Stuart Stotts

This is a biography of Lutie Stearns, a woman who worked hard so that everyone, including the poor, could have access to books for free. But, more than that, this book is a biography of the libraries. They were boxes that lived in people's homes or stores or other public buildings. Every so often, the contents of these boxes were swapped out, so that the collections would be fresh. These boxes had rules and sign-out slips. They were numbered so that records could be kept. And today we even know some of the popular titles that were in these libraries--some are books we still read over a hundred years later like Alice in Wonderland and Sherlock Holmes. Some books were in different languages, because the country had many immigrants from various countries. And some books were damaged, but the borrowers were asked to pay to replace these.

Lutie fought for many things--the right for everyone to read, for free libraries around the country, and also for women's rights. She was a strong, progressive woman who made a difference in her state and in the country. But the difference her books make in hundreds of thousands of lives is what's really at the core of this wonderful book.

I will not soon forget Lutie Stearns the next time I visit a library. And I'll definitely think of her boxes of books whenever I visit a Little Free Library or receive a bookbox in the mail.… (altro)

This book tells the history of the song "We Shall Overcome" which became the anthom of the civil rights movement here in the US in the 1950s and 60s. It teaches us how music can help shape and define a group and how this one song changed throughout the generations and meant several things to several different people. The song started in the 1800s and slavery songs, and was a different version than that that is sung today, but it had the same meaning. It was sung in black churches and in black schools for several years. In the early 1900s it took a different turn and was being used by strikers when unions were being created to fight for labor rights. It became a major part of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s and then in the 70s it was used in the same meaning but by antiwar protests. It has more recently been used after 9/11 and in many countries all around the world who are in circumstances of persecution. Whatever the reason the singers were using the song, the reason was always the same; to unite the singers together in a nonviolent fight against that which they did not believe in and in the fight for equality and human rights for all.… (altro)