Customer Reviews

George Washington Carver: An American Biography

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This book is well written. Unlike many of the biographies on the bookshelves of the national chains these days, this biography was not written to sell so much as to inform and enlighten. The author gives us a very close glimpse of Carver, from his youth through his college years and professional life. The reader feels as though he has met this man at one time or another because the author has presented Mr Carver's progression and accomplishments through life in a very human light. There are constant reminders of the motives behind Carver's decisions and actions which stem from his personal Christian belief that he is on mission to fulfill a purpose and find meaning in his life and career by serving others. I believe that this biography is very informative and does great service to a great man by accurately presenting the facts of his life and his deepest feelings and thoughts. This book was written at a time before the onslaught of cheap biographies which are now published to entice the reader with "national enquirer" style gossip and political correctness, the sole purpose being to ring the cash register. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about Georre W. Carver on a deeper level.

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT A EXTRAODRINARY MAN, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER. HE WAS A GREAT AMERICAN WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE WORLD AS A SCIENTIST, HUMANITARIAN, AND AND AMBASSADOR OF GOOD WILL. ONE THING THAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE IS THAT IT WAS PUBLISHED SHORTLY AFTER HIS DEATH, SO MANY PEOPLE THAT KNEW HIM WERE STILL ALIVE. I WOULD RECCOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYOME WHO IS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT G. W. CARVER.

This is an exceptionally well written biography of one of histories truly great scientists. The power of his intellect developed through many years of struggle and emerged to provide us and the World with a gentle giant. He was a scientist who had no limits to his capacity to study and contribute to all. This book served as a guide for my father who lectured to many audiences about the valuable accmplishments of Dr. Carver. We presented that book and my father's lecture notes to Tuskegee recently.

I found this book at a used book store and remembering stories about Carver and his peanuts, thought it would be interesting to learn more. I, too, found it to be a thoughtful narration of Carver's life, from the Civil War to the years of WWII. The book was written in a contemplative style, and was definitely a product of its time, with racial terms that would certainly not be used today, but are important reflections of the age in which he lived. The early years of Carver's life are told in a dreamy, Uncle Remus-style that was popular then, and the tone was often patronizing. His later accomplishments were covered in a much more concise and respectful manner as befitting a distinguished scientist. Holt's description of the appalling treatment of Dr. Carver as he traveled around the country in the 1920s trying to promote his findings to improve the lives of those around him, was handled particularly well(mind you, this was written in 1943). The bigotry and insecurity of the Southern white population, the KKK, and Jim Crow laws are documented to remind us how far we really have come. Imagine inviting a scientist to speak at a convention, but not allowing him to sit down at the banquet in his honor because of his skin color? Making him stay at the "colored YMCA" several blocks away instead of the hotel in which the speaking engagement is booked? Not letting him use the lobby elevators to get to the ballroom? He wasn't allowed to have white students working with him, even if they were from the North or a foreign country. Much of his work was pirated by Southerners without attribution because they didn't want to admit that a Negro knew more than they did. And still, the man persevered for the betterment of all of his countrymen. The last part of the book becomes a somewhat hurried listing of his accomplishments and the honors heaped upon him. But through it all, there are glimpses of the man, the artist, the gardener, the serene soul whose idiosyncrasies made him so human. You feel the author had a warm regard for him, and indeed, had worked with him for three years to produce this very personal ode to a great man. I highly recommend this book.

I fondly remember reading a fascinating biography of George Washington Carver when I was much younger...this wasn't it.

This book reads like a series of short anecdotes about Dr. Carver, with very little connecting them. It can be confusing with it's bad cohesion and tendancy to wander off track.

I knew I was in trouble on page one when I couldn't figure out what year it was talking about. Paragraph one talks about the great news of the the 13th amendment ending slavery in 1865. Paragraph 2 and 3 talk about Dr. Carver being born in 1860 or '61, but it isn't clear that the narration has jump anti-chronologically here.

I don't know what the target age is for this book. I think a High School Freshman could handle most of it. But I had to go to a dictionary to look up the word self-abnegation.

My advice? Do read a biography of the great and fascinating scientist/naturalist George Washington Carver. Don't make it this one; there are better ones out there.