Disappeared

READERS' FAVORITE 5-STAR REVIEW

It is always fascinating when I get to discover places and people that I've never heard of or thought about. Dr. Martin Matthew pens this incredible book with a loving and nostalgic hand, and I'm certain it will create vivid memories for those who have been lucky enough to experience similar cultural backgrounds in their lives. The work is well organized and highly informative, but it also has the atmospheric and cinematic narrative quality of an immersive novel, bringing you into a warm and loving atmosphere in vivid color. Overall, I would not hesitate to recommend Disappeared to any reader interested in human values, nature, sociology, and preserving culture. It is a love letter to morals, ideas, and beliefs that we sorely need in today's world.

"A timely novel about timeless values. Must-read."

-Dr. Stuart Parker Chair - Behavioral Science Dept Kingsborough Community College

- CUNY Brooklyn's only Community College

Dr. Martin Matthew's new book, Disappeared, should be required reading for everyone. Dr. Matthew paints a vivid tableau of the Village environment created by a people who had so much taken from them over generations, and yet who gave so freely to one another. The society they created in the Village was a combination of a people's egalitarian belief in communal living and neighborhood support, and also of the mores and wisdom that came to the New World through the people's African roots. I loved reading about the singular personalities who made living in the Village a unique experience. Extraordinary women such as Filliana and Ella found ways to make a living and add to the social atmosphere of the Village. Papa Willie's home was always open to strangers and neighbors in need, whether for a place to sleep or a hot meal. I'm not sure if we in our so-called modern society are ready to share ourselves and our resources with the other human beings who create the ambiance of our daily living. Perhaps that is what's missing in the digital, rushed lifestyle to which we are so addicted. Disappeared is a combination of a history lesson I never received in school, and great storytelling. I highly recommend Disappeared for young and old alike.

-Ernestine B. Colombo, editor, proofreader, and author of Returning Souls, a novel