Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition [Hardcover]

John Howard Griffin (Author), Don Rutledge (Photographer), Robert Bonazzi (Afterword), Studs Terkel (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

This American classic has been corrected from the original manuscripts and indexed, featuring historic photographs and an extensive biographical afterword.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920–September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author much of whose writing was about racial equality. He is best known for darkening his skin and journeying through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to experience segregation in the Deep South in 1959. He wrote about this experience in his 1961 book Black Like Me.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wings Press; 2nd edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930324722
• ISBN-13: 978-0930324728
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,212,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 16, 2010

By 

Alex Malinovich (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition (Kindle Edition)

I picked this up completely on a whim after hearing someone mention it online. It is absolutely an amazing work. To really get a feel for how far this country has come in 50 short years, and to really understand how far we have left to go, you need to read this.

As a white male, I've always been offended by the term 'white privilege', because it implies that I somehow didn't work for what I have. But having read this, I can finally appreciate it. My 'white privilege' has nothing to do with me not working hard and not deserving the things that I have accomplished. I have worked hard, and I do deserve those things.

But these are things that blacks never had the opportunity to do. No matter how smart they were, no matter how well dressed, or well spoken, no matter how *white* they tried to appear to blend in, they would never be given the opportunity to prove themselves on their own merits. Their opportunities were taken away before they ever had a chance to even attempt to do grab them.

And while I can definitely appreciate how far we have come in a relatively short time, I am now able to see with a fresh new perspective the things that are still wrong with our thinking today.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for All, June 11, 2010

By 

B. Peters (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition (Hardcover)

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin should be required reading for America. It challenges and troubles the reader. Mr. Griffin's bravery in embarking upon such a strange quest is most appreciated yet puzzling. The information he gleaned about the deeper aspects of African-American life in racially-divided America is on target. Instead of glossing over the realities of the plight of a brown-skinned person in America, he confronted it head on. I wonder if I will ever see an America that could read and discuss such a book with a deep desire to understand another person's world?
Barbara Peters, Author (Adulterous Heart ISBN:978=1442188105)

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superior version, November 15, 2009

By 

E. Jankowski (Montclair, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition (Hardcover)

I bought this hard cover version of the book. The cover is helpful to remember when reading. And this version has a number of pictures in the middle that current paperbacks do NOT have that really give insight into the reality of the story. Recommended.