Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation

This book was superbly written, well researched, and delivered in an evenhanded, marvelous way. Segregation is a hot topic, and it could be expected that an author investigating a story of desegregation could descend into emotionality and political demagoguery. In other books examining our racist history, authors have sometimes couched the history as apologetics for modern political ideologies. Mr. James did not fall into that trap. He kept his own political leanings his own, and offered a detailed, non-evaluative statement of what happened. I really like this writing style, and admire authors who show respect to the reader by simply telling us what happened and leaving it to us to draw our own value judgments. I think by doing so Mr. James did service to the memory of two great men. The reader is left to admire that part of each man and their work that he identifies with most. A less talented author would have surely ceded to the temptation to write a hagiography of two such eminently respected and respectable historical figures. Had he done so, we would be left reading an account of what the author found important and identified with, putting the focus on the author's opinion and feelings rather than on the lives and actions of the subject of the book. I was very pleased with the book. It was engaging, informative, and deeply personal. To me the sign of quality in a biography of historical figures is that reading creates enough of a bond that even though the subject has been dead for some good time, you're still sad when that part of the book comes. This book succeeded. Well done, Mr. James.