Different: Our Universal Longing for Community

Plunging readers into disturbing and contemporary terrain of the human heart, the author (a daughter of Jewish refugees) interviews individuals from Lincoln University--the first degree-granting historically Black university--where she grew up before passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. From a prominent Black civil-rights leader to the White son of an alleged KKK member, her interviews form an original history that illuminates our strengths and our universal difficulty with diversity. We have become so guarded and careful--so concerned about saying the wrong thing--that we do not interact or communicate genuinely with each other. Fear and dishonesty, politically disguised as kindness and sensitivity, abort the possibility of real change. But the down-to-earth community portrait that emerges in Different, and the author's realistic and refreshing perspective on the human beings we are, create a breathing space and a way to move forward. Ever wonder why we have always had a troubled relationship with the fact that we're different--the very fabric of human existence? Here's why, and here's hope.

Review :
"A beautifully written story; fascinating and actual, commensurate with grace and simplicity. A deeply personal legacy about race, history, and culture, reaching deep into the American soul." Terry Williams, Fellow at Yale University and Professor at New School University; author of Harlem Supers: The Social Life of a Community in Transition; The Con Men; and, with Trevor Milton, Hustling in New York.* "A wonderful book that my late husband, Julian Bond, was so looking forward to reading and which I believe he would have loved. I think other readers will enjoy it, too, and will learn a lot in the process." Pam Horowitz, former staff attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the widow of Julian Bond. "Corinna Fales courageously looks human difference in the eye and has the guts to blink. She uncovers the experience of growing up in the community of Lincoln University through in-depth interviews with Julian Bond and others. She finds that the lenses of discrimination and race still show that people will be people, and just when you think you understand, you find the next layer of your ignorance. An ultimately triumphant group memoir well worth exploring." Mack Lipkin, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Primary Care at New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center. "Corinna Fales grew up at a pivotal time for race relations in the United States. The daughter of Jewish refugees, she lived on and near the campus of Lincoln University, a historically Black college. Returning to talk to the friends and acquaintances of her childhood, they share with her the complex experience of race and class in this unique community. In this fascinating book, she universalizes this experience for us all." Carol Glassman, DSW, activist and social worker