Portrait Of America Sparknotes

Review of Portrait of America
During the process of reading this compilation of works, Portrait of America, many different point of views were aired. The opinion or attitude on the subject was too tainted. The authors were very biased to their perception of the "story". This book could have been much more beneficial if the facts would have stayed to the straight and narrow. Only the detrimental facts needed to be applied to these chapters. For a history class, as broad as this, this book opened too many doors that could not be explained in as much detail as would be liked. Many of the authors enjoyed mentioning the most scandalous moments of the people's lives then dropped the fact without much support …show more content…

A man can give his life to the nation to better their lives, and in return all America ever does is look for weakness to criticize. The country is so threatened by insecurity that the immediately attack something that has been nothing but wonderful to them. There was also a blurb in this chapter on the attempt of suicide at age twelve. In what way does this give an insight to his life other than the fact that he was a compassionate child that could not weigh consequences? This small undescribed incident leaves much to be considered. Was Jr. of the mental capacity and state of mind to be a leader? Is this why he cheated on his wife? Or is this the lamenting of a normal child who has been instilled with the fear of God because of a very religious upbringing? If so how was a suicide attempt even contemplated at all? These questions and many more like these are the kind of answers that can be answered in a novel, not excerpt from novels or large biographical works. Although the civil rights movement is a very known about topic there are several numbers, percentages, and facts that are made available in the chapters dealing with blacks. In the chapter "African Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights" there