Freedman, Russell. The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights

I'm not much for biographies; they tend to slip easily into either an attempt to shoehorn a complex life into some overarching theme, or they're just some stuff that happened, which, because it doesn't get shaped with overarching themes, is not actually all that interesting. I like reading nonfiction, generally; but when it comes to real people, we can't know as much about them as I'd like, and I prefer the illusion of in-depth knowledge that comes with reading pure fiction.

So I'm not the best person to say anything about this book, which is a biography of Marian Anderson, a classical singer who struggled against racism during the first half of the 20th century.

It is entirely satisfactory. It's well-researched, it's well-written, there are lots of pictures, and it's pretty interesting all the way through. Some chapters have a bit too much uncontextualized "stuff that happens," but for the most part there's a good balance between giving meaning to the events in the book while not trying too hard to forcibly impose meaning upon them.

My one serious quibble is a line in the bibliography:

"Marian Anderson is the subject of several informative websites, which can be accessed by searching www.google.com for 'Marian Anderson.' "

It's true--most of the Google links at least get you information on the right Marian Anderson--but it's about as useful as saying "Go to your library for books about Marian Anderson," and a bit disappointing when the rest of the bibliography is quite good.