Customer Reviews

Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

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This is an important document. Stokely Carmichael/Toure was a person you either loved or hated, no in-between, but he was indeed an important person of the Civil Rights era. E. Michael Thelwell, who edited this book, sat down extensively with the Stoke before his death to preserve his memoirs. The Stoke that appears here is not quite the wild man often quoted in the sixties. The rhetoric about "honkies," crude sexism, and xenophobia of some of his old speeches are absent here. Stoke clarifies his stands as being more of a socilaist humanitairan (as well as still being a Pan-Africanist), but he does not acknowledge many of his errors of that time. Some readers will have a problem with Thelwells' constant injections, which explain some of the names, people, and events that the Stoke talks about to those not familiar with the sixties. This may help some readers and annoy others, but it may be necessary since the generation who knew such things firsthand will soon be gone. In either case, it's an important document of an interesting era from one of it's major players.

W.E.B. Du Bois' prophetic tag about the color line in America being the problem of the 20th Century (still #1 with a bullet in the 21st)may be the great man's greatest understatement. I marvel that Stokely Carmichael(later Kwame Ture)was able to get his arms around the reality of his life and strange times as profoundly as he does. Fortunately for us, confidence was never his problem.

This book is a sustained narrative, in equal parts autobiography, historical analysis, and oral history.

Like SNCC itself, this work is focused, disciplined and deeply grounded in the freedom struggles of African people in communities like Cambridge, Maryland, Greenwood, Mississippi and Lowndes County, Alabama. Stokely's recap of events that made the walls of segregation come tumbling down is illuminated by luminaries like Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer. But it's the voices of the real stars of the Movement -- Mr. Hartman Turnbow, E.W. Steptoe, Victoria Gray, Annie Pearl Avery and Endesha Holland -- that, rightly, get pride of place in his retelling.

Thanks and praises to Ekwueme Michael Thelwell for midwifing a masterpiece. Show me a biography or an autobiography in which the text does not "stitch together" memory and chronology, fact and fiction, people and places -- and I'll assume you do your reading in the checkout line at the supermarket. Thelwell includes just enough of Stokely's vocal mannerisms to convey his live voice and real personality, without allowing them to become tics and distractions. His parenthetical asides may challenge readers with attention deficit issues, but personally, I found they captured Thelwell unraveling small mysteries about his friend. Check out the one where Thelwell muses about where Carmichael really was during the March on Washington.

Readers should be told that this autobiography is a page-turner, it reads like a thriller. High School and College students will learn what all the excitement of the Southern Civil Rights Movement was about. Godwilling they'll be motivated by Stokely's example. There is high literary art in the way Carmichael and Thelwell capture the sweep of events that shaped our own life and times. The stories and homilies are so archetypal, you'll imagine they happened to you -- until you catch yourself realizing that that was Stokely, not you, who fell in love with Miriam Makeba over the radio and then married her in real life.

The chorus of voices reveals black and white folks willing to give their lives working for something at the core of our shared humanity. I always knew there were those who do not share that humanity. Stokely's autobiography teaches us that the struggle is so desperately important because they will never stop trying to enslave others by denying them their humanity. You cannot read this narrative and not share Stokely's love for and belief in the struggles of Africans, and indigenous peoples, everywhere.

I have always felt that Kwame / Stokely did not get the appropriate historical recognition that he deserved. After his relocation to Africa he was all but forgotten in the west except for those that remembered his "Black Power" years. This is unfortunate! The man did so much work on the part of the oppressed that he should be remembered for the pioneer and visionary that he was.

This much awaited biography covers much of the gaps and unknowns regarding his work post-1970, but unfortunately one of the tapes which Kwame made about his work with the All-African Peoples Revolutionary party went missing and it is this work which I and many others might be most interested in knowing about. My hope is that this information will one day find the light of day.

Details regarding Kwame's associations with Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Martin Luther King jr, Huey Newton and others are illuminating and insightful, but I would have liked to know more about his political work with Yasser Arafat, Mommar Ghadafi and Oliver. Given the fact that time was running out for Kwame I am sure it would have been a much different book had the circumstances been otherwise.

I found the biography engaging and would recommend it to anyone interested in the revolutionary nationalist movements of the past 40 years. Kwame / Stokely was definitely someone that "arrived early and stayed late" unlike many activists of his generation.

This autobiographical and historical overview chronicles the experiences of Stokely Carmichael's(Kwame Ture)from his childhood in Trinidad throughout the "Civil Rights Movement" and his entire life.
This book is a must read for high-school and college level students who want a glimpse into the lives of people who were deeply involved as students during the "Civil Rights Movement" during the 60's .
Although,the book is very lengthy and somewhat tedious to read the information , is paramount to the history of African Americans and a great legacy to Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer and other leaders during that era and before who dedicated their lives to fighting for "Civil Rights" for people globally.
Stokely Carmichael along with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, John Edgar Wideman and other SNCC members revisit their organizing days as students at Howard University ,which turned out to be not only historical but some very life changing events for them, their families and African Americans in the U.S. and the Diaspora.

This opus is Stokely Carmichael's (Kwame Ture's) last known, wonderful, parting gift to us--his autobiography, covering his rich political career and adventurous life.

It explains his unique contributions to the 400-year,long, political Struggle of over 12 million marginalized Africans-in-America for liberty, equality, justice and freedom--in the face of brutal white-racist terrorism--supported (directly/indirectly) by America's elites who allowed "apart-hate" relations to persist in the country (while they blathered for decades about fighting wars to promote democracy and freedom abroad).

If you are old enough to have read and heard the plethora of vicious slanders against Carmichael--orchestrated by enemies of freedom operating in the mainstream media--you will now be able to correlate their untruths with details,facts and specific events provided in this 835 pages book to draw your own conclusion.

Carmichael rode the "freedom train" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into the veritable pits of racist hell "down" South, as Americans struggled for civil rights during the 1960s, risking imprisonment, police beatings, water hoses, dogs and even life and limbs.

It is a miracle that he survived the treacheries of the period to tell this tale. Some of his great collaborators did not make it, including Malcolm X and Dr. King. They were among those criminally put down by assassins during the 1960s.

It is indeed a miracle that the well-known "Black Power" activist, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) wrote this big book, along with his life-long friend, Michael Thelwell, while dying from cancer. Carmichael died in 1998 at the age of 57.

Carmichael's book reads like an action-adventure novel, filled with chair-gripping dangers and humor.

Carmichael, the Black Power activist was clearly more like Dr. King, a non-violent revolutionary and a great story teller.

After picking up this book, you will set it down later only to discover that you have read its 800 pages without noticing the time expended.

See also:

Stokely speaks; Black power back to Pan-Africanism


The Harder They Come

This opus is Stokely Carmichael's (Kwame Ture's) last known, wonderful, parting gift to us--his autobiography, covering his rich political career and adventurous life.

It explains his unique contributions to the 500-year,long, political Struggle of over 38 million marginalized Africans-in-America for liberty, equality, justice and freedom--in the face of brutal white-racist terrorism--supported (directly/indirectly) by America's elites who allowed "apart-hate" relations to persist in the country (while they blathered for decades about fighting wars to promote democracy and freedom abroad).

If you are old enough to have read and heard the plethora of vicious slanders against Carmichael--orchestrated by enemies of freedom operating in the mainstream media--you will now be able to correlate their untruths with details,facts and specific events provided in this 835 pages book to draw your own conclusion.

Carmichael rode the "freedom train" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into the veritable pits of racist hell "down" South, as Americans struggled for civil rights during the 1960s, risking imprisonment, police beatings, water hoses, dogs and even life and limbs.

It is a miracle that he survived the treacheries of the period to tell this tale. Some of his great collaborators did not make it, including Malcolm X and Dr. King. They were among those criminally put down by assassins during the 1960s.

It is indeed a miracle that the well-known "Black Power" activist, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) wrote this big book, along with his life-long friend, Michael Thelwell, while dying from cancer. Carmichael died in 1998 at the age of 57.

Carmichael's book reads like an action-adventure novel, filled with chair-gripping dangers and humor.

Carmichael, the Black Power activist was clearly more like Dr. King, a non-violent revolutionary and a great story teller.

After picking up this book, you will set it down later only to discover that you have read its 800 pages without noticing the time expended.

See also:

The Harder They Come

In-Dependence from Bondage: Claude McKay and Michael Manley: Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations

Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism

I just finished this book today and I must say it is an amazing book. He leaves no stone unturned in going through his amazing life. It is in the tradition of so many other books, Frederick Douglas, Du Bois, Malcolm X, and many others. A great bok to read for all those who wish to learn more about him and the times in which he lived.

Ready for revolution.

This book was excellently well written. The author has written this book demonstrating excellent writing skills. Anyone who is attempting to write can learn a lot from the writing techniques. Pounctuation, grammer, spelling, every thing was well fashioned. As for his life story, 'VERY INTERESTING'

I am originally from the island of Trinidad, the same country in which he was born. I had heard of him and became interested in his writing just before his death. His life should be made into a movie. Great reading everyone. You will not want to put down this book.

Probably the most powerful book I've ever read on the civil rights movement. I've found a kindred soul in Stokely Carmichael. His common sense way of talking about the rights of MAN vs. just civil rights is unique in the way that it draws from the thoughts of MLK, Lenin/Marx, Malcolm X, some of the great Pan-African leaders, the Black Power movement, and the various socialist and African-American freedom organizations to combine the best of each into a cohesive worldview. His adoption of the African name Kwame Ture is a consummation of this worldview and his rejection of the blatant evils of Western Capitalism, racism, religious oppression, exploitation of man through globalization, the plundering of African resources by Western Powers, and the decadence of secular humanism. At 795 pages the book is not a quick read, but it is a story that is indispensable to the history of the African American. Eukwame Michael Thelwell deserves credit as a superb interpreter of the spoken words of Carmichael into a language of the pen that captures all the passion of a fiery, kind and unforgettable African American revolutionary.