Bio5

Contributor: Stephen Vaughn
 * This page is for review of books by AUTHORS whose last names begin with the letters M - N. **
 * //In the Shadow of Freedom//**

Most of the American middle-class has never felt trapped to the point of no hope conversely, African- American, Tchicaya Missamou, puts his mind to escaping imprisonment to find liberation. In the Mukongo tribesman’s book, //In the Shadow of Freedom//, he explains his adventure out of the Congo all the way to the concrete jungles of California. Also, Missamou explains his journey back to Africa to see his family and how the near fatal experience affected him. Through all the hardship of the 1998 Congo civil war, seeing his own family brutalized, being chased for riches, making a fake passport, and overcoming his fear of flight, Missamou learns what it means to pursue the American dream at any cost. While he tells the story of the amazing escape out of violent and destructive middle- Africa, he simultaneously tells the story of his amazing survival of hanging between life and death. The Congolese military orders the killing of Missamou because he was a United States Marine. He was beaten severely by the military in the Congo after his attempted escape was unsuccessful. Overwhelmed, how would Tchicaya react to all his hardships? Like many other Africans, he rise above the hardship, eventually escaping prison entrapment. In conclusion, in the author’s words: “My dream had come true.” In the end, Missamou obtains freedom from the Congo, and his dream of becoming a United States Marine becomes reality. 

** // Mafia Wife // ****  by Lynda Milito and Reg Potterton  **  Contributor: Anna Zerkle Try to imagine what it would be like to live in constant fear for you and your loved ones. That everyday when the person you love leaves there is a very good chance that he will never return. This is the story of Lynda Milito's life, including all the problems and obstacles that are in it, told in the book //Mafia Wife//. Milito had a childhood filled with events that no one should have to go through. Her mother made it blantaly obvious that she hated her and constantly told her that it would be better if she was never born. Milito knew all this but she never knew the reasons behind her mothers hatred. Having no love from your mother is hard enough, but Milito had practically no friends for her entire life at home. It seems like this has to be the worst that her life can get, right? Well if you thought that then you are completly wrong. Compared to the many years that she was with Louie her childhood was nothing. "Living with Louie was like riding a rollercoaster,- it wasn't the ups and downs" but, "fear that the car would jump the tracks and take us both with it." From assisting Louie with crimes like stealing thousands of dollars a day from pay phones, selling cars that were illegaly tampered with and many other things that would drive a normal person crazy. She also had to provide for her family while he was in jail, deal with the constant beatings and being yelled at while he wasn't, and even having to deal with the fact that you know that he has killed people, this is one life that no one would want to have. It was difficult because part of being a Mafia Wife is being completely oblivious about what your husband was acutally involved in. This story gives you an inside look at the kind of damage that crime does to a family, because as the saying goes crime always pays.