BLACK LIKE ME
Including an Epilogue written by the author (1976)

Author:  John Howard Griffin
Narrators:  Ray Childs
 

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

Ages: Young Adult - Adult

Cassette:
Length: 7 hours / 4 cassettes
ISBN 0-9741711-0-7
Price:  $39.95

CD:
Length: 7 hours / 6 CDs
ISBN 0-9741711-1-5
Price:  $49.95
 
Paperback Price:  $12.95
  
Purchase this audiobook
separately, or as part of the
High School Package.
 

Audio Reviews:

Audiobook released in  January, 2004

"This is one of the few books of social commentary that have changed the face of our country...this  should be a part of the curriculum of every American high school.  Childs' reading is measured and articulate, perfectly matched to the rhythms of Griffin's text."  
                     - Starred Review, KLIATT  5/04

" John Howard Griffin's groundbreaking and controversial [journal] ...is a mesmerizing tale of the ultimate sociological experiment.  Ray Childs' narration is both straightforward and deeply satisfying.  His ability to
convey a full spectrum of emotions...is riveting.  This recording deserves a place in every public library collection."  
                     - School Library Journal  5/04

"Childs, an ideal narrator with impeccable pacing, uses a seemingly endless repertoire of rich tonal variations, accurate local accents, and perfect pronunciations.  The subtlety of his distinctions, especially when voicing the black characters, is particularly impressive.  Childs perfectly portrays the passions and moods of the era."  
                     - Booklist, 4/04

"A fascinating view of life before the heyday of the Civil Rights movement...for all libraries."
                     - Library Journal 3/04

"Griffin's...classic on race brillliantly withstands both the test of time and translation to audio format. Griffin imparts the hopelessness and despair he felt while executing his social experiment, and professional narrator [Ray] Childs renders this recounting even more immediate and emotional with his heartfelt delivery and skillful use of accents."
                     - Publishers Weekly, 2/2/04

Book Reviews:

“A stinging indictment of thoughtless, needless inhumanity.  No one can read it without suffering.”
                     - The Dallas Morning News 
 
“One of the deepest, most penetrating documents yet set down on  the racial question.”
                     - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  
 
“Black Like Me is a moving and troubling book written by an accomplished novelist.  It is a scathing indictment of  our society”
                     - Saturday Review
 
“Essential reading...a social document of the first order, providing material absolutely unavailable elsewhere with such authenticity that it cannot be dismissed.”
                     - San Francisco Chronicle

SYNOPSIS:

“What is it like to experience discrimination based on skin color, something over which one has no control?  How else except by becoming a Negro could a white man hope to learn the truth?  I decided I would do this.”
 
Writer John Howard Griffin (1920-1980) decided to perform an experiment in order to learn from the inside out how one race could withstand the second class citizenship imposed on them by another race.  Through medication, he dyed his skin dark and left his family and home in Texas to find out. The setting is the Deep South in the late 1950’s.  What began as scientific research ended up changing his life in every way imaginable.  When he decided the real story was in his journals, he published them, and the storm that followed is now part of American history.
 
As performed by Ray Childs, this first-ever recording of Black Like Me will leave each listener  deeply affected.  John Howard Griffin has done the impossible to bring the full effect of racism to the consciences of the America people.