Customer Reviews

Unafraid of the Dark: A Memoir

5 star:		(6)
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This woman knows how to write and she has something to say. She makes her point very effectively. For the cost of a paperback, you can give a copy to every Republican or other person who matters to you who doesn't understand or support Aid to Dependent Children or welfare, etc. Her book leads people to care about her and understand.

A deeply moving, inspiring story. I felt like I was right there with her when she described her brief childhood encounter with Martin Luther King. Her writing brings characters alive like the best fiction I've ever read. I would seriously consider trying to get my school to order this book (I'm studying to become a high school English teacher).

Rosemary Bray's memoir cuts through the anti-welfare hype and contempt for poor people, especially poor black women, that brought us "welfare reform." Her mother went on AFDC because her father was a violent gambler, and she had four kids to raise. Welfare enabled rosemary to grow up in threadbare but at least decent poverty--food on table, roof over head,school supplies and so forth. Far from promulgating the "culture of dependency," welfare helped Bray's mother get some independence. And far from passing welfare on to her daughter, Rosemary went to yale. Bray writes so perceptively about her family and her childhood, about the racism of l960s Chicago (and of yale). she made me think about all the little cruelties and deprivations poor people are expected to just accept, and how wrong this is. I wish every white person would read this book, and every person who thinks people are poor because they "don't want to work." Isn't it interesting that even in the midst of the "memoir boom," this book didn't get front page reviews?

Unafraid of the Dark is a beautifully written, inspirational and deeply touching book. I was unable to put it down from the moment I read the first page. I admire Rosemary and feel that she is an inspiration to all African American women.

Very good insight into how whites (I am a white male - I needed to read this book) unknowingly perpetuate racism. There are several anecdotes in the book that, in my humble opinion, precisely capture the essence of racism in America. There's one in particular, a scene in a cafeteria at Yale. The book in general paints a great explanation of how, in order to look after ourselves, we need to stop letting children, black or white, fall through the holes.

This book was one that opened my eyes to the welfare program and the problems it has. It has also illustrated the social gaps that have been created by gender, race, and poverty. Rosemary did an excellent job in description in the life that she lead, and to how she has overcome the many barriers in her life. A great read for all!