Tag Archives: race

Monroeville and TKAM

Posted on February 27, 2023 by smellincoffee

Monroeville and the Stage Production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” © 2023 John M. Williams160 pages The first time I ever visited Monroeville, I had the dumb luck to arrive on a day when the courthouse-turned-museum was hosting a theatrical … Continue reading →

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Go Tell it on the Mountain

Posted on February 13, 2023 by smellincoffee

Go Tell it on the Mountain© 1953 James Baldwin272 pages A young man faces an enormous choice at a presumed-to-be-uneventful prayer meeting, and at this crossroads of his life,  the reader  experiences the choices of his kin whose lives brought … Continue reading →

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American Contempt for Liberty

Posted on September 23, 2021 by smellincoffee

American Contempt for Liberty© 2015 Walter Williams432 pages American Contempt for Liberty caught my eye immediately, for its title alone, for I’ve had a growing suspicion that the failure of the American republic lies not only in the ever-expanding state, … Continue reading →

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Drug Use for Grown Ups

Posted on May 24, 2021 by smellincoffee

Drug Use for Grown Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear© 2021 Carl Hart304 pages My occasional forays into anarchist literature aside, I’m one of the squarest people you are ever likely to meet, a fellow whose idea of … Continue reading →

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A Gathering of Old Men

Posted on May 7, 2021 by smellincoffee

A Gathering of Old Men© 1983 Ernest Gaines213 pages There’s a white man dead in the quarter, and by sundown there may be another body swinging from the trees. Most of the people in the quarter don’t know why Beau … Continue reading →

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The Autobiogaphy of Miss Jane Pittman

Posted on January 13, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman259 pages© 1982 Ernest Gaines A young girl carries water for both exhausted rebels and the jubilant army chasing them.  An elderly lady who has seen sorrow after sorrow visited on herself and her loved … Continue reading →

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Selma: A Bicentennial History

Posted on February 27, 2017 by smellincoffee

Selma: A Bicentennial History© 2017 Alston Fitts III384 pages On December 4th, 1820, the Alabama legislature granted a town charter to a burgeoning community established on a high bluff overlooking the Alabama river. The place, named after a cities of … Continue reading →

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Posted on February 25, 2017 by smellincoffee

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings© 1969 Maya Angelou304 pages I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography in the form of a novel, following a young woman’s coming of age as she journeys from a small … Continue reading →

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Up from Slavery

Posted on February 20, 2017 by smellincoffee

Up From Slavery© 1901 Booker T. Washington332 pages Up from Slavery is an hopeful reflection by Booker T. Washington on the future of black Americans and the American nation, as he reflects on the thirty-odd years since the abolition of … Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Elegy

Posted on September 22, 2016 by smellincoffee

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis© 2016 J.D. Vance272 pages Imagine a childhood in which the most stable person in your life once methodically marinated her passed-out drunken husband with lighter fluid, then set him … Continue reading →

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