Proud Shoes - walking in the steps of giants

Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family by Pauli Murray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After reading Rosalind Rosenberg's Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray and being blown away by the amazing person named Pauli Murray, I decided to read the detailed history of their family in their own words, Proud Shoes. It is little surprise that Pauli was such a pivotal world changing person after reading their family history. Pauli's grandfather, Robert Fitzgerald, and his wife Cornelia, as well as his parents, siblings , and children lived their lives on the front line of the battle for equality, education and justice for every person. Although some of this story happened elsewhere, much of it transpired just a few miles from where we live, and transformed our community of Durham NC in the post Civil War years. It was again mind blowing to read the stories of these giants and be able to walk in the same spaces that they lived and walked. Proud Shoes is excellently written and researched, including written as well as rich oral history from Pauli's family. This is an amazing true story of an amazing family that embodied so much of what Durham has come to represent to the surrounding communities, the State of NC, and to our nation. This is on my must read list, a really special story. Please, read it.

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a thoughtful and considered memoir

Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond by Larry McMurtry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond" is a thoughtful and considered memoir, looking back on 60+ years of Larry McMurtry's life. A range of subjects are discussed, among which are pioneering and homesteading on the Texas frontier in the late 19th century, reading, learning, writing, book scouting, and many others. The author reflects not just on his own life, but that of his family, his neighbors, of cowboys, cattle and horses, small towns, libraries, books, University, being a storyteller, and so on. Mr. McMurtry is an excellent writer, so reading this is a delight. It was great to "get inside" the head and history of the creator of "Lonesome Dove", "The Last Picture Show" and "Brokeback Mountain". Recommended for all McMurtry fans.

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masterful story telling, a classic

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lonesome Dove is some of the most masterful story telling i have read. McMurtry's prose remind me so much of the best of Steinbeck. The passages often take on a literary life of their own with their cadence and color, something that is rare and special. And the story. . . Lonesome Dove is an epic saga of quest and purpose with a varied and colorful cast of characters that are painted vivid and rich. This story has "all the things", love and hate, triumph and tragedy, victory and defeat, in the context of the newly opened American West. This classic tale deserves the "must read" status. McMurtry studied under Wallace Stegner at Stanford Univ, which is also where Steinbeck spent some college years. I don't know if there is any overlap that is significant, but McMurtry's writing, especially Lonesome Dove, is of the same classic status as Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. A wonderful book that i want to re-read after re-watching the series. Excellent!

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