A. Philip Randolph and the African American Labor Movement From VOYA (also re Bayard Rustin) These biographies of two pivotal figures in the civil rights movement are easy for middle school students to read, containing all the basic facts. They pale, however, in comparison to other works available in terms of scholarship, such as Catherine Reefs biography of Randolph in the African American Biography series (Enslow, 2001) or Sally Hanleys in the Black Americans of Achievement series (Chelsea House, 1988). Millers smooth narrative style, however, weaves the personal stories of these two men together with the pivotal elements of their experiences and the larger political events of the time. Each opens with a seminal moment in the movement and then tells the story of how each man came to be a civil rights activist. Randolphs origins with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and his political writing in The Messenger as well as Rustins ardent pacifism and his adoption of Ghandis nonviolence tactics are described in detail against the backdrop of the depression, World War II, and the turmoil of the following two decades. The books do not avoid difficult issues but are prone to making sweeping generalizations for the sake of brevity and reading level. Rustins homosexuality is discussed in terms of his long obscurity as he worked in the background so not to harm the movement with questions about his sexuality and his arrest for a homosexual act, but the word homosexuality is not in the index. Rustins early communism and Randolphs socialism are included as well, with brief and general descriptions of what each political system means and how it attracted those pushing for racial equality in the United States. These men are not presented as flawless or perfect heroes either and descriptions of tactical disagreements among high-profile figures in the movement and betrayals from other prominent African American leaders make the events vivid and realistically portrayed. Each book concludes with the 1963 march on Washington, D.C., for which these men shared the cover of Life magazine. Martin Luther King Jr. is featured more in the Rustin biography as they were closer in age. The time lines are brief, capturing only major events, but photographs include depictions of the Jim Crow figure that became symbolic of racist laws, artwork from the Harlem Renaissance, and signs that detail the extent of segregation in American life at the time. These books are easy-to-read supplemental biographies for collections where students do reports on famous figures of the civil rights movement, but if rigorous scholarship or detailed analysis of the political climate is required, they alone will not suffice. Hillary Theyer. Author Calvin Craig Miller Studio Reynolds Incorporated, Morgan Format Book