Fresh from The East Bay Express, what may be the best opening paragraph of a book review ever:
Here's how good Lois Leveen is at recreating the tension of pre-Civil War Richmond, Virginia: After reading a few chapters on the life of Mary Bowser, young slave to the prominent Van Lew family, I put the book down and returned to the real world. Witnessing a young black boy flirting with white 'tween girls down by the local pool, I gasped in fear for his life. True story.
You can
read the full review here.
I'll be doing a bookstore reading tonight,
Thursday July 26, 7 pm at Books, Inc. in Berkeley, the oldest bookstore in the West.
For a more in-depth program about Mary Bowser and American history, come to these two great museums:
Saturday, June 28 at 2 pm, The African American Museum and Library of Oakland
Sunday, June 29 at 2 pm, The Museum of the African American Diaspora in San Francisco
Details on the
upcoming events page of my website.