December 02, 2002

Escaping the bad side of town

The Pact, Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt, with Lisa Frazier Page

Reaching Up for Manhood, Geoffrey Canada

Two books written by black men who grew up in bad circumstances and escaped. Canada has a faint air of bluster or swagger in his writing, not distracting, but an unusual counterpoint to his discussions of feelings and social engineering. The three doctors use plenty of slang, and have equally grim anecdotes, but mostly come across as really sweet.

Problem with Texas-style access to education, of letting the top 10% of each school into the desirable universities: thoe from the worst schools will be terrifically behind in all sorts of knowledge; the authors of The Pact manage to sound only exasperated about getting through premed and med school surrounded by children and friends of doctors, who understood a lot more of the system. So wrote clew in Book comparisons. , History (20th c.).

And thus wrote others:
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