Privately, they guess at my troubled heart, I supposed--the mixed blood, the divided soul, the ghostly image of a tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." In Kenya, he meets his African family including grandparents, half-brothers and sisters, step-mothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. At the Kenyan airport, an airport employee recognizes his name and knew his father. "For the first time in my life, I felt the comfort, the firmness of identity that a name might provide, how it could carry an entire history in other people's memories...My name belonged and so I belonged." I was also moved by Obama's discovery of faith.
Even if Obama was not a presidential candidate for the 2008 election, Dreams is still an eloquent and inspirational story about his search for his father and his efforts to reconcile the histories of this white and black families.
A worthy memoir of Obama's complicated early life.......2007-09-06
Due to its multi-section arrangement, falling into three precise stages, this book feels like a well-paced coming-of-age novel, an impression buoyed by the fact that, to a degree that is unusual for politicians, Obama can actually write well. If you are looking for information on what policies Obama would support as a presidential candidate, you should look elsewhere. However, the book does give the impression that the writer is unusually forthright, both about himself and his beliefs.
Watching Obama's attitudes on race evolve is one of the key points of interest in the book, and the reader comes away with a picture of a man who is both reflective and self-critical. It is somewhat apparent that the author was not running for office at the time the book was written, and yes, it (very briefly) mentions his now infamous flirtation with cocaine use. However, if you want to read a portrait of the man, if not his political platform, and interested in the struggles of someone growing up in between two different cultures, this book is well worth reading.
just great.......2007-08-17
Obama wrote his memoirs of his growing up some years ago (and with his political career I expect he'll be writing them again in twenty or so years). It is an honest book about a remarkable man who had a remarkable life. Nothing political about it.
Average customer rating:
- Good Start, Terrible Ending:
- Good Read
- Inadequate and Inexplicable Characters
- Inadequate and Inexplicable Characters
- Poses More Questions Than It Answers
|
In My Father's House
Ernest J. Gaines
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Gaines, Ernest
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 0394479386
Release Date: 1978-04-12 |
Book Description
IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE takes place in a rural black community in the deep South, at a time not long past. The story centers around Phillip Martin, minister and civil rights leader, a man of substance and stature, a devoted husband and father...who is suddenly brought face to face with the mistakes and errors of his own youth. In this encounter, Martin discovers how destructive the life he has put behind him really was...for himself and for others.
Customer Reviews:
Good Start, Terrible Ending:.......2006-07-20
I wrote a review on this book before, but because I spoiled the ending by telling you how bad it is my review did not get published, so now I have to write one again. Which sucks!!!!!
A mysterious black man by the name of Robert X. comes to a small southern town to find his father, the respected Revernend Phillip Martin. Who, despite his charasmatic appearence, is a prig who preaches sermons superficially, he is actually a pretty negative character with a sinful past. Martin borne illegitamite children(many) like Robert X. He did not treat his lover and the boy well. The only thing he did was to give him and his mom $3 to make a living, making them suffer ever since. Now the Reverend is face to face with the product of the sins of his past. Now the boy faces him, bent on revenge.
Now the first 150 pages of this book is pretty good. The dialogues are very good, but at this point it took a sudden turn and the ending is simply terrible. It is melodramatic and confusing and leaves you the feeling that this book is like a house built, yet the house is not furnished and one cannot live in it. In a way, it feels as if reading the ending of this book is like going in circles and cannot pin-point your destination and is extremely frustrating. The ending ruined this book. Gaines wrote the ending as if he was drunk from drinking cheap wine or something. No wonder this book isn't the big hit like "A Lesson Before Dying" or "A Gathering of Old Men". Even though most of his endings in his other books give you a feeling of something that's missing. None are as terrible as this one. And if it isn't for the ending I would have given it a four stars, but for the ending, I give it a 2. However, the first 150 pages are still worth reading. It gives one a feel of what it is like to be poor and desperate, with nobody to depend on and your true love thousands of miles away enjoying his life while you wither with old age.
Good Read.......2004-07-17
I thought this book was written in typical Ernest Gaines style. His stories never end with everything tied up in a nice little package. Like in the other books, the main character leaves us with lots of questions that we get to think about and ponder. It is not preachy but shows us the complexity of having your sins to follow and haunt you. I loved it.
Inadequate and Inexplicable Characters.......2003-05-30
This is a bad book. The plot is melodramatic and implausible. The characters are one-dimensional and implausible -- in fact, down right unbelievable. The dialogue is stiff, moralistic, hyperbolic and implausible.
It reminds me of the picaresque novels of Spain -- without the humor . The main character rushes from conversation to conversation -- many without forwarding the story one whit. There is no reason for the conversations except to fill paper.
To be honest, I cannot think of one redeeming feature of this book.
Inadequate and Inexplicable Characters.......2003-05-30
This is a bad book. The plot is melodramatic and implausible. The characters are one-dimensional and implausible -- in fact, down right unbelievable. The dialogue is stiff, moralistic, hyperbolic and implausible.
It reminds me of the picaresque novels of Spain -- without the humor . The main character rushes from conversation to conversation -- many without forwarding the story one whit. There is no reason for the conversations except to fill paper.
To be honest, I cannot think of one redeeming feature of this book.
Poses More Questions Than It Answers.......2000-07-26
I have always found Earnest Gaines to be an author who creates characters with very real issues who are also very intense and often times, too complicated. In this novel, the main character, Reverend Martin has to struggle with the sins of his past and try to resolve those in light of who he has become in the present.
However, I found that the author, in the form of the main character asked to many questions yet never resolved the issues posed by those questions. The story centers around the relationship, or lack thereof, between a father and a son. Although the main character tries to figure out how he can repair his relationship with his son, he ponders too many issues without resolving the main issue.
At times I felt that the dialogue and story line were somewhat incomplete and/or vague. The incompleteness of the story often led to rereading certain portions of the novel to make sure I had not missed the next step. In essence, the thought process as outlined in the novel was somewhat scattered and at times, it was difficult to get a handle on exactly what was happening with the various characters. At times, it was a mental struggle to figure out the meaning of some of the actions and words of the characters.
If you are looking for a novel that is somewhat easy to read and understand on an intellectual level then this is perhaps not the novel to read.
Book Description
The Shiloh Legacy series covers the lives of four young soldiers and their families through these great events: the end of World War I in France, the return of the soldiers to America, the Roaring Twenties, the stock-market crash, the resulting Great Depression, and the rebuilding of lives that must follow. Yet with all the racial, social, and cultural intolerance that marked the day--seemingly immovable mountains in the lives of these characters--God works through the tragedy, the laughter, the pain, the joy, the dramatic, and the ordinary to create a yearning in their hearts for a faith that moves mountains.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read.......2007-09-01
This book is such a great read. I read it before and rarely do I read the same book more then once. This got me emotionally invested now as it did the first time around. I am reading book two of the series and I highly recomend these books.
The Shiloh Legacy.......2007-08-02
This series is a fast page turner .you should read the first which is
In My Fathers House
A Thousand Shall fall
Say Tt To This Mountain
Shiloh Autumn.
The stories are so clear, you become a part of the story.You will fall in love and dislike some, just as the ones you are reading about. Thoene is a wonderful writer.It is history at its best.I learned more than I have ever known of how bad it was in the pass.Because of the wall street crash and the very hard times that followed.Each book should be read in turn .They are outstanding for young and old.It is a very good knowledge of our pass, that a lot of kids today have no idea.Boys will love the Shiloh Autumn. It is packed with fun .I laughted so hard I was crying. Great Books!
You live through what the characters did.......2003-01-16
The Shiloh series is the best of the Thoene's work, but all of it is excellent. What really stood out to me, reading this book, was the experience of the black soldier. He served many more hours on the front lines, fighting in the most dangerous positions. He was honored while overseas for his service. Then he went home, proudly wearing the uniform in which he served his country, and was condemned for being uppity. Who did he think he was?
These black men were beaten, accused of crimes they didn't commit, and lynched.
As a white woman, I could never live that experience. But I lived it vicariously along with Jefferson Canfield.
The characters are real, with strengths and flaws, just as the people we meet every day. They experience good things, but they also experience horrible, awful things too. That's life.
It isn't light reading, but it IS riviting. And it is educational, because you experience things along with the people in the books, things that really happened at the time. I loved the love story between Birch and Trudy and the biding friendship that developed between Jeff and Birch.
This ties in with the Zion books, too, because Max Meyer and Ellis Warne were the fathers of two of the main characters in the Zion Chronicles, I believe, David Meyer and Ellie Warne.
They are worth reading. The only drawback is that once you've read the first, you HAVE to read them all, and they are LONG books!
JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I READ THE BEST ONE...........1999-12-10
I read numerous books by numerous authors, and Theone is by far the best I have ever read. I have read her Zion Chronicles and Galway Chronicles and Shiloh Autumn. But the Shiloh Legacy is definantly the best one. Theone defines hisorical fiction and makes it real to life. She is a master in descriptive writting. Her characters come alive and you find yourself becoming a part of them and their joys and struggles. After reading one of her novels I learn and understand so much more the events and places in history that she is writting about. I haven't read the second book in this series but I know that it will be just as good as the first book or even better.
A great series- astounding writers!.......1999-11-26
In My Father's House got me started on Thoene books. Then I read the whole series of Shiloh Legacy. After thatI read Shiloh Autumn (which I think is the best book I ever read.) I have kept going on Thoene books and never regretted buying one of their books. Anything the authors write is a cut above. No wonder they dominate all the awards for Christian writing.
Book Description
Bayonne prepared me well for a larger life and a larger world. I knew who I was and where I was from. I was connected by innumerable little cords to people and places that gave me strength and identity. On The Block I was safe, secure, loved. I even had a number, 174, the address of our house, but the number wasn't a badge of anonymity. To the contrary, it marked my place, where I belonged.
As moving as Russell Baker's Growing Up and Calvin Trillin's Messages from My Father, My Fathers' Houses is the story of a town, a time, and a boy who would grow up to become a New York Times correspondent, television and radio personality, and bestselling author.
In this remarkable memoir, Steven V. Roberts tells the story of his grandparents, his parents, and his own life, vividly bringing a period, a place, and a remarkable family into focus. The period was the forties and fifties, when the children of immigrants were striving to become American in a booming postwar world. The place was one block in Bayonne, New Jersey, and the house that Roberts's grandfather, Harry Schanbam, built with his own hands, a warm and reassuring home, just across the Hudson River from "the city," where Roberts grew up surrounded by family and tales of the Old Country.
This personal journey starts in Russia, where the family business of writing and ideas began. A great-uncle became an editor of Pravda and two great-aunts were original members of the Bolshevik party. His other grandfather, Abraham Rogowsky, stole money to become a Zionist pioneer in Palestine and helped to build the second road in Tel Aviv before settling in America. Roberts returns his saga to Depression-era Bayonne, where his parents, living one block apart, penned love letters to each other before marrying in secret. His father, an author and publisher of children's books, and his uncle, a critic and short story writer, instilled in him a love for words and a determination to carry on the family legacy, a legacy he is now passing on to his own children and grandchildren.
Roberts, too, would leave home, for Harvard, where he met Cokie Boggs, the Catholic girl he would marry, and later, for the New York Times, where he would start his career -- across the river and worlds away from where he began. An emotional, compelling story of fathers and sons, My Fathers' Houses encapsulates the American experience of change and continuity, of breaking new ground using the tools and traditions of the past.
Customer Reviews:
A refreshing take on the memoir.......2006-06-26
I am not Jewish, I did not grow up in New Jersey, and I was born the year the author graduated from Harvard. How can I explain the reasons I loved this book? Perhaps the reviewer below summed it up best: it IS refreshing to read a memoir that is not fueled by anger, contempt, or confession. This is a very pleasant visit to a time and place that, while not my own, echo a love of family connections and triumphs. I hope there will be a sequel and I applaud Mr. Roberts for taking the time to reflect upon and share his childhood. We need more books that aren't someone else's therapy.
What a waste of paper.......2005-07-09
I cannot imagine wasting nearly a year of ones life to write a silly and superficial book about a very small and plain vanilla family. Like millions of immigrant families, Roberts' family came to the US, set up shop, had kids, worked hard and passed on their genes. For Steve Roberts, his very ordinary and undistinguished career as a writer for The New York Times and other publications was only made significant by his marriage to Cokie Boggs, whose only claim to fame was being the daughter of a big time pol from the south before he died. She then spent a lot of time at ABC as the classic liberal reporter before she got dumped for George Stepyounopulous, Clinton's mouthpiece.
Luckily this book won't take long to read if you want to, but I keep asking myself why I wasted an hour of my life to read it. I guess the high point of the book is that Barney Frank is his good buddy and got him to apply to Harvard. That's about it. Oh, and he was a bag boy for Scotty Reston. Wow. To think some poor tree died for this.
Warm, insightful and honest.......2005-07-07
First: I'm a big fan of Team Roberts. But I was not expecting the depth of emotion and connection this book evoked in me. I'm a bit younger than Steve, grew up on the West Coast in a WonderBread world, but his descriptions of his background and growing up, full of all the anguish of the less-than-perfect teenager, were astonishingly affirming. I have passed the volume on to another, and expect it will continue to make the rounds. I'm hoping for volume two that picks up at the time they were married and carries on, since there are surely many more stories!
TOUCHING and REAL.......2005-06-06
Steve Roberts has written a charming memoir that celebrates his family and an era gone by. Roberts grew up in Jersey City, an area usually reserved for punch-lines of stupid jokes, but Roberts captures all that is to be valued in his hometown. It is refreshing to read a memoir that is not so much motivated by anger and discontent. MY FATHER'S HOUSES is a memoir written to give credit where it is due.
Book Description
Burton traces the evolution of Edgefield County from the antebellum period through Reconstruction and beyond. From amassed information on every household in this large rural community, he tests the many generalizations about southern black and white families of this period and finds that they were strikingly similar. Wealth, rather than race or class, was the main factor that influenced family structure, and the matriarchal family was but a myth.
Average customer rating:
- Why I loved "In My Father's House!"
- Awesome book! Through the eyes of a teen reader
- Beautiful Tale for Mature Readers
- Boring!
- Great First Read
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In My Father's House (Point)
Ann Rinaldi
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
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Binding: Paperback
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Customer Reviews:
Why I loved "In My Father's House!".......2007-04-04
In My Father's House has main characters of Oscie Mason and Will McLean. they lived in Manassas where war began, IN THEIR FRONT YARD! This book is not so much about the war but about people and relationships changing throughout the war. I chose this book being doubtfull, but I do not regret choosing it. I have read other books by Ann Rinaldi, and this by far is the best. Oscie Mason is a very brave character she stands up for all of brothers and sisters to their stepfather even when he is most intimidating. If this is a book that you pass by on reading you have missed a great book.
Awesome book! Through the eyes of a teen reader.......2006-12-25
This book is worth every second of your time. It is an amazing historical fiction with accurate depictions of the life, events, and times of the Civil War. Ann Rinaldi has does a great job taking you through Oscie and the McLean family's troubles and triumphs, highs and lows, and deaths and births in their story. The Civil War begins on their property and ironically eventually ends on their property. The book really gives you an understanding of the characters, their actions, and emotions. Some might judge far too quickly in spite of the slow building plot. However, if you have even the average attention span, intellect, maturity, and an open mind you will love this book. Good work Ann Rinaldi. Keep them coming. I would love to see this made into a movie.
-I read this book as an assignment just as some of the others here did. I hope they aren't my classmates though.
Beautiful Tale for Mature Readers.......2006-07-26
In My Father's House follows a young Southern girl, Oscie Mason, as she lives twelve years of her life, plagued by the Civil War.
It all starts when Oscie's mother, Virginia, marries Will Mclean. Oscie does not like him, mostly because she is unwilling to allow her beloved father to be replaced. She is disrespectful and rude to him as often as possible, and the two fight with each other constantly, even when Oscie is only a little girl of seven.
But when Will Mclean buys a new slave, Mary Ann, Oscie is enraged. Oscie quickly finds that Mary Ann is evil, practicing voodoo, and is sure that she is set to curse the family. Meanwhile, talk of war is raging like wildfire.Will Mclean, or "Daddy Will" as the girls have come to call him, hires a yankee teacher, Button, to tutor the girls. Oscie grows attached to Button, and they become fast friends.
One night in January, upon the arrival of one life, another in the family is lost. This is the first tear in the family, and one in the many heartbreaks of Oscie herself.
This is a fabulous book. I could not put it down, and was finished with it in a matter of days. You have to be a mature reader to really enjoy the story though. Another Rinaldi triumph.
Boring!.......2006-05-14
I received this book as an assignment for school, and I can't stand it! I'm a person who loves to read. I usually read about 4 books a week. But this book has taken me nearly 3 weeks to read. Oscie is much too mature for a seven year old, which makes the book extremely unrealistic. I've read historical fiction books before, and normally find them fairly interesting, but this book makes me wary to ever pick one up again!
Great First Read.......2006-04-30
This is a great book with tons of historical information. It is well written and very entertaing to read while your learning about the Civil War. I gave it four stars because it that kind of book where the first time you read it, you love it, but when you try and read it again, you find yourself reading all night just so you can finish it and move onto something else. This is just my opion, so please don't take my advice litterly.
Book Description
Corrie ten Boom was fifty years old when she began harboring Jews during World War II. She was imprisoned in a concentration camp, and after her release she traveled the world, proclaiming the gospel. What happened in those earlier fifty years to prepare Corrie for all that lay ahead?
In My Father's House (over 250,000 copies sold) explains how God used life's small beginnings and everyday happenings to prepare Corrie for the suffering and victories to come. The eighth book of the Corrie ten Boom Library, it is the first in the series to focus on the years leading up to World War II and the events of The Hiding Place. More than merely a collection of memories from Corrie's colorful life, this book explores the human side of one of the most authentic Christian witnesses and the faith that kept her going strong.
This book was previously published by Revell in 1976.
Customer Reviews:
This is the biography of the pre-The Hiding Place years..........2006-12-10
This quite-amazing book chronicles the half century of Corrie ten Boom's life before being imprisoned for helping to save Jewish people in Holland during World War II. I can't express just how profoundly this book enlightened me to the Christian way people could actually live. I haven't been around many outstanding Christians and the ten Boom family was definitely a Christian family. How blessed I am to know about them!
Another wonderful installment in the Corrie ten Boom story.......2005-09-17
IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE makes an excellent companion to THE HIDING PLACE and TRAMP FOR THE LORD. After discovering all the stories of Corrie ten Boom from the time she went into a German concentration camp during World War II until her death, her early years had always remained a mystery. And now, IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE tells exactly what happened to Corrie during her first 50 years of life.
Starting out with Corrie's great-grandfather, the book tells the story of how the early events in Corrie's life shaped her and prepared her for prison. Some of these stories will make you smile (Corrie was apparently a little rascal at times), and some will make you want to cry. Corrie's life was an amazing tapestry of love for people and her Savior. From Corrie ten Boom's girl clubs to the great halls of St. Bavo's Cathedral, you'll fall in love with Corrie ten Boom all over again with IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE.
The end of the book brings everything full circle up to the point of THE HIDING PLACE, and then is followed by the Golden Tea Party (you'll have to read to find out about that!). All in all, IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE is another great read from the life of Corrie, but I do recommend reading THE HIDING PLACE first. That book makes this one a little easier to understand.
Check it out!
Corrie Ten Boom's life continues to fascinate & inspire!.......2003-03-23
She writes with the love and forgiveness that became her trademark after suffering terrible things at the hands of the Nazi's during WWII. I never cease to be encouraged, uplifted, and inspired when reading anything that she writes-this book included. Very few could have forgiven their tormentors the way that Tante Corrie did. She did it by the grace of God and her life was all the better for it.
The best of Tante Corrie..........2001-02-12
As someone who voraciously gobbles up the writings of Corrie ten Boom, I have to say that _In My Father's House_ is my favorite. Anyone who has read _The Hiding Place_ , _Tramp for the Lord_, _A Prison and Yet_, or other books relating to Corrie's Nazi concentration camp imprisonment and her resulting ministry should do themselves a favor and savor _In My Father's House_. I am so glad this book is back in print and can now reach a new audience. Corrie discusses how the twists and turns of her childhood, teen years, and pre-imprisonment adulthood all came together to prepare her for her WWII and postwar ministry. She shows the evidence of God moving in her life to prepare her for her upcoming adventures. If you don't think so already, _In My Father's House_ may be what convinces you that there's no such thing as coincidence. The simply written, very basic family story of this book holds some deep implications. It may startle you in a pleasant way.
I particularly recommend this book to parents, especially parents of young children. This book will show how God uses you to raise your child to fulfill God's purpose for his/her life. Corrie writes in a very touching way of how her parents, siblings, and extended family were so responsible for the extraordinary woman she became. This book is a beautiful testimony of how God uses families. It will inspire you to go pick up and cuddle your child while praying fervently. It will also remind you of your need to lean on God and rely on his guidance for this your most important job. _In My Father's House_ is a very powerful book.
I recommend that you buy a copy of this book rather than borrowing it or checking it out from the library. As your glance flits across your bookshelves, perhaps a slight smile will come to your face as you notice the familiar spine peeking out at you. I return to my copy frequently and have repeatedly drawn from it for Sunday School lessons and devotional topics. _In My Father's House_ would be a valuable addition to your book collection.
In My Father's house the years before the hiding place.......2000-04-11
This book is simple and to the point and beautifully written. It gives the reader the insight of how human Corrie Ten Boom was and yet how much she relied on God for her direction. It is filled with humor and innocence as Corrie recounts her childhood memories, but always making it a point to let the reader know that the main focus is God. The delightful stories will stick in your memory bank. It was a very delightful book which I shall cherish and re-read in years to come.
Book Description
Combining the apostle John's glorious description of Heaven from Revelation with heart-touching reflections on her own father's charming mountain home, Anne Graham Lotz weaves a tapestry of truth through this presentation that will take away your fear of death and fill you with hope for the future.
Jesus promised us, "In My Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you." Amid the turbulence of today's terror-besieged world, we cling to the hope of a heavenly home where we will be welcomed into eternal peace and safety. Anne affirms that Heaven is the home of your dreams: a home of lasting value that's fully paid for and filled with family, where you will be wanted and welcomed. Best of all, Heaven is a home you are invited to claim as your own.
Customer Reviews:
More Doctrine Please.......2007-01-27
I always hesitate to write a review that might be remotely considered scathing, but as a reviewer, I sometimes feel I owe to those who faithfully read my reviews to be as honest with them as I possibly can be. Therefore, sometimes it becomes necessary to be critical to the point that some may see it as callous. I hope that is not what appears here.
As I began the first few pages of HEAVEN: MY FATHER'S HOUSE, by Anne Graham Lotz, I had high hopes. The book started off okay and in the early pages gives a nice rendition to John's life in exile on the island of Patmos. Then, however, I found a hundred or so pages of rather fluffy material that had little or no doctrinal value to it. In what had all the makings of a cheap parlor trick, in order to attempt to fill a few extra pages, we see simple questions that should have taken two or three single spaced lines, displayed in sonnet form diagonally across the page to eat up some that wasted paper. There are also numerous references to September 11th, but little connection to the subject matter, as well as brief historical tidbits such as the sinking of the Titanic.
The final two chapters did contain bits and pieces of Bible Doctrine that I found to be fairly well delivered and appropriate to the subject. Perhaps, being the daughter of Pastor Billy Graham, it was appropriate for him to write (or at least sign) the forward, but seemed merely an attempt to sell a few extra copies.
Certainly the intention here was to bring calmness and peace through the teaching of Word of God to those unfortunate souls who find themselves facing death; either their own or that of a loved one. In that regard, this book falls short. There are countless other sources out there that far exceed what is available here. If you do somehow find yourself in possession of this book, read the first ten pages and the last twenty, skip the rest.
Pastor Monty Rainey
Surprised!!.......2006-04-18
I saw Anne many years ago promoting this book and since my
Uncle had been very ill I thought this would make for good
reading. I loved the book and to my surprise my DAD had
passed away a month before my Uncle. I believe this book was
meant to help me accept death on a happier note & not so
fearful. Now I give this book when attending funerals rather
than flowers. I always for 3-4 on hand!!
Video tape "My Fathers House".......2005-09-07
This was a good tape and was sent in good time. Thank you.
Comforting.......2005-07-01
The author uses her earthly father's house as a comparison with her Heavenly Father's home in describing how one will feel welcomed on the other side. There isn't any new revelation in this book. She shares her personal insights and largely cites the Scriptures that talk about what is awaiting the dead in Christ.
One of the other reviewers was correct to point out that this small book contains extensive poetic type lists. The plan of salvation is given near the end so people who are unsure how to make heaven their destination can do so.
Her description of heaven is one involving preperation that is personal. She writes..."God...knows the colors I love, the scenery I enjoy, the things that make me happy, all the personal details that will let me know when I walk into My Father's House, I am expected and welcome, because He has prepared it for me! And in the same way, He is preparing a glorious homecoming for you!"
This book is a comforting read if you have lost a loved one or if you are seeking encouragement and reassurance.
Agreeing with the essentials.......2003-06-12
I'll try to be gracious but truthful. The subject of this book is not the problem, but probably I was looking for a more substantial, rigorous treatment. Perhaps someone who has never considered or studied what the Bible says about heaven might find this more suitable. The second to the last chapter, "A Home You Are Invited to Claim as Your Own," was the best to me, as it was basically the gospel message. It would be good for a person who is new to (not yet a believer in) Christianity. But I was put off by the long lists of items that run throughout the book (if you see a sample of that in the online excerpt, be forewarned that the book is filled with these lists.). So, the book is a bit "poetic," and if you like that style, you may like this book. It also has a lot of exclamation points. If you like the very deep, wrestling thoughts of writers like CS Lewis, you might want to think twice about this book.
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