Winner of the 2000 Lillian Smith Book Award

books:


	• A Fire You Can't Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth (Religion & ... Andrew Manis University Alabama Press, 2001 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews
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A powerful story of courage

A compelling portrait of a real unsung hero. Emerge Magazine says it well: "The greatest battles of the civil rights movement come alive in this biography of the man Martin Luther King Jr. called "one of the nation's most courage freedom fighters." Manis is to be congratulated for bringing us this powerful story.

Winner of the 2000 Lillian Smith Book Award

The story of Fred Shuttlesworth is a powerful, dramatic story that everyone interested in the black freedom movement should read. Manis' compelling portrayal captures the spirit and spirituality of a great unsung hero. The book has been honored by the Lillian Smith Book Award, the South's oldest literary prize, and deserves a wide reading.

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The Life and Times of 1 of "The Big 3"

As a student of the civil rights movement, this is a must read. The book explores the life and times of a great man who made it possible for Rev. King and others to make the changes that were made in Birmingham. Andrew Manis has written a great history book that covers not only Rev. Shuttlesworth's life but you get a sense of what people felt during this horrible time in U.S. history. You will see how Rev. Shuttlesworth had "set the table" so that Rev. King was able "serve the dinner" in Birmingham. Without Rev. Shuttleworth's persistence, President Kennedy would never be able to have said, Eugene Connor was the best thing that happened to the civil rights movement.

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A book you can't put down

This is a real page turner of a biography--a book you can't put down. The contest between Fred Shuttlesworth and "Bull" Connor is classic, full of violence and poignancy. Manis has done the nation a service by putting his magnifying glass on Fred Shuttlesworth's heroics, and rightly explained them from the context of black religion. This book should be made into a movie!

Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are the most well known figures of the civil rights movement that emerged in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s, but in Andrew M. Manis's well-documented book, the contributions of the fiery Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, founder of the Alabama Movement for Human Rights, finally come to light. Manis paints a portrait of a God-fearing (but otherwise fearless) preacher cut in the mold of rebel slave leader Nat Turner, whose lawsuits, sit-ins of train and bus stations, and defiant pulpit orations helped tear down segregation in the South. But the reverend always had a firm sense of community: "Shuttlesworth conducted his civil rights activities with his hands still tightly grasping the pastoral reins of his local church," Manis writes. "His concern for social justice was central to his 'care of souls' and prophetic proclamation." Manis also shows the reader the professional and personal costs of Shuttlesworth's activities, from the 1956 bombing of his home to the constant tension with more conservative religious leaders in a community that considered his activism dangerous. In the end, however, Shuttlesworth's deeds earned him the praise of Birmingham's citizens, the beneficiaries of his courageous campaigns for equality. A Fire You Can't Put Out is a blazing blueprint pointing the way for future generations of activists to continue the struggle. --Eugene Holley Jr.

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