Sentence:  Mr. Black 's life <WSD>was</WSD> an open book , so to speak , from his birth in Jackson , Mississippi , through his basketball-playing days at L. S. U. and his attainment of a B. A. degree , which had presumably prepared him for his career as district sales manager for Peerless Business Machines . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  be identical to; be someone or something