Customer Reviews

In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby

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Mark Reed delivers an honest narrative of the struggle to find his identity while trying to bridge the worlds of White Americans and Afro-Americans. Surrounded by racism in both the white and the black community he managed to make a stand for himself, while confronting the ambitions of his black heritage and the ignorance of white friends. Easy too read, an engaging story, Mark has traveled the world, but unable to escape his demons, he has to face them, and grow in the process. The story is full of humor and the insight of maturity. Considering myself colorblind (being white) this book opened my eyes to just how ignorant I have been to life in other hues of skin. Thanks Mark for Opening my eyes. Highly Recommended, should be mandatory reading in Black History Month (middle-high school)

Mark Morrison-Reed has committed a brave act of self-revelation in his autobiography--more so than most writers in that he details the anguish of youth and young-adulthood in an open, candid way that many would suppress rather than interrogate. Mark's narrative of growing-up black in Chicago and Euro-land is self-critical while also providing clear (often witty & ironical) insights into the insensitivities and narrowness of American and European cultural habits of the time (many of which alas persist)--never sparing of the failures and adversities posed. He tells an engaging story of a youth well-played--a story that I hope will be read by many for its charm and candor-- as well as the deepening of appreciation for his success, and the success of many in his generation in overcoming the tough obstacles of mindless racism delivered from every quarter. Bravo Mark!

Fifty years ago, electing a mixed race President would have been unheard of. "In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby" is the memoir of a man growing up in a time where America wasn't so tolerant, but the movements against these intolerances began to pick up steam. Mark Morrison-Reed was a man who embraced both philosophies of free love and the Black power movement in a way to better understand the woes of both races. A charming story of a man making his own place in a world that didn't originally want him, "In Between" serves as a fine addition to any collection focusing on race.