His Eye is on the Sparrow: An Autobiography [Hardcover]

Ethel Waters (Author), Charles Samuels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1978

"I was never a child. I never was coddled, or liked, or understood by my family. I never felt I belonged." Thus begins this autobiography.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Samuels, a New York newspaperman, wrote biographies of Jody Garland, Lizzie Borden, and Evelyn Nesbit. He worked with Buster Keaton on My Wonderful World of Slapstick (also available from Da Capo Press). Donald Bogle is the author of Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars (also available from De Capo Press), Blacks in American Film & Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, and Toms, Coon, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive Histroy of Blacks in American Films. He has been called "the dean of black film history."

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press Reprint (June 1, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031320201X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313202018
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,505,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A glimpse into culture of poverty, March 24, 2000

By 

Nancy K. Oconnor (PAWHUSKA, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: His Eye Is On The Sparrow: An Autobiography (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

I once had a non religious friend ask how could the poor live in such squalor, and yet be "religious". We live on a cultural divide, where we live upright and logical lives, and don't see the squalor around us and dismiss such families as "dysfunctional". Ethel Waters clear eyed yet loving view of her family and her culture will be an eye opener to those who think this way. From her childhood in the slums of Philadelphia and Chester PA to her rise in Harlem to her life as a singer, she apologizes for nothing, and unapologetically defends her culture to those condenscending to her race. Put into the context of the early 50's, when she wrote this biography, it gives an insight into racial relations that angrier books lack. One wishes that this would be re released with a Forward explaining the context of those times so that those born after the civil rights struggle will better understand not only the racial divides that few questioned only 50 years ago, but also to help them understand the importance of the black church and religion in the lives of those times.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The deeply touching autobiography of our greatest star, February 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: His Eye Is On The Sparrow: An Autobiography (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

This book ranks in my list as the greatest of all entertainer autobiographies. It is honest, painful, humorous, and very informative about a life rarely talked about, the life of black entertainers from the 1910's to the 1950's. Waters was the greatest and best-loved black star in America for virtually this entire period, and her story is an important one. She tells it as she might speak to you in a concert, in a mixture of unusual candor and delightful humor, and one cannot put it down. For anyone interested in the roots of jazz and pop singing or simply in the early black experience in vaudeville, theater, records, films and television, this is essential reading, for Waters was a pioneer and star in all of these media. The changes in her career direction and public image are unmatched by any other performer, and the story of how and why her career changed as it did makes for fascinating reading. Charles Samuels did a masterful job of communicating Waters "voice" in the autobiography; there are only a couple of pages where the voice doesn't ring true. Waters childhood and later adult anecdotes of her life before stardom would be fascinating reading even if they were not followed by the story of her rise to fame. The story of her life in show business is, in my opinion, unequalled in its breadth and its candor. Admittedly she can be supercilious and condescending to other entertainers at times, but for the most part she tells it like it was, detailing not just her highs but her many lows. I've read this book from cover to cover many times over the twenty year period I've known about it, though I was able to get my own copy only about five years ago. I can't recommend it strongly enough.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best memoirs i've ever read, October 14, 2001

By 

Alicia Trees "blissgirl3" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Eye Is On The Sparrow: An Autobiography (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

Read this book and you will see why the incomparable Miss Waters was a force to be reckoned with in her day. The writing is honest and takes the reader into a show biz world that mirrored the complexities of the segregated and racialized society at large during the first half of the 20th century. Rather than a rags to riches, this is more of a from poverty to success to survival story. I laughed out loud more than once at her candor and sharp observations. As a fan of Ethel Water's singing - before I found her memoir - I felt privileged to also read her own words on the life she lived.