Black & White & Red All Over

Martha McNeil Hamilton and Warren Brown built a friendship over more than twenty years of working together at The Washington Post. What is remarkable about their story is not that they are friends in spite of race (Hamilton is white, Brown is black), but that they have shared a life and death journey.In November 2001, Hamilton gave Brown one of her kidneys and her generous act saved his life and made their friendship more than just a collegial bond. Brown's kidney transplant and how he and Hamilton came to their decisions is the central story of BLACK & WHITE & RED ALL OVER. Yet this memoir of their friendship accomplishes much more.Both journalists are members of the baby boom generation born in the Jim Crow South. As they write, "We came to the Post in the middle of a revolution." In writing about their individual lives they provide a personal view of segregation, integration, women's integration into the workforce and even AIDS. Though the focus is clearly on their growing friendship and the transplant, these personal vignettes bring the book to life. And as the nation reconsiders policies such as affirmative action, Hamilton and Brown make it clear that they got in the door with such considerations and they stand behind the idea. They are also honest about why management can sometimes fail in carrying out the idea and therefore sour others on its promise: "The management [at the Post] had been so good at discriminating against blacks and women that at first it had a hard time discriminating amongst them."Other tales, like that of Hamilton's post-divorce depression and Brown's concerns about his son, are more touching than historic. These moments ease the reading and provide buffers to the more complex information about kidney disease, renal failure and the dangerous miracle of organ transplants.This friendship memoir also raises questions about how we view such bonds. When does the person you've worked with for years become a true friend? And as we spend more and more time at work, whether it's real time or time via email, cell phones and PDA devices, how do we successfully integrate work and family? For Hamilton and Brown, work and family have nearly become one, which created a broad network of support as the two readied for the transplant surgery.It's unfortunate that a story about friends of different races sharing in this way is still extraordinary. Hopefully Hamilton and Brown are evidence of the existence of more cross-racial and cross-cultural friendships. Otherwise, what kind of revolution was it after all? --- Reviewed by Bernadette Adams Davis

This is a terrific book....full of inspiration, love, hope....it describes a real, true and enduring friendship...between two unlikely people and how far one friend was willing to go to save the other. But, in the end, the book is about much more than friendship, its about how far we have come as a collective society--without some of the social progress of the last forty years or so, one man's life (and perhaps many more) might have been cut short; as a result of his friendship with a woman from a distinctly different background, he received an organ that has aided in extending his life a bit longer. Both authors are dynamic, interesting people and the writing style is very accessible.There is something for everyone in this book, whether you like biography, are interested in race relations, organ transplant, friendship, journalists, civil rights/affirmative action....whether you're a writer, a doctor, or just a friend....this is a book that I believe a lot of different people will treasure.