Bøker av E. R. Braithwaite

MR. BRAITHWAITE, THE NEW TEACHER. HE BEHAVED VERY DIFFERENTLY WITH THE STUDENTS IN HIS CLASS. HE MADE THEM LOOK DOWN SHAMEFULLY, REALIZING THEIR MISTAKES. HE FOUGHT WITH THEM, SOMETIMES HE ALSO WRESTLED WITH THEM. SLOWLY, YET STEADILY HE BROUGHT THE LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE INTO THEIR LIVES AND LATER ON STARTED LOVING THEM, IMMENSELY. HIS STUDENTS WHO WERE FAMOUS FOR THEIR HOODLUMS, WHO WERE VERY SHAMELESS, STARTED RESPECTING HIM, CALLING HIM `SIR`. HE WAS THE ONE WHO TAUGHT THEM TO CALL THE GIRLS RESPECTFULLY WITH A `MISS`. HE TAUGHT THEM PERSONAL HYGIENE AND HE SAT WITH THEM TO READ SHAKESPEARE. HE WAS A TEACHER WITH SOME DEFINITE AIM, A TARGET. HE CHANGED THE HATRED, ANGER AND CONTEMPT INTO LOVE. HE TRANSFORMED THE REVOLUTIONARY NATURE OF THESE TEENAGERS INTO CONFIDENT MINDS. HE OPENED THE WAYS TO THINK ABOUT OTHERS, FROM OTHER`S POINT OF VIEWS. THIS WAS HIS SUCCESS, OF A TEACHER, OF HIS FERVOR, OF HIS EARNESTNESS TOWARDS HIS STUDENTS AND OF `THEIR` LOVE.

E. R. Braithwaite, the acclaimed author ofTo Sir, With Love, poignantly recounts his time as a social worker dedicated to London's abandoned minority childrenDespite his Cambridge education and a sterling record with the British Royal Air Force during World War II, E. R. Braithwaite, a black man, was unable to find employment as an engineer in post-war London. Instead he accepted a position as a teacher in a tough East End school and wrote of his experiences in his classic bestsellerTo Sir, With Love. Nine years later, Braithwaite once again found himself assuming an unfamiliar professional role as a social worker charged with finding homes for London's orphaned, abused, or abandoned ';coloured' children. While he lacked formal training, Braithwaite possessed qualities essential for the job: compassion, determination, and a deep, abiding understanding and love for the helpless, lost, and disregarded.InPaid Servant, E. R. Braithwaite shares his experiences in London's Department of Child Welfare, focusing on the case of his four-year-old client Roddy, a bright, handsome mulatto boy who was rejected for adoption by both black and white families because he was not their ';own kind.' Everywhere he turned, Braithwaite encountered racial prejudice. But he was willing to fight for what he believed in, and he believed in Roddy. Writing with great power, warmth, and a deep belief in human dignity and worth, Braithwaite offers a heartbreaking yet hopeful look into a society's attempt to care for its youngest, most vulnerable citizens.

The acclaimed author ofTo Sir, With Loverecalls his lifelong struggle against ignorance and racism while sharing a train ride with a bigoted white neighborOn a commuter train traveling from New Canaan, Connecticut, to New York's Grand Central Station, a well-heeled white suburbanite reluctantly takes the only available seat and eventually strikes up a conversation with the black man sitting next to him. The white businessman's verbal barrage of insensitive questions and offensive remarks incites a rage in his black neighbor that can barely be suppressed. But the offended rider is E. R. Braithwaiteformer Royal Air Force pilot, Cambridge graduate, schoolteacher, social worker, diplomat, and bestselling authorand he has triumphed over prejudice and hatred throughout his truly extraordinary life and multifaceted career.Against the backdrop of a short railway commute, E. R. Braithwaite powerfully recounts a personal history of remarkable accomplishments in the face of bigotry and hatred. Part memoir, part treatise on racial intolerance and oppression, and the ignorance that engenders them,Reluctant Neighborsis the unforgettable story of one man's continuous struggle against injustice and his unwavering dedication to the pursuit of human dignity.

From the bestselling author ofTo Sir, With Lovecomes the moving personal memoir of a westernized black man who journeys to Africa in search of his roots and discovers a vibrant and extraordinary society on the verge of monumental changeIn the early 1960s acclaimed British Guianese author E. R. Braithwaite embarked on a pilgrimage to the West African countries of Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and across Sierra Leone just as the emerging nation was preparing to declare its independence. What Braithwaite discovered was a world vastly different from the staid, firmly established British society in which he had spent most of his life. In a place as foreign to him as the dark side of the moon, he was overcome by colorful sights, sounds, and smells that vividly reawakened lost memories from his childhood. Entering the intimate circles of the local intelligentsia, Braithwaite was able to view these newly evolving African societies from the inside, struck by their mixtures of passion and navete, their political obsessions and technological indifference. The author discovered a world that fascinated, excited, and, in some cases, deeply troubled himand in the process he discovered himself.E. R. Braithwaite'sA Kind of Homecomingis at once an enthralling personal journey and an eye-opening chronicle of a time of great change on the African continent that helps us to better understand the West Africa of today.

Acclaimed author E. R. Braithwaite (To Sir, With Love) chronicles the brutality, oppression, and courage he witnessed as a black man granted ';Honorary White' status during a six-week visit to apartheid South AfricaAs a black man living in a white-dominated world, author E. R. Braithwaite was painfully aware of the multitude of injustices suffered by people of color and he wrote powerfully and poignantly about racial discrimination in his acclaimed novels and nonfiction works. So it came as a complete surprise when, in 1973, the longstanding ban on his books was lifted by the South African government, a ruling body of minority whites that brutally oppressed the black majority through apartheid laws. Applying for a visaand secretly hoping to be refusedhe was granted the official status of ';Honorary White' for the length of his stay. As such, Braithwaite would be afforded some of the freedoms that South Africa's black population was denied, yet would nonetheless be considered inferior by the white establishment.WithHonorary White, Braithwaite bears witness to a dark and troubling time, relating with grave honesty and power the shocking abuses, inequities, and horrors he observed and experienced firsthand during his six-week stay in a criminal nation. His book is a personal testament to the savagery of apartheid and to the courage of those who refused to be broken by it.

In London, racial hatred leads to a mugging, a murder, and a mystery in a powerful novel of intolerance, loss, and self-discovery by the bestselling author ofTo Sir, With LoveIdentical twins Jack and Dave Bennett enjoy nothing better than a rowdy night out in Londonlistening to hot jazz, hoisting a few pints, flirting with girls . . . and then finishing off the evening by roughing up a stranger. But one night they ambush the wrong victim, a young black man who fights back. Suddenly bottles break and a knife is drawn, and when it's over, Jack stumbles home aloneonly to awaken the next morning to discover his brother's bed empty and policemen at the door.The police are investigating a fatal car accident that left two people dead, their bodies burned beyond recognition. One of the dead was apparently the car's owner, a young black doctor, but the only clue to the second corpse's identity is a knife engraved with Dave Bennett's name and address. And no words are spoken of a man found slain in an alley on the other side of town. With his life brutally upended, Jack finds that his search for answers is drawing him closer to the dead doctor's beautiful sister, Michelle, and causing him to question everything he's ever believed about race, justice, family, and the violent urban world around him.

A little girl and an extraordinary teddy bear share the secrets of a wondrous, sometimes puzzling world in this charming children's tale that celebrates diversity, from the acclaimed author of the schoolroom classicTo Sir, With LoveLisbeth has a new best friend, her toy bear, Billingsly, who has one perfectly formed ear that is ideal for hearing what goes on in the world around him. But with his left ear, which is misshapen, he listens to Lisbeth alone. When she speaks into Billingsly's crinkled ear, Billingsly speaks back, though he'll talk to no one but Lisbeth because adults would never listen to him the way she does, and other children tend to shun him because he is different. When Lisbeth is in school, Billingsly enjoys adventures from his perch on the windowsill in her bedroom with animals roaming the outside world and magical creatures like the Tooth Fairy and the other bear in the mirror. But his greatest adventures take place when he is in Lisbeth's arms, for nothing is more magical than a little girl's love.Filled with wit and wonder,Billingslyis the tale of an extraordinary friendship that is sure to enchant children of all ages, and adults who are young at heart.

An uplifting story of the triumph of love, inspiration and hope against all odds, set against the austere backdrop of 1940s Britain.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CARYL PHILLIPSIn 1945, Rick Braithwaite, a smart, highly educated ex-RAF pilot, looks for a job in British engineering. In desperation he turns to teaching, taking a job in a tough East End school, and left to govern a class of unruly teenagers.

One of a series of top-quality fiction for schools. Based on the author's own experiences, this is the story of a black teacher's trials and triumphs with a group of senior pupils in an overcrowded London school.