Saving Our Sons: Raising Black Children in a Turbulent World

Marita Golden feels at least as strongly as Newt Gingrich claims to about endangered children in her hometown of Washington, D.C. But unlike him, she has firsthand knowledge of the problem. The talented black novelist watched her son adopt the ''gangster walk.'' She mourned with him when classmates were gunned down. Then she sent him away to boarding school to save his life. She ponders that decision in this powerful, elegiac memoir, Saving Our Sons: Raising Black Children in a Turbulent World. Golden's close-ups of young men on the edge will haunt you. A dark-skinned college student attributes his survival to fear of turning darker. It kept him indoors in summer, off the crazy streets. Golden's complex and heartfelt understanding of life in the 'hood will stir your soul. A