XVIIth century French Theatre, Norrell

I read a biography of Booker T. Washington, the great black leader, and I thought his contemporaries were awfully hard on a man born a slave, who rose to create an institute of learning for African Americans, no matter how many compromises he made. I also finished reading a collection of XVIIth century french plays, which were tedious to read. I did include a Scudery satire of academics, and a play by the original Cyrano de Bergerac.