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From: Dean Kauffman
Date: 1/31/00
Time: 6:41:07 AM
Remote Name: 208.146.143.7
I saw a really impressive program on C-Span Book TV last night- a panel discussion of writers of memoirs. There was Frank McCourt - of Angela's Ashes fame, a woman named Anchee Min who wrote Red Azalea "memoir of a young Chinese girl during the collapse of the Maoist regime. As a schoolgirl, Min distinguishes herself as a young communist--and a high point of her career as head of the Little Red Guard comes when she is persuaded to denounce her beloved teacher as a reactionary, thus ruining the woman's career and possibly placing her life in jeopardy. As a reward for this revolutionary act, Min is sent to Red Fire Farm near the China Sea to work as a peasant on the collective" This woman was amazing talking about her life. A third was Rosemary Bray who wrote Unafraid of the Dark, a memoir - .."In elegant, passionate prose, Rosemary L. Bray uses her personal history to persuasively defend America's much-maligned welfare system. A smart black girl from the Chicago slums didn't have much chance of going to Yale or becoming an editor at the New York Times Book Review before Aid to Families with Dependent Children helped Rosemary's selfless mother make ends meet and keep Rosemary in school. Bray's account of her progress is both inspiring and despairing, as she criticizes the welfare "reforms" that closed to others doors that were opened for her" Both were extremely impressive and worthy of reading.