Freedom on the Border: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky (Kentucky Remembered: An Oral History Series) - Softcover

""... The book provides compelling insight into race relations and the civil rights movement in the state."--Journal of Southern History" -- ""This is a useful collection that provides further evidence to support the reinterpretation of the black freedom struggle and its leadership that has been underway in recent years." -- Journal of African American History" -- ""Put[s] faces on the participants in the struggle for freedom from oppression and document[s] collaboration as well as contention between blacks and whites, the powerful and the powerless."-- Appalachian Journal" -- ""This work certainly brings us closer to understanding two seemingly paradoxical truths of the modern black freedom struggle: regional variations matter, and the Civil Rights movement unfolded differently within the South, across the Midwest, and in the North." -- Southern Quarterly" -- ""Fosl and K'Meyer's oral history collection illuminates an amazing variety of individual and collective tactics and strategies that Kentuckians used to fight for equality."--Wesley Hogan, Virginia State University" -- ""Freedom on the Border serves as a valuable introduction to the considerable oral history resources on the movement available in Kentucky."--LeeAnn G. Reynolds, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society" -- ""This well researched and cogently written volume introduces a unique perspective of the African American freedom struggle that has received only scant attention from most scholars."--Northern Kentucky Heritage" -- ""Freedom on the Border is well organized... linking the personal and political, as well as the past and the present."--Indiana Magazine of History" -- ""This is an excellent way to get at what occurred...has the value of interviewing the people who actually experienced the events and who may not have a personal or political ax to grind."--Multicultural Review" -- ""These stories remind us that a social justice movement does not end when laws are passed or crowds dwindle, but continues as long as people experience inequality and act against it."--Linda Elisabeth Beattie, Courier-Journal" -- ""The book, which shares the activists' own recollection of the struggles to dismantle legal segregation in Kentucky, is the first published study of the civil rights movement in Kentucky."--Lexington Herald-Leader" -- ""There is much work that needs to be done when it comes to writing the history of Kentucky. Fortunately, a number of steps have been taken to correct this, and oral history projects are a key component in filling in the gaps. "Freedom on the Border" is one example of how these interviews can be used to further explore the role of Kentuckians within the context of major events within the history of the country. They are much needed, and hopefully this will be the first of many such efforts."--David A Serafini, Bowling Green Daily News" --

Late in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude Rains (1889--1967) to the stage and screen is remarkable. Rains's difficulties in his formative years provided reserves of gravitas and sensitivity, from which he drew inspiration for acclaimed performances in The Invisible Man (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and other classic films. In Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, noted Hollywood historian David J. Skal draws on more than thirty hours of newly released Rains interviews to create the first full-length biography of the actor who was nominated multiple times for an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Skal's portrait of the gifted actor also benefits from the insights of Jessica Rains, who provides firsthand accounts of the enigmatic man behind her father's refined screen presence and genteel public persona. As Skal shows, numerous contradictions informed the life and career of Claude Rains. He possessed an air of nobility and became an emblem of sophistication, but he never shed the insecurities that traced back to his upbringing in an abusive and poverty-stricken family. Though deeply self-conscious about his short stature, Rains drew notorious ardor from female fans and was married six times. His public displays of dry wit and good humor masked inner demons that drove Rains to alcoholism and its devastating consequences. Skal's layered depiction of Claude Rains reveals a complex, almost inscrutable man whose nuanced characterizations were, in no small way, based on the more shadowy parts of his psyche. With unprecedented access to episodes from Rains's private life, Skal tells the full story of the consummate character actor of his generation. Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, gives voice to the struggles and innermost concerns that influenced Rains's performances and helped him become a universally respected Hollywood legend.