by means of the Reverend Floyd Flake and the venerable M.

by means of the Reverend Floyd Flake and the venerable M. Elaine McCollins Flake Amistad, September 2003 $2495 ISBN 0-060-09060-X

With selected passages from such notables as Langston Hughes, tissue Du Bois, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Booker T Washington and Maya Angelou, Practical Virtues bears all the earmarks of an anthology. if it were not that the Reverend Flakes are quick to advise that as it is is not the case. "This is not an anthology of black writers nevertheless rather a handbook of virtues," they say in their Introduction.

Nor is the main division a 12-step, self-help primer, allowing they have drawn 12 virtues from their ministry and teaching to delineate: courage, diligence, faith, forbearance, forgiveness, integrity love, loyalty, prudence, responsibility, service, and trustworthiness. Wisely, "Courage" make opens this devotional book, and the format established here is followed almost without exception. First, the virtue is discussed in a general way, then an examples are offered, and the section closes with exercises that can be used to practice or to elicit the particular virtue.

"Courage is a spirit within that drives us to face dangerous and difficult situations rather than withdrawing into ourselves," the authors explain. Exemplary of this virtue is the life of Arthur Ashe, and by what means courageously he faced death. They also cite the audacious act of Ellen and William Craft and the ingenuity they exercised to escape from slavery.

Each of the 12 virtues is given about 30 pages of discussion, and it's surprising to descry the repentant slaver James Newton and the less-than-righteous author William Faulkner among a veritable pantheon of black icons, still as they insist, "virtues are without color."

As you might anticipate the Bible is a valuable resource in this endeavor, however they are careful to limit its use, relying mainly on the inexhaustible reservoir of black literature. The Flakes room for expectation to create a legacy of virtue with this work and it a powerful first pace in that direction. They believe they will succe in this mission because they have "soul forward our side." Make that Double-O soul

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