By following three people through their migration from the South to Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, Isabel Wilkerson writes very readably in this well researched non-fiction piece. We here stories of other people as we move through the narrative. Though I certainly knew of this migration, my knowledge and understanding of it is much clearer now. These struggles are probably not much different from those of modern day migrants, escaping persecution and death.
Then I went back to The Witches, Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem. Unusual, I know, for me to read two non-fiction books in a row. They just kind of fell that way. This last section of the book mostly told what happened to the principles after "spectral evidence" lost favor and was outlawed in the courts of Massachusetts. The time became a euphemism ("the time of tragedy and confusion," "the recent unfortunate time," etc.) The judges were never blamed by the populace, who believed them above reproach. But even they seemed not to fair well. I hadn't expected this section to be as interesting as the rest of the book, but it certainly was. However, the book suffers from being dry, and often prodigious, which explains why I took so long to read it.
I have now started Little Men by Louisa May Alcott. Again, I don't know how I escaped reading this at a much earlier age, but I find I am enjoying at at 73, so I guess that can prove these books are timeless. Jo and the Professor have now settled into their boys' home and are enjoying raising and educating 12 boys, when another arrives, dirty and hungry and forlorn. We see the Bhaers, the other boys, and staff take him in, make him feel welcome, clean him up, feed him, and then discover his wonderful talent that will enrich their lives.
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