Kay Ann Cassell and Uma Hiremath. Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century: An Introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2009. 461p. alk. paper, $69.95 (ISBN 9781555706722). LC2009-023650

to the field of journalism. The theme that connects the four memoirs as manifestos is a public critique of a " repressive system ... as reflected by the corporate newsroom. " By applying Sidonie Smith's description of manifesto as " a proof, a piece of evidence, a public declaration or proclamation ... for the purpose of announcing past actions and explaining the reasons or motives for actions announced as forthcoming, " Hall demonstrates how the autobiographical narrative employed by these journalists are in fact autobiographical manifestos because within them are found the essential characteristics of manifestos: that is, the " appropriation or contestation of sovereignty. " Hall provides compelling reasons why these works are situated within the rich tradition of African American autobiography and why it is critical, as well as advantageous, to value and include other standpoints in news reporting. The first chapter of Hall's book provides an excellent overview of journalism by " contextualizing the place of memory, truth, objectivity, and autobiography in journalism. " In the next two chapters, he details how the major attributes of the autobiographical manifesto are depicted in Nelson's Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience, as she strives to maintain her " authentic self " without abandoning who she is as an African American woman, journalist, daughter, and mother. In the fourth chapter, Hall's analysis of the autobiographical manifesto focuses on surveillance and performance in Nathan McCall's Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America. McCall is all too aware that he is both " insider and outsider, " as he tries to define what it means to be an African American man while working in the world of journalism under the constant gaze of white men in the newsroom. The issues raised in the next chapter cover appropriation of sovereignty, as in Jake Lamar's Bourgeois Blues: An American Memoir , and forgiveness in Patricia Raybon's My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love, and Forgiveness. Lamar describes his problematic relationship with his father, followed by his encounter with the oppressive nature of white male privilege and sovereignty at Time magazine, while Raybon seeks to find her new self through the act of storytelling. Telling stories leads Raybon away from victimhood and toward the deliberate act of forgiveness. In the sixth chapter, Hall explicates the four overarching themes connecting the newsroom experience of African American journalists and the connection to the …