Good Enough: One Man's Memoir on the Price of the Dream

by Leon Bass

As a 19-year-old soldier serving in a segregated unit of the U.S. Army, Leon Bass participated in the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. That moment changed his life. "I was an angry soldier," says Bass. "I was being asked to fight for freedom while at the same time, as a black man, I was constantly being told in many ways that I wasn't good enough to have that freedom." "Good Enough: One Man's Memoir on the Price of the Dream," is a living history of some of the greatest moments of 20th Century America: from his anger at his treatment as a soldier in the Deep South, to witnessing the cruelties of Buchenwald, to his awakening to new possibilities as he listened to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963. Dr. Bass asks, "Is the price too high?" The price to realize the dream, he explains, is to stand up and be counted by doing the right thing, whether large or small, every day.

Genres: Nonfiction

150 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2011

Reviews

[Daron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my mom’s best friend’s father. His memoir explores his nonviolent fight against hatred, bigotry, and racism from the Deep South to Nazi Europe and back. An inspiration that we can learn from still today.

[Kat V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me first say that *before reading this book* you NEED to listen to Episode 2 of the podcast Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust. Dr. Leon Bass was in an all black army regiment when he was sent to liberate Buchenwald. The parallels of the racism he faced in America and the antisemitism he saw in the camp were unbelievable. He may not be the worlds most gifted writer but I think his story is unbelievably important and I’m giving this book 5 stars because of its content in hopes that more people will read it. Actual rating 4.3 stars.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it was good to read Leon Bass's biography, I wish he had written more about all of his experiences.