Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey (Dover Thrift Editions) [Paperback]

Marcus Garvey (Author), Bob Blaisdell (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2005 | Series: Dover Thrift Editions

A controversial figure in the history of race relations around the world, Marcus Garvey amazed his enemies as much as he dazzled his admirers. This anthology contains some of the African-American rights advocate's most noted writings and speeches, including "Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World" and "Africa for the Africans."

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (January 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486437876
• ISBN-13: 978-0486437873
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > United States > Classics
  • #12 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > General > Literary
  • #25 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > General > Classics

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historically Fascinating Visions in Need of Getting Adjusted to the New Times, March 9, 2007

By 

Bonam Pak (Berlin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

The title should have made clear that the selected speeches and writings of Marcus Garvey cover his years in the US only, from 1917-25. It is very rewarding, from a historical point of view, to read authentic words of that most important public figure, so much has been said, written, and filmed about. Especially, since Garvey remains very controversial and a lot has been misinterpreted to this day.

Maybe as a result of the limited time frame covered, some speeches and writings are lacking, which Garvey is most famous for. Among these are more direct references of Ethiopia and her coming King of kings; that Jesus was black-skinned; Garvey's stand on contemporary emerging africanist prophets in the Caribbean and the US. Considering that the introduction avers that Garvey in some twisted way made positive remarks towards Mussolini and Hitler, the corresponding proof of that is most definitely missing in this book, I might say. All these omissions are responsible for the subtraction of a star in my rating.

The still high rating has to be seen in providing authentic texts by Garvey himself, not necessarily that I share all the views of Garvey. This is not a book BY Garvey, but a compilation of his speeches/articles, made available to the public. To make that clear: I venerate Marcus Garvey for that what he pushed forward, for challenging the racist system, for following up his visions, for being a human of action, for organising incredible international work and for his martyrdom of the contemporary racist judicial system of the US.

Still, he is a product of his times and as RastafarI I am very much aware that both, lacking knowledge and the system's conditioning of all sorts of separation cannot be overcome on a single day or in fact, in a single generation. It is important to enter that path at all. Therefore, some of Garvey's visions and speeches are very much up to date, others are hilariously outdated. In fact, very racist. I am not talking about his vision of "black supremacy", because that is, what is usually said about him (and wrongly interpreted). I am talking about his belief in races, down to the point of actively and sort of forcibly thinking about preventing a "mixing of races", in fact by that agreeing with the KKK, with which he held a meeting (and elaborates on in this book). His vision of very literal repatriation of all the black-skinned to Africa has since been re-interpreted to a metaphorical return of the mind. His fighting for the use of that certain N-word instead of "Coloreds" is most certainly not top of the political correctness as of today, but in a way mirrors interestingly today's controversy of "Black" v "African American". Also, the use of extremely derogatory racist vocabulary hurled at his direct black civil rights rivals is most certainly unacceptable in today's world. In fact, Garvey makes it clear that he thinks of those rivals, such as W.E.B. DuBois as worse enemies than all the white supremacists imaginable. Which makes for a fascinating reading of that human condition to usually fight that the most, which is most close. In that, even though outdated by words, this makes for a thought provoking reading, representative of universal general mechanisms, as every minority harbors the challenging rebels and the system integrationists, fighting each other to the bones, much more than the common downpressor.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly great book., October 8, 2010

By 

Shaun C. Willie Esq "Shaun" (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I am sadden by the fact that we have allowed others to dictate someone's history. Before reading this book I envisioned an arrogant, self absorber, ignorant man. But this book makes very clear that Mr. Garvey was an INCREDIBLE man. There has been no one else like him since.

He envisioned a country/continent for all people of African ancestory. He spoke for the 400,000,000 (at the time) blacks in the world. He hated no one, but really loved his race. He did not speak negatively about the other races, but spoke of them in a manner of reverence.

I do not believe that his beliefs would make sense in today's world, but what would today's world be like if we followed his lead?

This book has now opened a window in this history for me. Now I must read W.E.B Debois' book(s). I need to research the NAACP.

The only things I did not like about the book was the fact that it was short and only covered a short period of time in his life.

I highly recommend this book for those of you who are seeking the truth. It will truly surprise you.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marcus Garvey, February 12, 2009

By 

Tahira (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

I found this interesting and motivating. I learned so much about Mr. Marcus Garvey from his speeches. All were in context and little narratives were given about where and what he was doing and situations that occured in the background which lead to some of the speeches.

It was a little heavy reading at times and took me a while to get through flimsey a book as it is. But worth a read, it's a huge page in black history. .