My Mantelpiece: A Memoir of Survival and Social Justice - Hardcover

Before she passed away in 2007, Dr. Carolyn Goodman collaborated with Brad Herzog to recount a life of courage and conviction, love and loss, tragedy and triumph. A half century after the "Mississippi Burning" murders, this is the first time that a victim’s family member has expounded about the experience and the emotions—from guilt to resolve. More than simply a memoir, My Mantelpiece is the story of a century’s seminal progressive movements seen through the lens of a remarkable woman’s singular journey. Half the proceeds from the sale of My Mantelpiece go directly to THE ANDREW GOODMAN FOUNDATION.

Brad Herzog is the author of more than three-dozen books for children and five titles for adults, including MY MANTELPIECE, the co-authored memoirs of late civil rights icon Carolyn Goodman (with a foreword by Maya Angelou). He has written three critically acclaimed travel memoirs about his travels through small-town America. Brad's five-book nonfiction series for Free Spirit Publishing celebrates inspiring true sports stories reflecting five character attributes--sportsmanship, perseverance, teamwork, generosity, and courage. His series of children's alphabet books for Sleeping Bear Press include G IS FOR GOLD MEDAL, H IS FOR HOME RUN, and S IS FOR SAVE THE PLANET, which was a finalist in the National "Best Books 2009" Awards and won a Mom's Choice Award. As a freelance magazine writer, Brad has been honored several times by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), including a Grand Gold Medal for best feature article of the year. He has been interviewed on "The Today Show" and "Oprah" and has been profiled in publications ranging from People magazine to Reader's Digest. Brad (www.bradherzog.com) lives in California with his wife and two sons.

Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. The foreword to My Mantelpiece is her last known work to be published before she dies on May 28, 2014. 

"Dr. Goodman was not just a history maker. She was a visionary pioneer who made the future. She made the future by standing up for those whom no one saw kneeling, by speaking for those whom no one heard crying, and by fighting for those whom no one knew were hurting." -- ELIZABETH WARREN | U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

"Whether we were talking about fascism and her previous experience with the antifascist movement during the Spanish Civil War, whether we were talking about the fear and pain of the blacklists and the struggle of living through McCarthyism, whether it was the earliest days of the civil rights movement, or the engagement many of us had with issues in Vietnam, Carolyn Goodman was always in the center of the debate." -- HARRY BELAFONTE | singer and social activist

"Carolyn Goodman got in the way. She got in trouble. It was good trouble. It was necessary trouble. And she inspired many of us to continue to get in trouble." -- JOHN LEWIS | U.S. Congressman and civil rights icon

"She taught the nation an unforgettable lesson--a lesson in personal strength and dignity in the face of unbearable suffering. She gave this nation a very powerful message--that the way to really atone for an unspeakable crime against her son was to make the Constitution and the Bill of Rights mean what they said for all Americans." -- MICHAEL BLOOMBERG | former mayor of New York City

"...a revealing look at the psychological, cultural and familial reasons why Goodman's deadly trip to Mississippi half a century ago was almost decided at birth." -- Lewis Perdue, bestselling author of The Da Vinci Legacy