This Far by Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experience - Softcover

Williams, Juan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060934247 ISBN 13: 9780060934248

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2003

Synopsis

A companion to the PBS series, This Far by Faith isthe story of how religious faith inspired the greatest social movementin American history - the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

Hailed upon publication as a beautiful, seminal book on the role of the church in the African American community as well as on the social history of America, This Far by Faith reveals the deep religious conviction that empowered a people viewed as powerless to blaze a path to freedom and deliverance, to stand and be counted in this one nation under God. Here are the stories of politics, tent revivals, and the importance of black churches as touchstones for every step of the faith journey that became the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Using archival and contemporary photography, historical research, and modern-day interviews, This Far by Faith features messages from some of today's foremost religious leaders.

About this title

About the Author:

Juan Williams is the author of the acclaimed PBS series companion volume Eyes on the Prize. He is a senior correspondent for NPR, political analyst for Fox News, and the host of America's Black Forum. Williams worked at the Washington Post for twenty-three years as a columnist, editorial writer, and White House correspondent. He has won an Emmy Award for his television documentary writing and has contributed features to Fortune, Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, GQ, New Republic, and Black Issues Book Review. He is a graduate of Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

From Publishers Weekly:

Williams, who wrote the companion volume to the award-winning PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize, and Dixie, an Indiana University professor, offer a well-illustrated companion volume to the upcoming PBS series "This Far by Faith." They follow the traditional contours of other studies of African-American religious history, beginning with slavery and following the tale through the emergence of free black churches; the nadir of the late 19th century; the Great Migration; the rise of black nationalism and urban religious traditions in the early 20th century; the civil rights movement; and the embrace of alternative religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and the Five Percenters in the 1970s through the 1990s. One particularly interesting segment discusses those mid-20th century black Christian leaders who adopted conservative stances on integration; Williams and Dixie have done a great service by presenting these ministers' views alongside the more familiar stories of civil rights leaders, demonstrating the ideological diversity of the African-American church. At times, the book's writing style can be abrupt and jerky, switching from one historical figure to the next, or between different cities, without transitions to help the reader. The prose is also overburdened with romantic language about heroes who laid their all at the altar of sacrifice, etc.-a device that may work well over six separate installments of a television series, but quickly becomes redundant in print. The real strength here is not the writing but the 76 memorable photographs and illustrations, which powerfully attest to the courage and religious convictions of generations of African Americans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060934247
• ISBN 13: 9780060934248
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336