The Hero With an African Face [Paperback]

Clyde W. Ford (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group (February 1, 2000)
• ASIN: B001E3KAXY
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Clyde W. Ford was born in New York City. He graduated from Wesleyan University, Western States Chiropractic College, and the Psychosynthesis Institute of New York.

Clyde has taught Swahili at Columbia University, African American history at Western Washington University, and, somatic psychology at the Institut f'r Angewandte Kinesiologie in Freiburg, Germany. He was the editor of Leading Edge Bulletin, a monthly newsletter of personal and social transformation, published by Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy (Tarcher, 1980).

Jonathan Young, Joseph Campbell's archivist, described Clyde's work in mythology as "picking up where Joseph Campbell left off." His books have been translated into German and Portuguese.

Clyde is a much sought after public speaker with frequent appearances at bookstores, educational institutions, business and professional associations, and civic organizations around the country. Over the past twenty years he has performed hundreds of media interviews, and he has appeared on shows such as the Oprah Winfrey Show, and New Dimensions Radio to discuss his writing and work.

Clyde currently lives in Bellingham, Washington where he writes and enjoys cruising the waters of the Inside Passage aboard his single engine biodiesel trawler.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A monumental work, March 3, 1999

By 

John M. Gilmore (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)

Clyde W. Ford helps us to connect to African mythology on so many levels. It is encouraging and illuminating to finally see African mythology treated in the manner that it deserves: as vital as those of any other culture. He demonstrates the importance of myth for centering our lives and providing focus for living. His discussion of the meaning and role of myth in the preface is worth the price of the book alone.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a context for African American spirituality!, February 18, 1999

By 

Lola E. Peters (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)

The last paragraph of the book is in my day timer as a reminder of who I am, where I came from and why and how I will always be. Ford's view of the African American story as an epic journey is liberating. He contrasts the intimacy between African diety and the common person with the separation between the western God or Goddess and their subjects. As someone who is struggling to understand the deepening division of black and white in US culture, I find this book very helpful in clarifying our root cultural differences. This also is a wonderful book to give a young person who is away from home or struggling with the questions of identity. As someone who has worked with children in multiracial families (particularly adopted children) who are struggling with a sense of place, I wish I'd had this book a long time ago.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars African myths are given their rightful place in the world!, February 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)

This book provides the missing link in our spiritual/mythical evolution. When one link in humanity's mythological history is placed forever outside of the philosophical circle; both sides lose. Those inside the circle suffer, as well as those outside of the circle. This book is as important to me as Ken Wilber's "Brief History of Everything.' From this point forward the African myths are given their rightful place in the pantheon of world mythology.