Customer Reviews

The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader

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Buy this book. It's that simple. This book provides the reader with a developmental history of one of the greatest LIVING revolutionary minds this country has ever produced. He hits you in the heart without bashing you over the head. You may not agree with everything he says, or how he may have lived portions of his life, but you will be affected (in some capacity) by his wit, intelligence and the fierceness of his conventions. A must for anyone who thinks that they are " a radical" or "an activist."

This book is rated UR and may not be suitable for un-realistic audiences.

I thought that this followed in Amiri baraka footsetps, as a more provacative and honest edition than the others. Very powerful and eye-opening!

this man is the reason why i became a writer. to know leroi jones is to see the struggle etched into his face; to know him is to hear his voice, sometimes reeling with jazz and blues, others, like a hanna-barbera cartoon. he is the struggle continuing, showing you the america, mtv, cnn,and bet refuses to show. he was a beatnik, then a black nationalist and now a maoist, but always a poet. i have met him twice, and was amazed by his brillance each meeting. his words are about freedom. any of his books will tell you that. read all of them.

As a native of Newark, N.J., I grew up taking Amiri Baraka for granted. It wasn't until I moved to Maryland and finally read this book that I understood who I had met all those times.

This is an EXTRAORDINARY work that details the growth and development of a significant American artist. Its editor takes much care in selecting samples that allow us to see divergent aspects of Baraka.

Especially significant among the many gems within is the text of his eulogy for James Baldwin and his essay on Jesse Jackson. Those works are required reading for those needing to understand the 20th century African-American experience, particularly those who wish to do so as writers.

This book has guided my view of the (African-)American writer's role.

I've got great memories of this author from when I was in highschool. This book is exactly what I was looking for plus some.

Simply put, his work is life changing.

Amiri Baraka is part of a rare breed of humanity that challenges us to continuously change, evolve, and morph into all that we are destined to be.

Read his work and you will not leave the same way you entered.

The works in this book are so bad, so graceless, so blocky and so stilted that they appear to have been cobbled together by a blind carpenter. Make that a blind apprentice carpenter, for Mr. Baraka has never progressed beyond the hate Whitey, hate Jews, hate Christians, hate America screeds of his youth. That this man is taken seriously by the literary establishment is a tribute to nothing less than political correctness run amok.

I read this book and all I know is that Leroi Jones changed his name to Amiri Baraka.

But all he is... is a frustrated angry man. Full of hate and spite.

I think this book took me five minutes to read--a lot of talking, no ideas. Original ones, anyway.