From an American Book Award-winning author comes a pungent and poignant masterpiece of recollection that ushers readers into a now-vanished "c...
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Jan 11, 2010
RYCJ
rated it: 
Loved Mr. Gate's word choice. So prominently square, yet eloquently fashionable. Almost started this pitch off naming him Sir Gates, following the way he tells on `Colored People' in rather ascot form. Informing some, and reminding others, he graduates us on an annotated history of Piedmont, (a place I'd never heard of), on out to population count and who lived where, did what, and how so, to soufflé us on `prime time' history and familial dealings.
My biggest peeve was wishing Mr. G More...
My biggest peeve was wishing Mr. G More...
Apr 23, 2009
Rhonda
rated it:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an extraordinary scholar, particularly on African-American issues. He was born and raised in Piedmont, West Virginia during the time of early racial desegregation and, as a black man, he was directly influenced by this dramatic historical period. Gates graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a degree in history, then received a Ph.D. in English from Cambridge.
He has written for The New Yorker, The Village Voice, Time, The New Republic, and other promi More...
He has written for The New Yorker, The Village Voice, Time, The New Republic, and other promi More...
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Jan 24, 2012
Peacegal
rated it: 
3.5 stars -- Through evocative writing and humor, Gates shows us what it was like to grow up black in a small Southern West Virginia town during the civil rights era. I for the most part enjoyed it, the at-times crude humor and references may be a turnoff to my older book group ladies.
West Virginia is a land of natural wonders, but unfortunately some members of Gate's family took it for granted. His uncle Nemo, for instance, saw poaching as a higher calling rather than a crime:
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West Virginia is a land of natural wonders, but unfortunately some members of Gate's family took it for granted. His uncle Nemo, for instance, saw poaching as a higher calling rather than a crime:
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Feb 07, 2011
sydney
rated it: 
Great book! Gates has a really fun writing style-- very conversational, down-to-earth, and funny. Gates describes growing up in Piedmont, West Virginia in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, which, according to his description, was something that mostly happened on TV but then trickled into everyday life.
I liked the first half of this book a lot. Gates's descriptions of his childhood neighborhood and all the colorful characters who inhabited it were priceless. (My favorite More...
I liked the first half of this book a lot. Gates's descriptions of his childhood neighborhood and all the colorful characters who inhabited it were priceless. (My favorite More...
Jul 29, 2011
Kurt
rated it:
I admit, I only bought this book to make a political statement in support of Professor Gates after the incident with Cambridge Police this summer (and I bought it half price at a used book store because I didn't need to make that much of a statement). I hoped for a well-told memoir with insight into the life of someone who grew up in a much different way than I did, and Professor Gates really delivered. This book focuses on the author's childhood, from the early days absorbing the details of his
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Jul 31, 2011
Phil
rated it:
Skip Gates' memoir of growing up in West Virginia is a really interesting portrayal of a multi-racial society struggling with economic and social problems. Gates' prose is moving, funny, and heart rending at times.
I actually got to hear him do a reading from this book when I was in undergrad, and Gates' presentation style mirrors exactly the warm, funny, human character that the book sets him up as.
I actually got to hear him do a reading from this book when I was in undergrad, and Gates' presentation style mirrors exactly the warm, funny, human character that the book sets him up as.
Feb 03, 2010
Gates explains the difficulties that people of color had to go through in the 1950’s. Even though colored people were being mistreated they still stood strong with their head held high. In high school Gates and 3 other friends began an organization called the Fearsome Foursome. When Gates was in college they decided they wanted to integrate a Night Club. The owner of the Club made them leave. While leaving the club the FF had to dodge bottles, and threats coming their way. Gates called and compl
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Oct 21, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
I fully expected to hate this book. And for about the first thirty pages I couldn’t get into it at all. But eventually it turned around for me and I found it really compelling. On the one hand, it was an incredible history and geography lesson on the African-American experience in rural West Virginia, a place that, to my mind anyway, is neither North nor South, in the years leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. On the other hand, it was an incredibly universal childhood memoir, about the love
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Oct 18, 2009
Amy
rated it:
This book had a charming, meandering style to it, however, whether there was to be some culmination of the various vignettes the author presented, I could never tell. There was no sense of urgency in the writing, and though there doesn't need to be, this rather easily transmuted into a lack of urgency to read on my part. And so, although I was not finished when the time came to return the book to the library, I returned it anyway. Perhaps I'll pick it up again, perhaps I won't; either way, I don
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May 24, 2011
Ctb
rated it:
Usually don't read memoirs - too narcissistic - but this is perfectly pitched on humility and an evocation of the ethos and times and physical setting of his hometown without self-pity or anger with a dreamy novelesque timbre.
Aug 10, 2009
mike
rated it: 
This is not a great meditation. It appears to have been dashed off rather quickly. It offers some charming scenes but reading it leaves one with the feeling that "He doth hardly know himself."
Hopefully his next memoir will be more interesting, more profound.
(I highly recommend reading Frank Kermode's memoir "Not Entitled".)
Hopefully his next memoir will be more interesting, more profound.
(I highly recommend reading Frank Kermode's memoir "Not Entitled".)
Jan 20, 2009
Hunterscanvas
rated it:
This book was able to give me a sense of what it was like to be a person of color a generation ago in the south. Gates is an amazing storyteller. Everyone in America should read his books.
Oct 26, 2011
Jessie
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I don't normally like memoirs because I don't totally trust the honesty, however, this is great.
Jan 12, 2011
Denise
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Currently reading, almost finished. Charming memoir of Mr. Gates and his family!
Nov 28, 2010
Victor
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H.L.Gates isone of our leading Scholars on race in America. A good memoir Well written.
Jan 22, 2011
Andrea
rated it: 
Did not care much for this at all and I really like the TV specials I have I seen from Henry Louise Gates Jr. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a touching maybe funny memoir. I found it to be more like an explanation of colored people. The things touched on in the book are mostly very common to the Black American community, like good hair - bad hair(goes on about the kitchen), how a family can have many different children and all have different skin tones. Really! To those not a
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Feb 17, 2009
Suade
rated it:
I liked this book because I'm slightly familiar with the area the author grew up in, but in general I'm more familiar with WV, having lived here for over 11 years and my family being from WV as well. I wanted to read his accounts on growing up as a black kid and teenager. It was interesting, and enlightening.
Aug 26, 2010
Jenny
rated it:
Interesting to glimpse the African American/Appalachian bi-culture from an inside perspective
Mar 26, 2011
Theophilus
rated it:
The other side of the Norman Rockwell coin. Not all black people grew up in urban ghettoes. Gates takes us into his childhood growing up among friends and family in small town America. The characters are as real as Andy and Opis Taylor who might have lived on the other side of town. This Mayberry is the other side of the tracks. Great book.
Jan 19, 2010
I've actually only read parts of this one. Gates is from West Virginia, which I'm proud to say. The quality of the writing is excellent; the topics covered poignant social commentary. The implication that white people smell like dogs (and the fact that Gates can write a chapter building on that colloquialism) is fascinating.
Feb 08, 2008
Chris
rated it:
I read this book as part of my West Virginia History course. It is an autobiography of growing up during desegregation in West Virginia, and the sadness to see some things change for the worse and the joy of seeing other things change for the better. Somewhat nostalgic, but an interesting window into the time.
Dec 29, 2011
Jack
rated it:
A memoir that reads like a novel. If anybody is interested in becoming acquainted with Mr. Gates' writing, this book is a good introduction to his captivating and "colorful" style.
Sep 28, 2008
Nadia
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Read this in college in black autobiography class and though I'm not Skip Gates' biggest fan, this is well written, witty and interesting...
Mar 27, 2008
Mary Ann
rated it:
Excellent autobiography of Harvard Professor and Author Henry Louis Gates' boyhood and family.
Feb 05, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
