Both my book clubs plus April and Kathy's picked this title. The whole time I was reading it, I was kind of mad, and I didn't think I liked the story of the white slave owners in the big house, the black slaves of the kitchen house and the Irish indentured who shakes the whole place up. However, it is a book that stays with you thematically and makes you think question why you feel the way you do. In the end, it's a very feminist book written by an actual woman. The fact that it made me mad, means I emotionally connected, which doesn't happen very often. It's worth a read. Check it out.
This book really amazed me. It should be required reading. You should read it. I feel like a fuller American and human being having this account of The Great Migration of African Americans from post-slavery south to the North and West. Wilkerson follows three people: one to New York, another to Chicago and the last to Los Angeles.The main thing that really blew my mind was this: the Great Migration historically spanned 1915-1970- the decade of my birth. The Great Migration has been over less then 40 year but we all see the impact everywhere. I read about towns like Martinsville described with racial accuracy. The evolution of the small pockets of Los Angeles neighborhoods unfolded in this book. It's a monster to carry around, but you won't struggle to turn the pages.
While reading both these books, I just kept thinking of the first couple and everything that had to happen for them to move to Pennsylvania Avenue. An interview by Jodi Kantor on The Daily Show kept coming back to me, so I read this last. I love the Obamas, so I didn't really read this book to know more about them or like/dislike them. `I was interested in the scope of the book about the modern presidency and how there is zero privacy in a home that doesn't even have a private entrance, and what an incredible leap it can be for upper middle class people to rise to the presidency. There is a lot in the book about policy, bills, West Wing drama, but it was the story of their family that kept me reading. The other thing that really stood out to me was how expensive it is to be president. They live in the White House but have to pay for their own food and entertaining. Her book reported that due to the size of staff, rates were Ritz-Carlton levels. Also, leisure travel to escape the confines of their home is a fortune. They need to fly in Air Force One at $11,351 an hour for security reasons and they are charged the price of first class tickets from their personal accounts but their security teams take up some 30 hotel rooms. They pay for their family, but tax payers pay for the rest which is all over the media. So, they could just go home to their home in Chicago, right? No because it's an urban home in Chicago where every visit ties up traffic and causes huge inconvenience to the neighbors. Contrast that with the Bushes who before coming to the White House built a ranch in Texas and bought the lot next door as well for more privacy.
It's really a sympathetic tale of a remarkable couple who rose to the highest office in America. And, while they were doing ok financially, they did not come from super wealth of the Bushes, Clinton or Romney. They did what we adveristse in this country, that any one can be president, but they prove without that wealth it has a lot more challenges to privacy and escape from isolation in their grand home.Still, I hope they stay in that neighborhood for four more years,
