Saturday, November 22, 2008

A Tugging String: A Novel about Growing up during the Civil Rights Era

A Tugging String: A Novel about Growing up during the Civil Rights Era by David Greenberg
A fictionalized account of the author's years growing up in Great Neck, New York, during the turbulent civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, when African Americans were struggling to attain equality, with his father, who was a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Includes commentary from the author's father, Jack Greenberg.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David Greenburg's novel is beautiful in its simplicity. As a teacher, I often struggle with how to teach students about difficult times in American history. Greenburg's novel is a true treasure as tells the story of the civil rights era through the eyes of a young boy.

Anonymous said...

...a fascinating account of a young boy bumping up against such giants as Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr. Greenberg's father, Jack Greenberg, is a lawyer who fights to promote the civil rights of African Americans in America's south. Duvy, as Greenberg is affectionately called by his father, learns about predjudice firsthand...the book is also a heart-felt tale of a boy's sometimes hilarious and sometimes painful process of growing up. Duvy worries about his hair, and does everything he can think of to try and tame it into smooth submission- to no avail. Duvy scores a touchdown- for the wrong team. But along the way, Duvy learns compassion, tolerance, and what it means when we say "All men are created equal". This is an important book.