Customer Reviews

Warren G. Harding US President 29 (Death by Blackness)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author did an excellent job of researching the subject. I would reccomend it highly. Willis Kirk

Although there have been recent publications by academic rehabilitation `entrepreneurs,' with some attempt at raising Harding's legacy from their own viewpoint, Marsha Stewart has done well to present, from a Black viewpoint, her appraisal of the Harding family. I would also recommend Francis Russell's "Shadow of Blooming Grove" to complete the picture. The core substance of this book is interesting, and is value-added to any serious research of Harding's ancestry.

Since there isn't a living "historian", "published author",
"professor", etc who can actually state in front of the entire
world that they know 100% factual information about their OWN
family tree, I take it all with a grain of salt that they know
anything 100% factual about past generations of strangers.

All "biographies" and whatever else "historians" publish are based
on what is found through prior publications and records. Historically, and it is proven, recordkeeping was not the best during "those" times.

Talking to the 4th generation 2nd removed cousin, is not factual.
It's hearsay. And as with any verbal messaging, the story changes
as it's passed from one person to the next.

In reading anything, take what you need from it, not as gospel, but
as a starting point for your own research.

Read the book. Open discussions when questions arise. Do something
other than pointing the finger. Like, provide the proof to disprove
statements made.

The book was interesting. Yes, it raised questions, which any good
book should.

Being one who has written and published on Marion County Ohio history, and researched Warren G. Harding worked with a museum collection containing a large number of Harding documents, I am well versed in what is factual, and what is folklore about the nations 29th President.

I would place this book in the folklore category, it is not an accurate book on Warren G. Harding, nor is it a well written book, subject aside.

First and foremost Harding's race has been the topic of rumor mongers for well over a hundred years. There is even an attributed off-the-cuff quote from the President himself where he allegedly stated that he wouldn't have been surprised if there had been "colored" blood somewhere on his family tree.

This book seems to take that unverified comment and run rampant with it, drawing conclusions about Harding and a so called conspriacy to keep the lid on information.

In this book's Amazon description, written by the author, I found a statement that raised my eyebrows: "In 1884 he was a teacher at the local "Colored school" in Marion, Ohio". While Warren G. Harding did have his first teaching job it was in a Marion Township (Marion, County Ohio) one room schoolhouse that once stood at the corner of Marion Williamsport Rd. and State Route 4 (now occupied by WMRN), not a Marion city school. I find the claim that this schoolhouse was for "colored" students a flat out lie - there has never been a racially segragated school in Marion County Ohio. As a native, as a historian and as a published author, I can find niether records nor proof of this claim to validate it. However in the author's eyes the lack of primary source evidence to support this claim of segrgation (tax records, student enrollement, published histories, etc.) is to her proof positive of the conspiracy to thwart her view view of history. In this case (and in other places throughout the book) her arguments simply do not have merit.

As for the authors writing style, it never develops a pace at which the material flowed. In fact, the book contained numerous misspellings and tense issues which were distracting,leading me to wonder if the book was ever proofed by anyone. After discovering that "Conquering Books" (the "Publisher") is a Vanity Press, I understand how the errors were allowed to stand and made it to print.

The author also seems to rely heavily on works by other authors, but eschews primary source documents. More disturbing, the author also jumps through historical events shifting from the 1920s to the 1960s - there is no focus in this in this book other than the self indulgence of speculation. The author also litters paragraphs with quotes that justify the statments made in previous paragraphs.

The strangest, most ironic aspect of this book is that in theory, its author goes out of her way to own Warren G. Harding as if he was property. Does the author not see how she has enslaved him for her own benefit?

Overall I had the feeling that the desire of the author to assemble a compelling work steered this book. As a result, at many points, I felt that the arguments weren't the richly woven tapestry that the author set out to write, but a fish net dragged through the ocean without a catch.

Therefore I would caution readers to look upon this book as an argument for a case, but I found that despite the evidence that this is more about theory and less about Warren G. Harding than the author hoped it truly would be.

Therefore, my one-star rating should be construed as the minimum allowed by Amazon with which to rate this book.

This book proves without a doubt how imperative it is for members of families to keep abreast of their own genealogical stories. Told thru the eye of President Harding’s family member, thru stories past down by her elders, she gives a concise and compelling outline based on her families historical facts that is truly awesome ( see pages 174-178). We didn’t learn this kind of information while in school so be prepared and enlightened.

Find out how the Harding’s escaped through the underground railroad, to Ohio, a hotbed for anti slavery, and a destination for runaway slaves, where the Harding children attended Parkman Academy school for fugitive slaves and President Harding whose parents were both of African American descent attended Iberia College founded by the Presbyterian Church, known for helping thousands of slaves escape to Canada.

You’ll love the extent to which the establishment go thru its gyrations to make sure President Harding’s heritage stays a mystery and classified , however there were outsiders such as William Estabrook Chancellor who attempted to bring fourth information by book for which the 28th president Wilson had 250,000 copies burned.

But the author not only tells of her family’s intrigues, she also gives the reader a very good understanding of the historical atmospheres ( the looseness of testicular content, the black codes, the Harding administration, the Harding strange death) during the day and the psychology behind why many African Americans chose to get passed into other worlds.

This is great reading for the history buff……

This book is for you if:

If you think that the Weekly World News deserves a Pulitzer for its coverage of "Bat Boy".

Believe that wearing a foil hat to bed will stop the Government from reading your mind while you sleep.

Think that the Apollo moon missions were staged in a Johnson Space Center soundstage.

Pat the Bunny has more tangible content than this book does. Not recommended.

Mr. Koblentz lives in the "Media Manipulation Pod Dynasty" of America where he seems to be at a surreal disconnect between reality and publicity perceived reality. He is confined within the walls of a protective pod where no other people exist on the face of the Earth but the imagined mainstream media. You follow the Mainstream Herd into a "Pod Dynasty" and believe every falsehood uttered by Washington has been and is sincere.

Maybe it because of this disembowelment Americans are oblivious to what's happening in the world outside their own isolated neighborhood. Most Americans function daily in a media dazed state. There is an obsession with "American benevolence" at the center of US opinionated imaginary.

Stuart, you live in a splendid manufactured isolation system. The once unitary position of people like you will cease to monitor communications where the truth has been squelched. You are like the large publishing companies that have paid scant attention to books written by African Americans. Self-publishing is a common phenomenon for African-American authored books.