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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
252 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ouch,
By
This review is from: Not Out Of Africa: How "Afrocentrism" Became An Excuse To Teach Myth As History (A New Republic Book) (Hardcover)
In the fall of 1991 I was asked to write a review-article for The New Republic about Martin Bernal's Black Athena and its relationto the Afrocentrist movement. The assignment literally changed my life. Once I began to work on the article I realized that here was a subject that needed all the attention, and more, that I could give to it. Although I had been completely unaware of it, there was in existence a whole literature that denied that the ancient Greeks were the inventors of democracy, philosophy, and science. There were books in circulation that claimed that Socrates and Cleopatra were of African descent, and that Greek philosophy had actually been stolen from Egypt. Not only were these books being read and widely distributed; some of these ideas were being taught in schools and even in universities. Ordinarily, if someone has a theory which involves a radical departure from what the experts have professed, he is expected to defend One is torn by two competing emotions in reading Not Out of Africa. On the one hand, there's the visceral thrill of watching idiotic However, in her conclusion, Ms Lefkowitz makes the case for why it is necessary to utterly destroy Afrocentrism, and here she is (1) By claiming European civilization as a product of Africans, Afrocentrism has the perverse effect of making blacks responsible (2) By focussing solely on the achievements of the Egyptians, Afrocentrism fails to consider genuinely black African cultures, like (3) By teaching black students that white Europeans stole their culture, Afrocentrism fosters racial animosity. (4) Afrocentrism is not only antihistorical it is also antiscientific--denying genetic, archaeological, linguistic, and other forms of (5) It wastes precious educational time; the time that students spend learning the lies of Afrocentrism is time that they are not And she closes with a very strong statement : Students of the modern world may think it is a matter of indifference whether or not Aristotle stole his philosophy from Egypt. They That's pretty bracing stuff, but it cuts to the quick : are we truly prepared to sacrifice our universities and our students on the altar of GRADE : A
72 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There Goes The Neighborhood,
By
This review is from: Not Out Of Africa: How "Afrocentrism" Became An Excuse To Teach Myth As History (A New Republic book) (Paperback)
Alright, I'll admit up front, it wasn't easy reading Lefkowitz' book, especially after having read both volumes of J.A. Rogers 'World's Great Men Of Color' as a teenager (I'm 46 now) and finding both those books fascinating. It wasn't easy having one's firmly established beliefs methodically deconstructed after having lived with them for more than 30 years. Being human, part of me WANTED to believe the claims laid down in Rogers books, but I've come to realize that the danger for self-deception is proportionate to the need to believe in what one is defending AT ALL COSTS. Such an attitude only blinds a person to perceiving what is true by burying it under layers of preconceived ideas and opinions, ideas and opinions often fueled by emotions, and must therefore distort what is read. The result is often a gross misunderstanding of what the person is saying, or worse yet, completely ignoring what is being said.
After having read Lefkowitz' book with an open mind I found her arguments too persuasive to ignore, her proof too irrefutable to brush off. Anyone without an axe to grind can see that this woman CLEARLY knows what she's talking about. All of her assertions are backed up by evidence that can't be swept aside. And yes, as uncomfortable as it was this African-American was willing to make the sacrifice of walking away from his 'cherished beliefs'. BTW, for those who criticize Lefkowitz of 'being racist' all I can say is, man how childish. Just because someone disagrees with or says something you don't like DOESN'T MAKE THEM A RACIST. PERIOD. END OF STORY.
85 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for the Timid,
By
This review is from: Not Out Of Africa: How "Afrocentrism" Became An Excuse To Teach Myth As History (A New Republic book) (Paperback)
After having had enough caffeine to float a ship, I finished Mary Lefkowitz's "Not Out of Africa." The arguments of the book are compelling; it was the author writing like an academic that required shots for the attention span. Nevertheless, her scholarship and knowledge of ancient Egypt is obvious.
Her reason for writing the book was simple. She saw history being revised to enhance racial and cultural esteem by the introduction of fantastic and nonsensical theories that she enumerates in detail. The revisionism taking place today follows an inductive pattern of thought. Egypt is in Africa; therefore it was a Nubian culture. Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt was obviously black because one of her parents probably conceived with a slave. "Proof" of her African heritage comes from a nineteenth century painting by a black artist depicting her as being black, and a description of her in William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" where she is described as being "tawny brown." Professor Lefkowitz correctly counters that Cleopatra was a Ptolemy, not Egyptian, a descendent from a Macedonian conqueror who ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. William Shakespeare's description of her had nothing to do with her skin color, and that the Bard had never left England, let alone traveled to Egypt. (How would he have known?) She refutes the theory that Cleopatra was (likely) conceived by a slave. She presents compelling arguments against the notion that the Greeks stole the alphabet and philosophy from Egypt pointing out the obvious evidence that both cultures had contrasts on every level. It is like the other theory that Plato stole the African philosophy and ideas from the library at Alexandria and then burned it to the ground, quite a feat since the library wasn't started until Plato was long in the tooth, and then took years to complete. Besides, how do you steal ideas and thought? Even if you do, don't more ideas simply return to those who thought of them in the first place? Some charge Lefkowitz and her supporters with racism. This is an act of desperation that is tantamount to academic extortion. It is the same as saying that if you don't support the president, you are hurting our troops. Both challenges are nonsense. The good professor is not intimidated. Warning: the book is not an easy read for those looking for lively narrative. This is very scholarly but academic, and may give new meaning to the word dry.
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