Saturday, May 26, 2007

Black Like Me - John Howard Griffin

Julie: ****
Intriguing look into the experiences of a man who walked both sides of racial discrimination in the 1960's deep south. Although the current landscape of racial issues has softened, at least on the surface, it is crucial to understand the history of the issue. This work was ground breaking at the time and still has much insight to offer almost 50 years after its initial publication.

Peter: ****
An interesting and novel idea, whose only detriment was its overly conversational and unedited prose.  I was fascinated by his unique perspective, and couldn't help but wonder 1) how this experiment would have fared in 2007, and 2) had he continued the experiment for years rather than months, what further insights would he have gleaned?