The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

A young black man's search to uncover his white mother's past and his own identity. Born in Poland, the daughter of a rabbi, James McBride's mother grew up in the Southern United States, ran away to Harlem, married a black man and founded a Baptist church, and then proceeded to put 12 children through college. McBride examines her life, his own childhood in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing projects, and the force of his mother's love which guided his and his siblings' lives.

"...[S]uffused with issues of race, religion and identity. Yet those issues, so much a part of their lives and stories, are not central. The triumph of the book--and of their lives--is that race and religion are transcended in these interwoven histories by family love, the sheer force of a mother's will and her unshakable insistence that only two things really mattered: school and church...it is her voice--unique, incisive, at once unsparing and ironic--that is dominant in this paired history, and its richest contribution....The two stories, son's and mother's, beautifully juxtaposed, strike a - (New York Times Book Review)

"An eloquent narrative in which a young black man searches for his roots--against the wishes of his mother. Mc Bride, a professional saxophonist and former staff writer for the Boston Globe and Washington Post, grew up with 11 siblings in an all-black Brooklyn, New York, housing project. As a child, he became aware that his mother was different from others around him: She was white, and she kept secrets...McBride's mother should take much pleasure in this loving if sometimes uncomfortable memoir, which embodies family values of the best kind. Other readers will take pleasure in it as well." - (Kirkus, 11/1/95)

"As James discovers the facts of [his white mother's] childhood, he hears about a disturbed family of Orthodox Jews living on the edge of a Southern town, in a no-man's land between the black and white communities. So the book tells two life stories, Ruth's and James's--both stories are gripping and unusuals. Both tell of human struggles in a country divided by religion and race." - Morgan B. Sherwood (Kliatt)

top african-american books

Hemingses of Monticello - Annette Gordon-Reed +w Historian Annette Gordon-Reed continues the meticulous and eye-opening investigation...  read more

2.  Permission Slips - Sherri Shepherd +w 3.  Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X +w 4.  Pryor Convictions - Richard Pryor +w 5.  Lady Sings the Blues - Billie Holiday +w 6.  The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr - Clayborne Carson +w 7.  Up from Slavery - Booker T. Washington +w 8.  American Gangster's Wife - Jerry Lucas +w 9.  Ghetto Passport - Michael A. McKenzie +w 10.  The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley +w

top personal memoirs books

Going Rogue - Sarah Palin +w Some might recall that Barack Obama rose to prominence on the strength of two...  read more

2.  A Child Called "It" - Dave Pelzer +w 3.  The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls +w 4.  Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson +w 5.  Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert +w 6.  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver +w 7.  Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama +w 8.  Marley & Me - John Grogan +w 9.  The Year of Living Biblically - A. J. Jacobs +w 10.  You Better Not Cry - Augusten Burroughs +w