Customer Reviews

An American Story

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As an African American woman, who also served as an officer in the Air Force during the same time frame of Ms Dickerson, I was anxious to read about her journey through the military. I saw many similarities in our experiences. I found the book to be most compelling in the first 100 pages; her memoir about the foundation laid to make her the person she is today. This was poignant and affecting writing. After high school, she turns from a living, feeling, and thinking young girl to a two-dimensional character. Important events are glossed-over/minimized. For example her treatment of sex and her relationships with men or really...anybody. There was little or no acknowledgement of her relationships with anyone outside of her parents and her little brother. She occasionally mentioned a boyfriend by name, but apparently other than getting her into Harvard Law School, they had very little impact on her life or the way that she sees the world. Same goes for roommates during OTS and her time as an enlisted person in the Air Force. These people are apparently (by theri ommission) unimportant to her intellectual/emotional development as an adult. Her journey became about the environment she was navigating and her perceptions thereof. A very sparsely drawn environment at that. It was the literary equivalent of her looking through the glass at other peoples lives and judging them rather than experiencing and examining her own life. She did address something that I think is unfortunately overlooked: how middle and upper class blacks feel and interact within their own culture and amongst themselves. She nailed it. I saw similar attitudes and behavior.

Ms Dickerson seems to have bountiful book knowledge, but not necessarily emotional intelligence. Unless she is in charge, she doesn't seem to do well. Whether she had stayed in the Air Force, gotten a job at a big law firm or stayed with the NAACP, the social skills required are similar, and (on the basis of this book) it seems to be something she lacks/or doesn't have the stomach for. As a writer, she is her own boss and has a choice as to what to write. Her success is dependent on her choices rather than working with others (or working with others to a lesser degree). Weird, I get the impression that her success as a writer hinges more on her very impressive resume and connections, than on her ability to write (She is very good writer, though I would not characterize her as gifted). Ironic since she is such an Ayn Rand, by-your-bootstraps type of person. Either way, her world to me seems small and lonely, but none-the-less a triumphant.

It takes a great deal of courage to write a memoir such as this and to leave oneself open to the thoughts and opinions of others. I salute Ms Dickerson's mettle; she is indeed quite brave and does in my opinion have a lot to say that is relevant, especially today. I did not see anything heroic or life affecting about this book; however, I do think Ms Dickerson is a talented observer and someone whose opinion would have great credibility in my world.

Even the most die-hard conservative/liberal will be nudged toward the center by Ms Dickerson's personal journey across the political spectrum--from self-actuating conservative to longsuffering liberal, landing somewhere in the middle. Woven throughout are powerful statements on the state of American society today, gender issues, and a refreshing take on the potential of the military to level the playing field. "An American Story" offers a balanced perspective on race and gender in these United States, without all the angry baggage, and with a writing style that insists that you read on. Highly recommended!

This is a compelling memoir of a remarkable woman's personal odyssey from a hard childhood in St. Louis to a brilliant career of a dozen years in the US Air Force, a college education garnered on the side, civilian reentry at Harvard Law School, and the choice of journalism and writing over law as a second career. Ms. Dickerson's story is compelling and well written, and thus it is hard to put down once you start. It offers original and insightful "takes" on racism, on segregation and integration, on the American military (including its successes in becoming a race-blind meritocracy and its failures in areas of sexual harassment and assault), on personal growth and self-knowledge, on being black as well as being female in modern America, and on where our society stands today in a variety of sectors. There is much that is painful here, but much that is funny and more that is uplifting and deeply thoughtful. The writing is crisp and the pace is rapid. A good read in every way.

Dickerson has written a searing story of struggle and success. Her narrative voice is engrossing, appealing and emminently readable. Her journey from sharecropper's daughter to Harvard Law School graduate kept me marveling at her continued accomplishments. But she doesn't stop there...

Dickerson also offers extraordinary perspective into her own behavior and the behavoir of those around her. At every turn she analyzes her motivations and separates out issues of race and personal identity. With sparkling insight, she digs right to the core of human behavior.

Book groups and other readers will find themselves mulling over such topics as obstacles to maximizing personal potential and to what degree our race/religion/ethnic identity affects our life choices.

By the time I finished this book, I felt as if I had just completed a soul-searching conversation with an old friend.

Debra Dickerson's memoir was an interesting read, and I recommend it to people who want to know what its like to grow up in a poor black family with above average intelligence, and scratch and claw one's way to upper-middle class success through sheer will, determination, and the occasional, well placed affirmative action program. I had no idea that she was a columnist when I began reading the book, and therefore brought no political biases to the book.

Ms. Dickerson's stories about her relationship with her father, and growing up in an abusive working class household were gut wrenching to read at times, as were the details of her having been sexually assaulted while in the Air Force. She seems like a very hard-working person with an exceptional ability to absorb knowledge through nearly compulsive reading and study. But, is she likable?

What seems clear is that Ms. Dickerson seems a tad short on the kind of charisma and personal appeal that true leaders seem to possess - "emotional intelligence" in the words of Daniel Goleman. It's an understanding of people, what makes them tick, a sense of one's own personal limitations, and an understanding of how to negotiate one's way through varied, complex interpersonal challenges. Most of her achievements - leaving out the highly structured world of the USAF where leadership in the lower ranks is determined by the ability to know the rules and execute them better and faster than anybody else - were an extension of her childhood tendency to withdraw into her own world and just plain old learn and memorize. Witness this skill in her ability to memorize and recite biblical phrases that go on forever as a young child. It's also apparent at least in this context, she used her intelligence to surprise and shock people, and keep them off guard.

Perhaps her decision to leave the Air Force was in part made with a tacit understanding of her interpersonal limitations, but there is no discussion of this in the book. Clearly, advancement into the most senior ranks of the military is more about politics and interpersonal skills than raw intelligence - just as it is in corporate life. Not everyone has a taste for politics at that level, but it would have shown some real self knowledge for her to have recognized and admitted it. But, alas, Ms. Dickerson seems to be afraid to acknowledge any personal limitations at all. Next book, perhaps?

While her road to success was indeed difficult and admirable, Ms. Dickersons comments about her contemporaries at times appear elitist, while she does not acknowledge her own personal limitations There's not much humility in this American Story - while there is indeed some room for it. Consistent with this view is that there are no in-depth stories or comments about friends or colleagues with whom she felt some level of closeness or intimacy. Indeed, most of her stories are about family members, her "inferiors" in the Air Force, and her "inferiors" at Harvard. Nowhere are we shown people who Ms. Dickerson viewed as her equals...intellectually or otherwise. Who does she really look up to? Who are her role models? Maybe she got so used to not having any growing up, she stopped looking for or believing in them. Either way, some self-examination on these points would have been enlightening. Also, being a self-conscious over-achiever, it clearly must have been devastating to her to have not made law review at Harvard, but she just glosses over this event, claiming to be relieved with the opportunity to not have to work so hard to get her good grades. Her reaction was completely out of character, and I wonder if she noticed it...

Her writing on her many political transformations, charting a path from reactionary republicanism, to Randianism, to far-left liberalism, was less enlightening than her very compelling discussion of intra-race politics. Why are all blacks expected to constantly carry the mantle of anger and rebellion, i.e., why is there no division of labor in black intellectual culture? I found these discussions - next to those of her early family life - the most interesting. If you are like me, you will too.

Heroes don't need to be likeable. They exist to show us the way to greatness, setting the highest new standards for the best things humanity has to offer. In their own lives they demonstrate how one person can make a difference in the world through courage, persistence, ethics, and compassion.

Debra Dickerson fits every conceivable definition of a hero. The frustrating thing about her strenuous autobiography, "An American Story," is that she's a person the reader wants to like, but can't. Her journey from the hardscrabble life of the working poor through her years as a star at Harvard Law School can hardly be more compelling. She overcomes the multiple demons of racism, class oppression, family violence and heartbreaking personal insecurity and propels herself through a challenging education, transformative career in the air force, and finally into the highest echelons of America's political and jouralistc elite, all the while gaining new and valuable insights into the intricate interrelationships of politics, economics, race, sex and class. She emerges as a compelling new voice in the intellectual community as America enters its next stage of social development in the 21st century.

The respect she commands for her achievements could never be denied her by anyone. Yet for all she accomplishes in her remarkable life, the tone of her book resonates with anger, most of it richly justified, and insecurity, all of it rather sad. For all of the thinking she does, from her time as a child petrified by her abusive father through her many misadventures as an ambitious Air Force officer and in law school, she never seems to arrive at the conclusions she wants, and confusion remains with her right until the end.

Teetering back and forth between the politics of personal responsibility and a fuzzy acceptance of the Marxist principles of class obsession, she finds solace one day in the writings of Ayn Rand and decries Ronald Reagan as a "moron" the next. She bitterly criticizes her own race for half the book for its lack of self actualization, and spends much of the rest of the time trying vainly to figure out what made her think like a traitor. She decries the pain imposed on her by her often monstrous father, yet follows in his footsteps quite literally in many aspects of her life.

The book ends with Dickerson beginning mid-life with a plethora of accomplishments under her belt and a new day dawning. One hopes that in the volume about the next forty years of her life, which promises to be every bit as interesting as the first, she'll show a side of herself which has learned to mellow with the acceptance of the way things have to be.

If you enjoy excellent writing combined with an absorbing story, I urge you to read this memoir. It's the tale of a contemporary woman in search of herself. The daughter of a former share-cropper, she carved out a stellar career in the Air Force, then cut it short to go to Harvard Law School. "An American Story" is hardly a Horatio Alger cliche, though. It's much more; Dickerson describes her experiences of gender, race, and class distinctions in present-day American life, and she depicts her massive struggles to make sense of those experiences. Along the way she shatters some stereotypes held dear by both liberals and conservatives. Dickerson is a born writer, and her quest for personal autonomy and fulfillment makes up the heart of this compelling book.

This is a great book. Dickerson is one of those rare people who truly thinks for themselves, and allows you to see their thought processes in the context of their life experiences. She starts out from very poor circumstances, becomes an Ayn Rand-type of right wing individualist (everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps!), gets the leftwing gospel (the system stacks the deck against some people pulling on their bootstraps!), and I'm not sure where she ends up, but it will always be as a free thinker. She writes beautifully.

This memoir isn't going to be easy for everyone to take but strong medicine is sometimes the best for you. Dickerson refuses to toe either party's line as she grapples with some of the thorniest issues of race and class affecting the country today. She's not going to win any awards for charm--as she admits herself--but you can't help but be impressed by her honesty and rigor. Is it a perfect memoir? No. But it's a book that serious readers should take seriously--and are likely to be impressed by.

In the cacaphony of viewpoints that assault us everyday there is precious little to remind us of the essential humanity of our fellow citizens. Dickerson shows us how complex and varied a single person's story can be, from her ghetto background, through her remarkable and laudable service in the military, through her eventual recognition after college as an accomplished writer. I'm always taken aback by the forthrightness and honesty of her point of view, and each time I end up thinking it would be a nicer world if more people could see it as she does.