Gathering of Old Men

from laurensx

What a powerful tale of the determination for respect and dignity! Set in the bayous of Louisiana, this story details the ongoing quest for equality and justice for the black citizens of Marshall. After being subjected to degradation, hatred, lynching, abuse and loss of manhood, the elderly black...

from rainpebble

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines; (5*) This novel, set in 1970s Louisiana, is one of the richest and most powerful novels about race relations written in the last few decades. It is a simple story that could be told fairly quickly but the event on which the novel is based is in some ways p...

from whitewavedarling

This is a fast engaging read that draws you in. It's a good classroom text that everyone can understand (even reading fairly quickly), especially if you want to discuss the Civil Rights Movement or race relations in the 20th Century. Beyond this issues, it is an easy read which you might well fin...

from nbmars

I loved this book! It's like "The Magnificent Seven" transformed into The Geriatric Eighteen. It is both comedic and tragic, and I believe it deserves its status as a classic of recent American literature. The story takes place on one day in the late seventies on a former plantation in Louisiana,...

from Whisper1

Destined to be one of my top reads for 2012, this is a powerful tale of the deep south and the terrible bigotry that existed in the 1970's. When a son of the local, powerful white racist is killed, it takes a strong white woman to gather the old black men to rally. When each man arrives on the po...