Shades of Darkness [Paperback]

George E. Brummell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

"My mother had tried to run me down and then threatened to shoot me, a stranger tried to seduce me at a urinal, and now this guy was acting like a child with a rag doll. Was there something about being blind that made me a target for crazy people?" This is the story of a black soldier's journey through Vietnam, blindness, and back. Unforgettably funny, risqué, bittersweet, and inspiring, a memoir of growing up black in rural Maryland, joining the Army at age 17, posted to Korea, then Germany, and finally Vietnam in 1966 where the author was wounded and blinded by a landmine and had to learn to live with blindness, and overcome life's obstacles with determination, humor, and humility. A touching, funny, sexy memoir about both the African American experience and learning to live on the other side of darkness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a uniquely told story about a unique man who, with humor and determination, rose from modest African-American roots, raised by his grandmother, to become an officer in the U.S. Army and then lost his sight and the use of one hand in Vietnam in 1966. Touching, funny, and honest, this is a page-turner that is by turns sexy and heroic as Brummell struggles against all the odds to build a new life and, in the process, ends up helping hundreds of his fellow disabled veterans. As important and fresh as today's headlines, and a raw slice of Afircan-American history that will be accessible to anyone who enjoys a ripping good read. --R. Foster Winans, author of "Trading Secrets: Seduction and Scandal at The Wall Street Journal"

From the Publisher

How does a blind person write a whole book? How about a blind person with his left hand compromised by a battle injury?

I started writing "Shades of Darkness" in 1977 after being inspired by a book, "If You Could See What I Hear," by Tommy Sullivan, who had attended Harvard University as a blind student and described with humor and honesty how he overcame his limitations. The book was a success and was later made into a film. I believed I could write a book that would also be inspiring, but from the perspective of a black man's journey from modest roots, to combat in Vietnam, sudden blindness, and beyond.

I started getting up in the early mornings, with a tape recorder, sitting at my basement bar and trying to remember as much as I could. The process of transferring from tape to paper was a huge obstacle and I dropped the project for a while, until I enrolled at the University of Akron.

There I found a writer willing to assist me with class work, as well as transcribing bits of my manuscript. I persuaded my English instructors to grade my personal writings as class projects.

When I became computer literate in the mid-1980s I managed to get what I had on paper scanned into digital form. But it was a mess. When I finally got the text cleaned up, my writing project picked up speed. Nearly every night after returning home from work, I sat typing with my one hand, telling my story to the hard drive. Many nights I only got down a sentence or two, but it was progress nonetheless.

Thanks to the technology that allows a computer to "speak" words, I could haltingly write and edit my thoughts. For a short time I had a couple of volunteers who stopped by and took dictation. The years flew by, but I kept up my routine.

I finally completed the manuscript five years ago, but it just sat on my computer, awaiting the right moment to be born. That came in the fall of 2005 when I went to the VA Blind Rehabilitation Center in New Haven, Connecticut, for computer enhancement training. There I met a veteran of World War II, Arthur Gerold, who was learning to cope with macular degeneration.

After telling him my story, he was convinced I should get it out of the computer and into the hands of someone who could help me polish it for publication. He volunteered to carry a printed copy of the manuscript in a snow storm by train to an author friend in New York City. That started a process that ends with the book you hold in your hands.

I hope you get as much pleasure and inspiration out of reading it as I did in the writing. --George E. Brummell, Silver Spring, MD 2006

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 347 pages
• Publisher: Pie Publishing; 1st edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978891708
• ISBN-13: 978-0978891701
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #547,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warts and All, December 16, 2006

By 

Paul Chance (Seaford, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shades of Darkness (Paperback)

This is a marvelous book. Since other reviewers have described the gist of the story, I will add only that throughout it has the ring of truth. I lived in Federalsburg, where Brummel grew up, for 10 years in the 1980s, and everything he says about life there is entirely credible. (Even in the 80s, racism was strong.) I served in the Navy at about the same time Brummel was in the Army, and though I was never anywhere near Viet Nam, the stories I heard from combat vets give me no cause to doubt anything Brummel says about his experiences there.

It should be said that the book has its flaws. There are a number of minor errors that a good copy editor would have picked up, for example. There is also a tendency to give minor incidences the same attention as more important ones; this leaves the reader feeling that he is periodically led down a cul-de-sack. Nor is Brummel himself a model of perfection. He did many things most people would not want to admit publicly. And THAT is the beauty of this book, for Brummel DOES make those things public. This book presents George Brummel, warts and all. You may not find him altogether likable, but you find him believable and interesting, and (in the strictest sense of the word) admirable.

I know that some writers get their friends to write reviews of their book, and some reviews that appear here may have been written as favors. Mine was not. I met Brummel briefly at a book signing, but everything I know about him I learned from his book. I don't owe him anything. I recommend this book because it deserves serious attention -- not because Brummel is black, not because he is blind, but because he tells an extraordinary story extraordinarily well. This is a book that Oprah could recommend, and should recommend, without hesitation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Man' life, December 28, 2006

By 

Willie Robinson (Toledo, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shades of Darkness (Paperback)

Great read. The book is a frank and entertaining journey through a large part of a good man's life, warts (small surface blemishes) and all. Take a trip from Eastern Shore Maryland, to Korea, Germany, Vietnam, Ohio and throughout these United States with the author. This reader finds the author's strong positive spirit, as reflected in the book, a spirit worthy of respect and emulation. If you believe in doing the best you can with what you have, then you will be glad that you read this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, November 14, 2006

By 

R. LoBasso (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shades of Darkness (Paperback)

George's book is well written, funny, and at times very emotional. Shades of Darkness is the best memoir I've read this year, by far. And this thing's got it all -- growing up in the segregated South, the jungle combat of Vietnam, surviving as a blinded Veteran, overcoming one's hardships through sheer determination, and above all, hope.