Book cover of King of the Cats

Book description

Before Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Martin Luther King, Jr., there was Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. -- the most celebrated and controversial black politician of his generation. An astute businessman known as "Mr. Civil Rights," he represented Harlem for twenty-four years in the House of Representatives. He was a man…

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Why read it?

1 author picked King of the Cats as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Journalist Wil Haygood’s 1993 biography of U.S. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell is an engaging portrayal of perhaps the most well-known Black American who ever served in the U.S. Congress.

Haygood’s writing is vivid and moving. He captures the flamboyant and publicity-seeking congressman on Capitol Hill, challenging the segregationist members of his party, at home in Harlem, touring in his fancy sports cars, in his pulpit at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, preaching about civil rights and racism, and traveling to Paris and other foreign destinations, often accompanied by attractive young women staffers.

From his arrival in Congress in 1945 until the…

From Marion's list on Black political leadership in the US.

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These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.

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