Reviews: (by author)

Myers, Walter Dean. The Glory Field.  New York: Scholastic Inc., 1994.   $4.99.   ISBN 0-590-45898-1.   375 pp.

The Glory Field chronicles one black family's experiences throughout several generations.   The Lewis family's story begins in 1753 in Africa and ends in Harlem in 1994.   The story is divided into several sections each devoted to a specific time period and different character's dilemmas and life story.   One of the first sections is about a teenage girl named Lizzy Lewis who is a slave on a South Carolina plantation in 1864.   Lizzy's story focuses on her wanting to be free and wondering what the experience of being freed from slavery would be like.   Her master Miss Julia often tells her that she will be freed some day but eventually Lizzy realizes that it won't happen.   Another section is about Tommy Lewis who is in high school growing up during the 1960s in South Carolina.   Tommy is athletic and wants to go to college but fears that he won't be accepted because he is black.   His story also focuses on the growing tension over racial integration that was going on at this time in the south.    This cumulates with Tommy being sent to jail for protesting racial inequality during a civil rights protest in his city.   The final section is about Malcolm Lewis who is growing up in Harlem during the 1990s.   Malcolm decides to visit his relatives in South Carolina and during his trip he reflects on the events that his family has family has experienced over the many generations that this story covers.

Similar to how Myers' book Fallen Angels focuses on racial experiences in the Vietnam War, The Glory Field focuses on the racial experience throughout these generations of the Lewis family.   What makes the book so powerful is to see the common experiences that each family member had despite living in different time periods.   The characters are diverse but all share a common struggle with their racial identity in the environment around them.   Lizzy fears that she will be whipped while she is a slave and that she will never experience freedom.   Tommy worries that he will be a victim of violence during the civil rights protest because he is black and that he will never have equal opportunities in life because of his ethnicity.    Malcolm observes poverty and violence around him in Harlem and the negative effects that it has on his culture.

Overall the book is very insightful, well written, and does a good job of capturing the realistic experiences of each charter.   Also included is a diagram of the Lewis family tree which helps organize the expanding list of characters.   An excellent read.

Highly Recommended
Neal Schneider, May 2004

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