In a recent interview, Nobel winner Toni Morrison talked about growing up as an African American and what color and beauty meant within the black community.  At Howard University, which she attended, she said there was a test for beauty.  The ideal was to have skin no darker than th

Finishing Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved and picking up Herman Wouk’s memoir, The Language God Talks was like gulping fresh air after holding my breath for too long. I admired Morrison’s work. Her characters were moving and I despaired for the anguished lives of her characters, f

We tend to think of cults as religious groups that are out of the mainstream but according to Nathaniel Rich, who de-programs cult victims, that image is far from true. (“The Man Who Saves You From Yourself,” by Nathaniel Rich, Harper’s, November 2013, pgs. 35-44) In his essay,

I picked up a copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison from my neighborhood library box the other day. The words on the cover were, “A Masterpiece…Magnificent.. Astounding.. Overpowering.” In the upper right hand corner was a seal, “Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.” Having r

A few weeks ago, I was watching an interview on PBS with Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for her novel Beloved, a story about a runaway slave, who, after 18 years is still tortured by her past. Morrison’s newest book, Home, was out in May, a tale concerning another tortured