Storming Ceasars Palace

Without a doubt, this is a story that has earned its place within the study of welfare and of civil rights. Orleck has a powerful story here which not only captures the struggles of this movement, but goes into other issues such as the challenges faced by African American women with regards to sex, the family, and the political voice of the underclass. She also helps to highlight the almost hopeless and endless cycle faced by many sharecroppers - a topic that I feel wasn't really covered in my high school classes.

There were several points during this book that really stood out to me, but one of the biggest was her idea that these uneducated women often knew how to allot funds to help their community better than state or federal agencies. Was there a real danger to them abusing their power/wasting the funds or was this group eventually get pushed out due to their political enemies? Recently, there was an article in the Buffalo News about a preacher in Buffalo who was given either state or federal funds to help build houses in the city that asked these same questions. Is there a real danger or do these people know how to improve their communities?

There are a couple of other questions that I have with regards to her methodology. Is there a problem with her relying heavily on the interviews she had with these women? It is painfully obvious that many of these women often were denied an access to a proper education so this should be taken into account for her use of these interviews... Also, she seems to make a lot of references to the present. Does she balance this or does she stray too close to the modern age with her book? Again, many of the issues she brings up have relevance to the present.