Booker T. Washington: Volume 1: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856-1901 (Galaxy Book: 428)

Washington was a GREAT AMERICAN. The Tuskegee Institute is evidence of that. He built it from the ground up. We need to read more about him and this is the book to do it.

I am far from finished with this volume but have read enough to get a sense of it. Read along with Washington's Up From Slavery one gets a very good picture of Washington's early years. There is no question that he was one of the great men of American history.Harlan is much too tough on him. Harlan correctly observes that he was devious - a subtle and cunning man trying to better his and his People's condition in a very hostile environment. Harlan is wrong that he became so deceptive that he ended up deceiving himself. Washington did all that he could do, and did it better than anyone else could have done it. It simply wasn't enough, given the forces massed against him and his.

Nice book, bought it for a class in college and I learn a lot from a man that lived in an era of racism and worked hard to overcome it. Amazon has good prices and fast shipping.

Thank you!

The print in this book is very difficult to read. It is very small. I would not order another book without some visual evidence of the size of the print and will forego the 2nd volume because of the print size. The book itself is extraordinarily good as to the content and the writing style.

Kudos to Mr. Louis Harlan!In his interesting work, "The Making of a Black Leader", Mr. Harlan does a wonderful job of capturing the true meaning of Booker T. Washington in all of his dimensions in American history. Prior to reading Mr. Harlan's work, I had many preconceived notions of Booker T., the most infamous being that he was a "traitor" or an "Uncle Tom" of the black race. After reading Mr. Harlan's book, I not only continue to think that Booker T. Washington was one of the premier black conservatives of his time but, one who continues to influence black conservative political thought in contemporary American politics. In all, Mr. Harlan does a great job of presenting a balanced and fair observation of Booker's continuing legacy in the African American community and the larger American family. Using empirical data and substantive research, Mr. Harlan clearly presents many compelling arguments, in which all are supported with great evidence and interesting testimonials from speeches and interviews from years past. I urge all (especially African Americans) to read this wonderful masterpiece of African American literature.