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Books by C. Liegh McInnis
Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi /
Da Black Book of Linguistic Liberation
Confessions: Brainstormin' from
Midnite 'til Dawn /
Matters of reality: Body, mind & soul
Prose: Essays and Personal Letters
/
Searchin' for Psychedelica
The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative,
Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller
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Prince's The Rainbow Children Reaches for a Higher
Musical Mantle
A Review by
C. Liegh McInnis
First, if you are
looking for a cd filled with nicely cut and packaged hit
singles that are radio and Billboard friendly, The
Rainbow Children ain't for you. However, if you are
looking for a diversified musical experience with lyrics
that take you further than the sheets, then The
Rainbow Children is up your alley. The biggest knock
on Prince's latest efforts is that his albums sound
incoherent because the songs stop and go with no
specified direction. The truth, however, is that his
albums are coherent, and they do have direction; it is
just that the direction is not toward Billboard, nor is
he attempting to craft songs that are easily packaged
for radio.
No, Prince's
direction has been to become the best musician and
lyricist that he can, which often means to stretch pass
the charts, to juxtapose notes, sounds, chords, and
other musical and lyrical ideas that produce—God
forbid!!!—something . . . different!?! Many see Prince
as one who has ceased to fulfill his potential. On the
contrary, The Rainbow Children is proof that
Prince continues to fulfill his potential. It is just
that he never saw hit records as the "be all—end all" of
his potential.
Most of the songs
on the album have at least three musical movements.
These multiple movements become a motif, as Prince
continues to be one of the best in the pop field to use
sound as a metaphor. For instance, in "The Work, Pt. 1"
he is noticeably using a James Brown inspired riff that
echoes soulful, black power semantics, which he laces
with lyrics about the "hard" but necessary "work" that
needs to be done for "revelation to come to pass." The
music sets a mood of the black power struggle, then
Prince infuses his notions of a metaphysical struggle,
which exists along side the physical struggle. "Every
time I watch the other people news/ I c a false picture
of myself, another one of u/ They try 2 tell us what we
want, what 2 believe/ Didn't that happen in the Garden/
When somebody spoke 2 Eve?"
This connecting the
black struggle to the metaphysical is quite essential to
Prince's own theory, as evidenced by how he uses the
term "Devil" throughout the cd to refer to the physical
devils who exploit people for their wages. He then uses
those physical devils as a trope for the metaphysical
"Devil" in "Rainbow Children" and "Muse 2 the Pharaoh"
because in Prince's theory the ultimate battle is in the
metaphysical realm and not the physical realm, as also
evidenced by "Digital Garden" and "The Everlasting Now."
On one level, the multiple movements create a trope for
Prince and his inability to be confined to arbitrary
categories. On another level, the multiple movements
represent his need to continue to grow, searching for
the sound or idea to take him to the next level.
As he states in
"Last December," which has the most drastic musical
changes and movements, "Did u ever find a reason Y u had
2 die?/ Or did u just plan on leaving/ Without wondering
y? . . . In ur life did u just give a little/ Or did u
give all that u had?/ Were u just somewhere in the
middle/ Not 2 good, not 2 bad?" The musical movements
combine with questioning lyrics to echo the desire of
the jazz musicians, such as Sun Ra, who wanted to show
that within the soul of the music was a desire to go
somewhere and become something that transforms us. Thus,
the lyrics of The Rainbow Children are pointing
the listener in a direction, and the music is acting as
a guide.
For the first
two-thirds of the cd, Prince is challenging our notions
of what a "pop" song can be by challenging the
conventions of what sounds can be combined. While the
first few songs are held on our musical radar by well
measured/regulated beats and a soul-like mesh of
hypnotic keyboards, Prince takes from that line and
constructs grooves in various directions, attempting to
expand himself and what we know as "popular music."
Again, this expansion serves as a trope that works as a
backdrop for what the lyrics want to do, which is to
destroy our archaic understanding of what it means to be
man and woman, what it means to be human, what it means
to be living in truth, which also reflects in what it
means to make art.
He begins with a
creation song, as all good myths do, but his creation
begins with the fall and then redemption of mankind in
"Rainbow Children." "With the accurate understanding of
God and His Law they went about the work of building a
new nation: The Rainbow Children." Playing on the myth
of Osiris and Iris and Adam and Eve, Prince asserts that
the new nation will only be created if we are able to
build constructive relationships between man and woman.
"As prophesied, the Wise One and his woman were tempted
by the Resistor. He, knowing full well the Wise One's
love 4 God, assimilated the woman first and only. Quite
naturally, chaos ensued and she and 5 others were
banished from the Rainbow...4ever."
This ideology is
nothing new for Prince, for man's fall from grace and
salvation have always been linked directly to man's
relation to woman, most notably in "And God Created
Woman" and in a more secular sense in "Raspberry Beret"
and "Forever in my Life," where it is the female who has
the power to fertilize man's life. In fact, he affirms
this by invoking a line from a much older tune,
"Sexuality," with "Reproduction of the new breed leader
Stand up and organize!" This line affirms that Prince is
using sex as a metaphor for metaphysical union and that
sexuality is a trope of human identity.
The following songs
continue to pontificate over the fall and redemption of
mankind. The music acts as a guide, continually changing
the mood as the lyrics take us down a sundry of issues
and solutions. The songs are an amalgamation of jazz,
with an avant-garde sensibility, where Prince pushes the
instruments to their limits of sound, hoping his moving
in various musical directions will push the listener to
free his mind and become open to the messages.
The Rainbow
Children is avant-garde in that it is pushing and
questioning what we know as truth and beauty in the
sense of pleasing music and gratifying ideology. It is
not avant-garde in the sense of "wanting to be art for
the sake of art." Prince is too influenced by black
musicians to think of art outside the context of man's
daily existence, even if his inclusion of the
metaphysics has put him at odds with what has been on
the charts for the past ten years. Working with the
definitions provided by Walter Davis in his essay, "So
You Wanna Be An Avant-Garde Fan," The Rainbow
Children is avant-garde in the sense that the "Freebop"
or Ornate Coleman, the "Expressionism" of Coltrane, "Restructualism,"
and the "Post-Modernism" of Wynton Marsalis all come
together to serve as aspects and foundations of what the
term "avant-garde" meant to the artists who were working
within that certain framework. In accordance, the music
of The Rainbow Children seeks to open alternative
musical pathways and ideas that are then articulated
through the lyrics.
In "1+1+1 is 3" he
asserts, "As she fell in2 the Sensual Everafter, out of
body/out of mind, he stroked her hair a hundred times.
And as she fell deeper in2 the hypnotic unwind, he
counted his way in2 the suggestive mind. Planting a seed
that bears fruit on the tree, he said, 'repeat after
me...1+1+1 is 3.'" Throughout the cd, the songs interact
in a circular, call and response manner, where the
emotion of urgency and the notion of a quest is
amplified by the experimental fusion of varying sounds.
On top of the silhouetted jazz grooves, Prince
coordinates funk, soul, and gospel in a manner that
shows both the brilliance of black music as well as the
innate and organic link that black music has to
spirituality in all of its forms.
Just when you have
slipped into the experimental form of this album, he
hits you with "Family Name," which is classic Prince:
classic in that Prince is able to take what he has done
in the past and evolve it into where he is now . .
.classic in that it's Prince's electrified, thumping
bass line beneath his piercing falsetto . . . classic in
that it's Sly and the Family Stone meets Curtis
Mayfield, and at the end of this meeting, the song
explodes into Prince making his case that he is the best
guitarist of his time, which he proves later in the
final movement of "Last December." "Family Name" is
about the fallacy of the oppressor's story and how this
fallacy is used to oppress the Children of the Rainbow.
"First of all, the
term 'black and white' is a fallacy. It simply is
another way of saying 'this or that'...'this' means the
truth, or 'that' which is resistant 2 it. When a
minority realizes its similarities on a higher level—not
just 'black'—but PEOPLE OF COLOR, and higher still 'INGIGENOUS,'
and even higher still, 'FROM THE TRIBE OF --' and yet
higher -- the 'RAINBOW CHILDREN'...When this
understanding comes, the so-called minority becomes a
majority in the wink of an eye. This action will cause a
Reaction or Resistance. The source of this Resistance
must b banished as it is in direct conflict with the
initial action. It cannot b assimilated, 4 its very
nature is resistance. In other words, ONE CANNOT SERVE 2
MASTERS. U r either 'this' or 'that' which is not
'this.'"
"Family Name"
climaxes right into "The Everlasting Now," where the
album shifts into overdrive, leaving us with the
question, "What the hell happened to the direction of
first part of this album?" Where jazzy soul was the
dominate form of the first two-thirds, funk dominates
the last third. As with the other songs on this album,
"The Everlasting Now" has at least two musical
movements—three, depending on how you are counting.
Again, it is the funk chords and the refrain of "Don't
let nobody bring you down!" that drive this groove,
which is seconded by the horns that come late into the
jam, which, in one final movement, shifts into James
Brown cookin' with Jimi Hendrix at 2:30 a.m. With the
lyrics, Prince is once again employing the metaphoric
"I" as a way to connect the individual to the
collective. Many of the verses seem quite true to his
personal story, but he uses the impressionistic style
best seen in Around the World in a Day or in
"Sacrifice of Victor" from 1992's Symbol [O(+>]
cd, which allows his novel to assert the universal.
Prince is continuing his theme of freedom and liberation
and his ability to link that theme with the collective,
moving from a focus on the individual to a focus on the
masses. He is definitely talking about his liberation
from Warner Bros. and from a world that he sees as based
on entropy, but he is also using his personal as a
metaphor for liberating the masses with truth.
"Mirror, mirror
what u c?/ Have I still got those dark clouds over me?/
Or am I really feeling what I feel?/ The last days of
the Devil's deal/ Mirror what u c?/ Devil, devil what u
know?/ U been here since 1614, but now u got 2 go/ U
been hidin' behind corporate eyes/ U wanna war, but u
can't fight/ Devil u got 2 go . . .Teacher, teacher what
u say?/ Did we really come over in a boat?/ Did it
really go down that way?/ Or did I arrive b4 u and ruin
Thanksgiving Day?/ Teacher, what u say."
Driving The
Rainbow Children is the notion that the songs are
meant to please and enlighten--to move both our bodies
and our souls in a positive direction. Prince bookends
the cd with love, because, in his theory, only love can
save us. The first song, "Rainbow Children,"
concentrates on the love between man and woman. The last
song, "Last December," concentrates on the love between
God and mankind. "Did u love somebody/ But got no love
in return?/ Did u understand the real meaning of love/
That it just is and never yearns? When the truth
arrives/ Will u b lost on the other side?/ Will u still
b alive?/ In the name of the Father/ in the name of the
Son/ We need 2 come 2gether/ Come 2gether as one."
The motif is still
liberation—the liberation that has been there since day
one—but now Prince has successfully merged his desire
for individual liberation with the necessity of
collective liberation. And this liberation must take
place in the metaphysical before we can achieve physical
liberation. With the insight of Stevie Wonder, The
Rainbow Children is able to construct a theology of
George Clinton's "Free your mind and your ass will
follow," and the music is another lesson in just how
spacious the spectrum of music can be if we allow it to
be all that it has the potential to become.
Source:
MDAH State
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C.
Liegh McInnis is an instructor of
English at Jackson State University, the
publisher and editor of Black Magnolias
Literary Journal, and the author of seven
books, including four collections of poetry,
one collection of short fiction (Scripts:
Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi),
and one work of literary criticism (The
Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a
Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and
Storyteller). He has presented papers
at national conferences, such as College
Language Association and the Neo-Griot
Conference, and his work has appeared in
Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam,
Sable, New Delta Review, The
Black World Today, In Motion Magazine,
MultiCultural Review, A Deeper
Shade, New Laurel Review,
ChickenBones, and the Oxford American.
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In January of 2009,
C. Liegh, along with eight other poets, was invited to
read poetry in Washington, DC by the NAACP for their
Inaugural Poetry Reading celebrating the election of
President Barack Obama. He has also been invited by
colleges and libraries all over the country to read his
poetry and fiction and to lecture on various topics,
such creative writing and various aspects of African
American literature, music, and history.McInnis is
editor of
Black Magnolias Literary Journal.—PsychedelicLiterature
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Rainbow
Children
Lyrics by Prince
With the accurate understanding of God and
His law they went about the work of building
a new nation:
The Rainbow Children
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children
rise,
Flying upon the wings of the New Translation
See them fly, fly
The covenant will b kept this time
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise
Rainbow children, it's time 2 rise!
Rainbow children, it's time 2 rise!
As prophesied, the Wise One and his woman
were tempted by the Resistor. He, knowing
full well the Wise One's love 4 God,
assimilated the woman first and only. Quite
naturally, chaos ensued and she and 5 others
were banished from the rainbow.4ever.
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise
Flying upon the wings of the New Translation
See them fly, fly
The covenant will b kept this time
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise
Flying upon the wings of the New Translation
See them fly, fly
The covenant will b kept this time
Just like the sun, the Rainbow Children rise
Who is ur real father?
The everlasting one
The one who came from nothing
And yet from this one, everything comes
The one who commands ur momma
With the simple phrase "I am"
And every time that she obeys
She gives birth 2 the Son of Man
Who is this?
Reproduction of the new breed leader/Stand
up and organize!
Reproduction of the new breed leader/Stand
up and organize!
The Agreement—
With every birth, we keep it so/Never
changing one piece of it
In fear of what would unfold/The scales
would then become unbalanced
And thus would begin the fall/The sin of one
would become
The sin of one and all
Rise, rise, rise.
Rise, Rainbow Children, rise
Rise, Rainbow Children, rise
The Wise One who understood the law that was
handed down from God long ago, held fast in
his belief that the Lord would bring him
another one who loved him so.
Source:
LyricsMania
Prince—Rainbow
Children |
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Family Name
Lyrics
by Prince
Welcome. U have just accessed the Akashic
Records Genetic Information Division. This
program is required 4 those wishing 2 obtain
a marriage blessing from The Kingdom. When u
wish 2 begin this program, place ur right
hand on the scanner and tightly clench up ur
buttcheeks as u might feel a slight
electrical shock. Please select the race
history u desire. U have selected
African-American. This is your history:
First of all, the term "black and white" is
a fallacy. It simply is another way of
saying "this or that". Let's examine the
term "this or that" in its ultimate form
which is: "this" means the truth or "that
which is resistant 2 it. When a minority
realizes its similarities on a higher level-
not just "black"—but PEOPLE OF COLOR, and
higher still "INDIGENOUS", and even higher
still, "FROM THE TRIBE OF.", and yet
higher—the "RAINBOW CHILDREN". When this
understanding comes, the so-called minority
becomes a majority in the wink of an eye.
This action will cause a Reaction or
Resistance. The source of this Resistance
must b banished as it is in direct conflict
with the initial action. It cannot be
assimilated, 4 its very nature is
resistance. In other words, ONE CANNOT SERVE
2 MASTERS. U r either "this" or "that" which
is not "this."
End of part one. 2 continue, select the
program Family Name and type in the current
government name u wish history on.
(London, England sometime in the early
1600s)
"We have the God-given right 2 run out of
our colonies anyone who does not bow down 2
our law. Hear, hear?"
"Come on, come on keep it moving here.
What's your name boy?"
"Abu Cah"
"Well it ain't now; it's Tom Lynch."
Mirror, mirror what u see?
Have I still got those dark clouds over me?
Or am I really feeling what I feel? The last
days of the Devil's Deal
Mirror, what u see?
Devil, devil what u know?
U been here since 1914, but now u got 2 go
U been hidin' behind corporate eyes
U wanna war, but u can't fight
Devil, u got 2 go
U might say, "what u mad about?"
But u still got ur Family Name
Pleased 2 meet u, Mr. Rosenbloom
I'll b John Blackwell just the same
What's ur Family Name?
Teacher, teacher what u say?
Did we really come over in a boat?
Did it really go down that way?
Or did I arrive b4 and ruin Thanksgiving
Day?
Teacher, what u say?
Preacher, preacher is it true?
That Jesus wants me 2 give my money 2 the
likes of u?
Ride around in ur Lexus Coupe/Drive us 2 the
cleaners in a pinstripe suit
Preacher, that ain't truth!
U might say, "what u mad about?"
But u still got ur Family Name
Pleased 2 meet u, Mr. Pearlman
U can call me Clay. Can I play?
People, people what's ur name?
Maybe we should start all over
Let everybody get in the game
Put up a one-gloved fist
Make a sound, Violet Brown
U might say "what u mad about?"
But u still got ur Family name
Pleased 2 meet u Mr. Goldstruck.
We found this tape in the Akashic records.
This is Thomas Jefferson:
"My fellow Americans, if there is a just
God, we're gonna pay 4 this!"
"Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics will b able 2 join
hands in the words of the old Negro
spiritual: "free at last, free at last,
thank God almighty we are free at last!"
Source:
LyricsMania
Prince—Family Name |
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1+1+1 Is 3
Lyrics
by Prince
If u ain't got no place
2 stay
Come on baby 'round this way
Stay with me baby
But let me tell u how it's gonna b
There's a theocratic order.
There's a theocratic order now
This is how it's gonna b
If u wanna b with me
Ain't no room 4 disagree
1+1+1 is 3
Take ur time and think it thru
If this is what u wanna do
I ain't really that hard 2 please
Cuz 1+1+1 is 3
Stroke ur hair a hundred times
Let me c what I can find
D u know about the order.
Do u know about the order, now?
The Banished Ones:
"We are the Banished Ones and we have come 2
dance
If u will not let us, we'll have 2 kick ur
pants!"
Who's that knockin' on r door?
Didn't we throw u out b4?
I'm 'bout 2 get rowdy!
I'm 'bout 2 get rowdy, now!
Make me wanna do something.
We could b surrounded in the palace
"Everybody wants 2 get u!"
I don't care
How many y'all just came 2 dance?
Let me c u shake ur pants
We don't give a duck what u got on
U just need 2 work that sexy body all nite
long
Come on
Where them Banished Ones at?
"Said they 'round the back"
Don't cut 'em no slack
"I'm gon' tap, tap, tap"
But should I keep this party going?
"Brotha u know that!"
Moneyapolis, sing-Rainbow Children, raise ur
hands
If we can't do it, nobody can!
Here they come y'all
Rally 'round the palace now
U know what we got 2 do!
How'd that fool get up in here?
Snagglevoice.
Source:
LyricsMania
Prince—1+1+1+3 |
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The
Everlasting Now
Lyrics by Prince
I knew this dude
He was very cool
He used 2 rule
Until he went 2 school
Not a normal school
That breeds a fool
But the ones that teaches
Men aren't fit to rule
That's when he took his pearly crown
He raised it up and spun it 'round
And tossed in2 the deep blue underground
No longer lead by the ways of men
He looked 4 the kingdom deep within
That's when the drums in his head began 2
pound
Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now
Join the party, make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down
The Everlasting Now
Now turn the page, at an early age
This brutha on stage, he was all the rage
He taught an integrated world 2 sing
The color u are don't mean a thing
Everybody's a star all the everyday people
sang
He changed the funk, put it in a bag
Then he changed the colors of the flag
But u can't teach a dog new tricks if his
tail don't wag
Don't know matter how much money u made
All the cars u got and all the women u laid
Mess with the flag and 2 them u're still a
spade
Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now
Join the party, make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down
The Everlasting Now
See this girl in her make-believe world
Plastic boobs and clip-on curls
'Round the pole see her big butt twirl
There r the dreams that do unfurl
Never everlasting
Don't let anybody bring u down
The Everlasting Now
Watch that girl in her make-believe world
Plastic boobs and clip-on curls
'Round the pole see her big butt twirl
Electric beaches skin do bake
Vanilla fudge and wedding cake
If u should die b4 u wake
U got any last requests 2 make?
The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now
Johnny, B. Well and bring the beat
From this day forward 'til times indefinite,
those who love Christ r the
ones who benefit. All the players' ice
melted in2 one platinum chain and in
a downward spiral it dropped down the chain.
"U know, this is funky but I wish he'd play
like he used 2, old scragglyhead."
Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now
Join the party, come on make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down
The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now
Now, now, now
The Everlasting Now
Source:
LyricsMania
Prince—The Everlasting Now |
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Prince Rogers Nelson was one of the most
critically and commercially successful solo
musicians of the 20th Century, thanks to his
impressive technical proficiency and a spell
of outrageous creativity in the 1980s. In a
career spanning almost 30 years, he has
released almost 30 studio or soundtrack
albums, all of which were entirely written,
arranged, performed and produced by Prince
himself. His back catalogue of singles is
similarly impressive—with 19 Top 10 hits in
the US (including five No.1s), and 17 in the
UK, his work has achieved massive commercial
success while still being revered by music
critics. Commonly known just by his first
name, Prince also attracted notoriety in
1993 for changing his name to an
unpronounceable symbol as a result of a
dispute with his label. |
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Born in 1958 in
Minneapolis, Prince developed a passion for funk and
rock pioneers such as Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix, and
learned to play over 20 different instruments. His first
records, For You in 1978 and Prince the
following year, were only minor successes, but 1980's
Dirty Mind was a gold-seller and is regarded as
his first great album—its synth-led funk and risqué
themes breaking established boundaries. Controversy was
a sequel with a classic title track, and
1999 possessed yet another memorable title
track and an expansion of Prince's sound palette as he
mastered yet more instruments. Having sold nearly 14
million units over five albums, his next full-length
more than doubled that on its own—
his masterpiece,
1984's
Purple Rain. The soundtrack to a film starring
Prince, it is routinely stated to be one of the greatest
albums of the 1980s, while the film is largely
forgotten. The soundtrack won three Grammys and an Oscar
and spawned two No.1s— "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go
Crazy" (the epic title track peaked at No.2). He
followed this up with
Around the World in a Day, before two more
real classics—Parade
(featuring "Kiss") and the eclectic double-album
Sign "O" the Times. 1988's
Lovesexy was the last of Prince's remarkable 80s
run—eight successive albums of endless creativity fusing
funk, pop and rock.
Subsequent albums
were of varying quality.
Come, which followed his dispute with Warner
Bros., and
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic were particular
disappointments, though the album known as
Love Symbol was much better. A less prominent
public profile followed but Prince's influence is still
prevalent today—from OutKast and Missy Elliot to Justin
Timberlake and Beck. He also continues to perform live,
record new music and rebel against the music industry
which he says is enslaving; in 2007 he released his new
album,
Planet Earth, for free in the British Daily
Mail newspaper, much to the anger of record
distributors and retailers.
Amazon.com
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Black Magnolias Literary Journal is
a quarterly that uses poetry, fiction, and
prose to examine and celebrate the social,
political, and aesthetic accomplishments of
African Americans with an emphasis on
Afro-Mississippians and Afro-Southerners. We
welcome pieces on a variety of African
American and Afro-Southern culture,
including history, politics, education,
incidents/events, social life, and
literature. All submissions are to be made
by e-mail as a word attachment to
psychedeliclit@bellsouth.net . Each
issue costs $12.00, and a year’s
subscription is $40.00. |
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Civilization: The West and the Rest
By Niall Ferguson
The rise to global predominance of Western civilization is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five hundred years. All over the world, an astonishing proportion of people now work for Western-style companies, study at Western-style universities, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and even work Western hours. Yet six hundred years ago the petty kingdoms of Western Europe seemed unlikely to achieve much more than perpetual internecine warfare. It was Ming China or Ottoman Turkey that had the look of world civilizations. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? In Civilization: The West and the Rest, bestselling author Niall Ferguson argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts that the Rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, consumerism, modern medicine, and the work ethic. These were the "killer applications" that allowed the West to leap ahead of the Rest, opening global trade routes, exploiting newly discovered scientific laws, evolving a system of representative government, more than doubling life expectancy, unleashing the Industrial Revolution, and embracing a dynamic work ethic.
Civilization shows just how fewer than a dozen Western empires came to control more than half of humanity and four fifths of the world economy.
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Salvage the Bones
A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
On one level, Salvage the Bones is a simple story about a poor black family that’s about to be trashed by one of the most deadly hurricanes in U.S. history. What makes the novel so powerful, though, is the way Ward winds private passions with that menace gathering force out in the Gulf of Mexico. Without a hint of pretension, in the simple lives of these poor people living among chickens and abandoned cars, she evokes the tenacious love and desperation of classical tragedy. The force that pushes back against Katrina’s inexorable winds is the voice of Ward’s narrator, a 14-year-old girl named Esch, the only daughter among four siblings. Precocious, passionate and sensitive, she speaks almost entirely in phrases soaked in her family’s raw land. Everything here is gritty, loamy and alive, as though the very soil were animated. Her brother’s “blood smells like wet hot earth after summer rain. . . . His scalp looks like fresh turned dirt.” Her father’s hands “are like gravel,” while her own hand “slides through his grip like a wet fish,” and a handsome boy’s “muscles jabbered like chickens.” Admittedly, Ward can push so hard on this simile-obsessed style that her paragraphs risk sounding like a compost heap, but this isn’t usually just metaphor for metaphor’s sake. She conveys something fundamental about Esch’s fluid state of mind: her figurative sense of the world in which all things correspond and connect. She and her brothers live in a ramshackle house steeped in grief since their mother died giving birth to her last child. . . . What remains, what’s salvaged, is something indomitable in these tough siblings, the strength of their love, the permanence of their devotion.— WashingtonPost
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What This Cruel War Was Over
Soldiers Slavery and the Civil
War
By Chandra Manning
For this impressively researched
Civil War social history, Georgetown
assistant history professor Manning
visited more than two dozen states
to comb though archives and
libraries for primary source
material, mostly diaries and letters
of men who fought on both sides in
the Civil War, along with more than
100 regimental newspapers. The
result is an engagingly written,
convincingly argued social history
with a point—that those who did the
fighting in the Union and
Confederate armies "plainly
identified slavery as the root of
the Civil War." Manning backs up her
contention with hundreds of
first-person testimonies written at
the time, rather than
often-unreliable after-the-fact
memoirs. While most Civil War
narratives lean heavily on officers,
Easterners and men who fought in
Virginia, Manning casts a much
broader net. She includes
immigrants, African-Americans and
western fighters, in order, she
says, "to approximate cross sections
of the actual Union and Confederate
ranks." Based on the author's
dissertation, the book is free of
academese and appeals to a general
audience, though Manning's harsh
condemnation of white Southerners'
feelings about slavery and her
unstinting praise of Union soldiers'
"commitment to emancipation" take a
step beyond scholarly objectivity.—Publishers
Weekly |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 24 June 2010
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