Rating: 
Summary: An insightful book.
Review: As an African-American journalist, I found Jill Nelson's book to be very real. Those who criticize the book because Nelson strikes them as naive are missing the point, on at least two levels. In the first place, though she naturally gets into certain generalities, the book is primarily about HER experience. It's not intended to be a handbook for reporters who are climbing the corporate ladder. Given her past, and her particular personality, this is the story of how she happened to react to a specific set of circumstances. How one judges her actions should be different from the way someone judges the book itself. And secondly, to the extent that the book does have a larger intent, it calls for the dismantling of an outrageously unfair system. Should we all just accept the status quo, and find clever ways to navigate our way past pettiness and stupidity, or strive for a sane alternative? The fact is that Nelson has done just fine since she left the Post. Viewed in that context, the book is a testament to her courage, and her insistence on personal dignity.
Rating: 
Summary: A Woman Who Could Not Handle Office Politics
Review: I agree with the reviewer from 1997 who called Jill Nelson's book naive. This was a silly, nasty memoir! I had to read this for a journalism class once and was amazed that anyone took what Nelson had to say seriously. The book was not about racism, but about Nelson's inability to handle hostile office politics (anyone who has ever read the "Dilbert" cartoon strip knows what I am talking about). If Jill Nelson is reading this, please remember that if office jobs were not called "work," they would be called "play!" Working for "The Man" is the reason why millions play the Lottery! Working for a firm is NOT supposed to be easy! There is a differnce between working for yourself and working for someone else. DUH! A real adult realizes that succeeding in any company involves a combination of talent, work ethic, discipline, and shrewdness to survive Dilbert-style idiocity. Volunteer Slavery is the story of a freelance writer who never worked a daily job in her life, wound up being a minority/female-hire at The Washington Post, failed (as was expected of her by the men who hired her), and wound up back as a freelancer. Those are the facts! Anyone who reads anything beyond this is a fool (or an undergraduate who does not know how the real world operates). To skeptics I pose one question: Why have so many minority journalists at The Washington Post succeeded while Nelson failed? The answer: genuine talent, experience, discipline, and inner-strength! Nelson lacked all of those qualities.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and humorous
Review: I found Ms. Nelson's book to be very informative, disturbing and humorous. I believe Ms. Nelson walked into the Washington Post with a lot of preconceived notions. She did not know she was entering a "man-made" jungle, and in the jungle one becomes a predator, prey or a skilled survivor. In the end she became a skilled survivor and not a "Washington Wildebeest". I am glad that she found her way back home, and she did not permanently damage her health, sanity or her outlook on life. God bless you Ms. Nelson!
Rating:
Summary: You would have to walk in her shoes to understand
Review: It is ironic yet predictable that most of the people who don't "get" this book, tend to be individuals who are either not female, African American or both. Jill Nelson wrote an honest critique of the experience that many African American women go through when trying to attain the proverbial golden rings in corporate America. I am sorry some folks could not relate or understand Ms. Nelson's book because the points she brings up are true and still reflective of the socialogical culture most African Americans live in today--approximately twenty years later. The patriarchal blindness that many in this culture experience that prevents them from understanding or relating to another individual or cultures experiences is sad yet expected The best that Ms. Nelson and other writers like her can do is just tell the story and let those who get "it" get it. Were some of her experiences hard to hear? Most definitely. Were the experiences unique to her? Absolutely not. Ms. Nelson says on in chapter 2, that she has been doing the standard Negro balancing act which is "blurring the edges of [her] being so that they [white people] don't feel intimidated." There are few African Americans, I would venture to guess, who haven't experienced this feeling at one time or another, yet it is virtually impossible to communicate this experience in a way that is understandable to someone who hasn't had to always be "aware" of how they are perceived and how those perceptions can affect other African Americans as well. Ms. Nelson does an excellent job explaining these details and if some people are still clueless, well, it's through no fault of her skill as a writer. Keep on shedding a spotlight on these issues Ms. Nelson. There are a few out there who are truly looking for the light.
Rating:
Summary: You would have to walk in her shoes to understand
Review: It is ironic yet predictable that most of the people who don't "get" this book, tend to be individuals who are either not female, African American or both. Jill Nelson wrote an honest critique of the experience that many African American women go through when trying to attain the proverbial golden rings in corporate America. I am sorry some folks could not relate or understand Ms. Nelson's book because the points she brings up are true and still reflective of the socialogical culture most African Americans live in today--approximately twenty years later. The patriarchal blindness that many in this culture experience that prevents them from understanding or relating to another individual or cultures experiences is sad yet expected The best that Ms. Nelson and other writers like her can do is just tell the story and let those who get "it" get it. Were some of her experiences hard to hear? Most definitely. Were the experiences unique to her? Absolutely not. Ms. Nelson says on in chapter 2, that she has been doing the standard Negro balancing act which is "blurring the edges of [her] being so that they [white people] don't feel intimidated." There are few African Americans, I would venture to guess, who haven't experienced this feeling at one time or another, yet it is virtually impossible to communicate this experience in a way that is understandable to someone who hasn't had to always be "aware" of how they are perceived and how those perceptions can affect other African Americans as well. Ms. Nelson does an excellent job explaining these details and if some people are still clueless, well, it's through no fault of her skill as a writer. Keep on shedding a spotlight on these issues Ms. Nelson. There are a few out there who are truly looking for the light.
Rating:
Summary: You would have to walk in her shoes to understand
Review: It is ironic yet predictable that most of the people who don't "get" this book, tend to be individuals who are either not female, African American or both. Jill Nelson wrote an honest critique of the experience that many African American women go through when trying to attain the proverbial golden rings in corporate America. I am sorry some folks could not relate or understand Ms. Nelson's book because the points she brings up are true and still reflective of the socialogical culture most African Americans live in today--approximately twenty years later. The patriarchal blindness that many in this culture experience that prevents them from understanding or relating to another individual or cultures experiences is sad yet expected The best that Ms. Nelson and other writers like her can do is just tell the story and let those who get "it" get it. Were some of her experiences hard to hear? Most definitely. Were the experiences unique to her? Absolutely not. Ms. Nelson says on in chapter 2, that she has been doing the standard Negro balancing act which is "blurring the edges of [her] being so that they [white people] don't feel intimidated." There are few African Americans, I would venture to guess, who haven't experienced this feeling at one time or another, yet it is virtually impossible to communicate this experience in a way that is understandable to someone who hasn't had to always be "aware" of how they are perceived and how those perceptions can affect other African Americans as well. Ms. Nelson does an excellent job explaining these details and if some people are still clueless, well, it's through no fault of her skill as a writer. Keep on shedding a spotlight on these issues Ms. Nelson. There are a few out there who are truly looking for the light.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb. Brutally honest, well written, eloquent.
Review: Jill Nelson frontally attacks the denial, dishonesty and hypocrisy surrounding the issue of race in the corporate suites. She will clearly make some people uncomfortable, which is precisely the point of this memoir. Nelson is a seasoned, talented writer who has the guts to step out of racial orthodoxy (read: black accomodation of racism) in order to illuminate that which deafens white people and suffocates black people. A fascinating, evocative account, not to be missed
Rating:
Summary: Superb. Brutally honest, well written, eloquent.
Review: Jill Nelson frontally attacks the denial, dishonesty and hypocrisy surrounding the issue of race in the corporate suites. She will clearly make some people uncomfortable, which is precisely the point of this memoir. Nelson is a seasoned, talented writer who has the guts to step out of racial orthodoxy (read: black accomodation of racism) in order to illuminate that which deafens white people and suffocates black people. A fascinating, evocative account, not to be missed
Rating:
Summary: A Woman Who Could Not Handle Office Politics
Review: My introduction to Jill Nelson was through a program on C-SPAN, Washington Journal. She sounded like a straight-shooting, intelligent, thoughtful person. When I finished Volunteer Slavery, after a marathon, can't put it down, day of reading, I knew her to be funny, down-to-earth, experienced and a wonderfully courageous, excellent author. Her ability to tell the story of her Washington Post experience in the context of family life, parenthood, love and loving, and professional activities demonstrates well-honed writing skills and her grasp of what's really going on under the thin veneer of our complex, multi-dimensional lives. She uses words magnificently, provocatively and with a sense of humor and style that had me laughing out loud.
Rating:
Summary: A masterly, insightful, eye-opener. Don't miss it.
Review: My introduction to Jill Nelson was through a program on C-SPAN, Washington Journal. She sounded like a straight-shooting, intelligent, thoughtful person. When I finished Volunteer Slavery, after a marathon, can't put it down, day of reading, I knew her to be funny, down-to-earth, experienced and a wonderfully courageous, excellent author. Her ability to tell the story of her Washington Post experience in the context of family life, parenthood, love and loving, and professional activities demonstrates well-honed writing skills and her grasp of what's really going on under the thin veneer of our complex, multi-dimensional lives. She uses words magnificently, provocatively and with a sense of humor and style that had me laughing out loud.
|
