First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series. “Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again “Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and The Black Box, and one of our most important voices on the African American experience, comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community’s most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.

A biographical dictionary which profiles over 30,000 individuals, including birth and death dates, major accomplishments, and historical influence.

Profiling more than 1400 print and electronic sources, this book helps connect librarians and researchers to the most relevant sources of information in genealogy and biography.

Robert Howe "Bob" Baker (1927-1983) was a precocious youth who found his passion early on and, as this book by his wife, Anne "Pete" Baker (1929-2011), details, became an extraordinary designer of boats. Wooden "working boats" were his passion and the book not only tells the story of Bob's lifelong involvement with boat design but also gives the how and why of his approach to design. The pages are filled with the finely drafted drawings of his designs. Among the many amazing facts of the story is the senior thesis he did in high school on boat design. At seventeen he clearly understood the physics and engineering of a boat's travel through water, but his interest was in the practicalities of design. This would be the guiding tenet of his approach to design for the rest of his life. For those who are wooden boat enthusiasts, you will find the detailed drawings and concrete explanations of how boats were designed something you can get your teeth into. For those who are merely wandering without commitment in the territory, you will still find much to learn amid a story well told. Bob, was born into a family of scholars. His grandfather, Louis McHenry Howe, was President Franklin Roosevelt's private secretary; his grandmother, Grace Howe, was appointed the first post mistress in the US; his godfather was President Roosevelt; his father, Robert Horace Baker, was a well know Professor and author of astronomy, and his mother Mary Howe Baker was a mathematician. However, Bob's path was different, driven by his love of boats. Beginning with childhood summers spent in the waters of Westport, MA, where Bob would find derelict boats and drag them home. By 16, he had filled a workbook, with over 200 designs and sketches. By 22, Bob was hired to teach mechanical engineering at St. Georges school in Middletown, RI. While there he began designing boats for the students to build and learn to sail. Eventually his interest in the traditional working boats, their design, construction and history, took priority. It wasn't long before his knowledge of traditional working boats was noticed by Mystic Seaport, WoodenBoat Magazine, Rockport Apprenticeshop, and the New York State, New Bedford Whaling, and Bath Maritime museums. Jon Wilson, Founder- WoodenBoat magazine: "Bob loved things traditional, and taught others to love them, but he was not bound by tradition. His unfailing eye for proportion and detail was thus the object of considerable admiration for all who knew him. Bob spent his life with boats, sailing them, drawing them, restoring them, and, whenever possible, taking lines off them. His plans and drawings are a reflection of his love and understanding of design and of the sea." Maynard Bray, Founding Director- Preservation Shipyard, Mystic Seaport: "Bob, more than most people, had a real feel for the way of old time boat builders and designers and understood that proportion, shape, and simplicity have everything to do with grace and beauty. Because he had owned, studied, sailed and repaired a number of old Southern New England small craft, Bob was the authority on how they are rigged and painted." Peter Vermilya, Creator of Small Craft, Mystic Seaport: "Bob was an artist and a craftsman of the highest order, and his interests and talents are evident in his work. Out of practical experience and careful observation, Bob arrived at his own remarkable technical and aesthetic understanding of watercraft developing his own design skills and principals." Lance Lee, Founder of the Rockport ApprenticeShop: "Bob, some 20 years ahead of his time, acted to protect, cherish, and revitalize links between the past he revered and the future he honored. He found practical genius and frequent consistent beauty on the structures and methods of the sails and oars of the late 19th and 20th century." Robert H. Baker: A Legacy of Small Craft by Anne W. Baker, author of Collecting Houses: 17th Century Houses - 20th Century Adventure.

Contains over 14,000 brief entries covering persons both past and present

An authoritative review of literary biography covering the seventeenth century to the twentieth century A Companion to Literary Biography offers a comprehensive account of literary biography spanning the history of the genre across three centuries. The editor – an esteemed literary biographer and noted expert in the field – has encouraged contributors to explore the theoretical and methodological questions raised by the writing of biographies of writers. The text examines how biographers have dealt with the lives of classic authors from Chaucer to contemporary figures such as Kingsley Amis. The Companion brings a new perspective on how literary biography enables the reader to deal with the relationship between the writer and their work. Literary biography is the most popular form of writing about writing, yet it has been largely neglected in the academic community. This volume bridges the gap between literary biography as a popular genre and its relevance for the academic study of literature. This important work: Allows the author of a biography to be treated as part of the process of interpretation and investigates biographical reading as an important aspect of criticism Examines the birth of literary biography at the close of the seventeenth century and considers its expansion through the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries Addresses the status and writing of literary biography from numerous perspectives and with regard to various sources, methodologies and theories Reviews the ways in which literary biography has played a role in our perception of writers in the mainstream of the English canon from Chaucer to the present day Written for students at the undergraduate level, through postgraduate and doctoral levels, as well as academics, A Companion to Literary Biography illustrates and accounts for the importance of the literary biography as a vital element of criticism and as an index to our perception of literary history.