Focus on day-to-day life shows much about race in America

BY JANN MALONE TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 30, 2005 Early on in the research for "Israel on the Appomattox," Melvin Patrick Ely wasn't so sure he had a book at all. For the first two or three years," he said, "I had grave, grave doubts that this book could be written, just because what I was finding was so fragmentary that I didn't know whether it would all coalesce." You already know the end of that story: If everything hadn't coalesced for Ely, you wouldn't be reading this one. His book tracing the history of Israel Hill, a community of freed slaves established well before the Civil War near Farmville, was published by Knopf last fall to critical praise. Full Story: http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780477390&path=!flair&s=1045855936229