Slavery by Indians part of history
Story-Date: 12:01 a.m. PST Sunday   , April 5, 1998

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REVIEWS IN BRIEF

Slavery by Indians part of history


BY ANNE STEPHENSON
Special to the Arizona Republic

IN SEARCH OF THE RACIAL FRONTIER
By Quintard Taylor
Norton, $29.95



In a mere 300 pages (plus 100 for notes and bibliography), Quintard Taylor
traces the history of the African-American experience in the Western United
States, beginning with Esteban, a Moroccan slave from the ill-fated Panfilo
de Narvaez expedition, who was washed up on the Texas coast in 1528 after a
storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

He was the first black man to set foot in what would become the Western
United States. From there, Taylor proceeds through a rich landscape,
downplaying the stereotypical image of the solitary black cowboy and
showing us instead the many African-Americans who lived in communities and
became part of a larger sociological and cultural influence.

Taylor also looks at the intriguing and some times surprising relationships
among Anglos, African-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians. Several
tribes adopted slavery, although it challenged their traditional values. It
was such a part of Cherokee and Creek society that by 1819, they had
established laws similar to those of the White South, regulating black
behavior. Taylor's book is enthralling and not long enough.
`Thriller with humor'   Coming to bookstores near you in early 1999: A
thriller novel by former Bush White House assistant press secretary and now
CIA spokesman Bill Harlow.

It's about two brothers, one a White House press secretary and the other a
commanding officer of a Navy destroyer (Harlow is a Navy captain), who try
to thwart an attempt by a rogue Middle Eastern nation, in this case Libya,
to use chemical weapons on the United States.

The book, largely written before Harlow got to the agency, is titled Circle
William, a phrase used on Navy ships to indicate certain fittings and fans
and vents and such that must be secured in case of chemical, germ or
nuclear warfare.

Harlow says he got a nice advance from Scribner -- won't say how much --
for the book, which he calls a "thriller with humor."
-- Washington Post


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