7-10 Split:: My Journey As America's Whitest Black Kid - Tapa blanda

5-Stars Says Readers' Favorite

"Michael Gordon Bennett's non-fiction memoir reads as fluidly as good fiction does. I marveled at his descriptions of the church services he attended and closed my eyes at one point, picturing in my mind the joyous service he described...This is a grand tapestry of a tale, a triumphant story of a young man's dedication and hard work set amongst the backdrop of racial injustice that presists in this country to this day. This coming of age story is remarkable; Bennett's stories about mentors who helped him along his way and the triumphs of the group he was, albeit briefly, a part of, are memories I won't be forgeting anytime soon." --- Jack Magnus, Readers' Favorite

"Bennett's story of growing up as a black boy in a racially fractious time is certainly not a typical one. In fact Bennett's viewpoint on the subject is groundbreaking. Bennett contends with a bout of homelessness, loneliness, and completely justifiable anger---all in intimate, emotional detail. Ultimately, though Bennett's memoir isn't a treatise on rage, but a tribute to resilence and the power of the human heart...his writing shows him as a passionate, thoughtful, and eloquent author...In a year where hateful bigotry has dominated the presidential election cycle, the words and stories that Bennett shares are more important than ever." --- Craig Manning, Independent Publisher

"Bennett writes boldy of his intense confusion in his racial identity, alienation within his black community and unease with his white classmates in every new location. 'Was I a white kid in black skin, or a black kid with white sensibilities?' Bennett writes, "Or did any of it matter?' When his battle fatigued father returns from Vietnam with an alchholism problem, the family tries to adjust to his erratic behavior, his conduct pushing each member to an emotional breaking point, but they never succumb to his failings. Mastering self-doubt, cultural inertia, and parental miscuse, Bennett asserts in his quiet, unforgettable way that presistence and courage will always pay off." --- Publishers Weekly (Book Life)

This critically acclaimed memoir chronicles the greatest social engineering experiment in American history. At the time, none of its participants were remotely aware of their status as lab rats. They were kids living behind walls, often ringed with barbed wire---ubiquitous signs warning of entry to government property that subjected them to rules and regulations unheard of in the general population. Military brats are a special subculture in America that one could easily argue is its own ethnicity. The author's experience inside the military bubble led to periods of intense confusion as to his own racial identity, alienation within the black community, and unease among white classmates---all compounded by parents who never had "the talk." His survival depended on gut instinct and observations he was forced to put into context without guidance.