Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices Around the World

I was excited to order this book and am enjoying the content, but as a former book critic I must protest the bookmaking. A reference book as I hope to enjoy for years to come should be well made, and this book has cheap paper that is not pleasant to the touch as well as a glued spine for a very thick volume. Surely it will not hold up well in libraries. I'm looking forward to more exploration of the content, but one might consider a kindle version, since you are not getting your money's worth for the hard copy edition.

Due to the exhaustive index, this is an excellent source for quick research, as well as dip-in-and-out browsing. Most buyers will assume that it is a collection of quotations from authors somehow identified as "black," and those authors do fill out much of the book, but it is actually much more than that: a book about the experience of blackness, by implication, whiteness, and ultimately, therefore, humanity in all its richness.No doubt as time goes on, and further editions appear, there will be changes in the selections included. Some are quite lengthy, and could be trimmed to permit the inclusion of materials that continue to appear. Meanwhile, this book belongs in every educated home, no matter what color the occupants and their walls happen to be painted.

This is a substantial work full of wonderful things. Its organization however is not immediately clear and there are inclusions (e.g., Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a British romantic poet of the nineteenth century) that are a bit mysterious. (Did Coleridge have an African ancestor?) There is an entire Obama section which is fascinating, although exactly why this is set off from the other sections is also not clear (yes, of course, he is currently the president and the first African American president).

I gave this book as a gift based on an interview of Retha Powers on the Joe Madison Show station 126 on XM radio. The book is more than just quotations, the supplemental information is equally as interesting. It is the kind of book that once you start reading it, you will flip through and find that an hour or two has gone by. The person who received this book loved it and I purchased another copy for myself. Excellent book for every personal library.

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Imagine a refrigerator full of delicious items. Each time you take one out, another luscious item appears. There is no doubt in my mind that editor Retha Powers has culled the most important, revealing, and often humorous musings from the black experience. This collection should grace every bookshelf. A perfect gift for friends."Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home." Bill Cosby"Pigeonholing is interesting only for pigeons." Jesseye NormanAnd the list goes on!

One of the most enlightening, relevant and genuinely useful reference books I've purchased in a long time. Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations has also been a great resource for my college son's humanities and history classes. It continues to provide a lot of cultural and historical clarity and context about the American history I thought I knew well. A very welcomed edition to my home library.

I gave this as a gift and it was very well received. It is a very substantial in size, very well written and seems to have a quote for every occasions. The quotes are an accumulation from many well known and lesser known people. To read a quote a day would add immense joy to one's well being.