On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance (Hardcover)

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Author), Raymond Obstfeld (Contributor)
Key Phrases: holy providence, great black migration, musical fireworks, Harlem Renaissance, United States, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Former NBA superstar Abdul-Jabbar continues to pursue his inner historian (Brothers in Arms, A Season on the Reservation, etc.), using his childhood in the late 1940s to bring an engaging personal perspective to this cultural examination. Abdul-Jabbar does a fine job celebrating the already well-celebrated legacies of musicians like Bessie Smith and writers like Langston Hughes; what sets this book apart is Abdul-Jabbar's vantage from the waning edge of Harlem's cultural revolution, at a time when "white America ... was looking around for some other in vogue ethnic group" to excite their repressed urges. In a "call-and-response" format, Abdul-Jabbar alternates between straightforward history lessons and his personal take on them; thus, a chapter on "Master Intellects and Creative Giants" is followed by "How Harlem Writers Influenced My Life." Basketball fans will most enjoy Abdul-Jabbar's chronicle of Harlem's basketball team, the New York Renaissance Big Five, which in 1939 became the first black team to win a world professional title in any sport, paving the way for the integration of the ABL (forerunner to the NBA). Abdul-Jabbar's passion for history, literature and jazz, however, prove just as fundamental to the legendary Laker's journey, and this accessible, passionate account presents each "giant" as a vital part of Abdul-Jabbar's development and rise to fame.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is committed to leaving a legacy well beyond the basketball court. In his new book (after Brothers in Arms, 2004), the former Milwaukee Buck and Los Angeles Laker pays tribute to the black artists, activists, athletes, and intellectuals whose lives have shaped--and continue to shape--his own. In four sections that reflect his passions (Harlem, basketball, jazz, and writing), Abdul-Jabbar, with coauthor Obstfeld, views American history and his own life through the lens of the Harlem Renaissance, the flowering of black culture that took place in New York City after World War I. On the Shoulders of Giants celebrates the lives of such influential individuals as James Weldon Johnson and W. E. B. Du Bois and the extraordinary history of the first world-championship basketball team, the New York Renaissance Big Five. (Contrary to popular belief, the "Harlem Rens," as they were locally known, were the first all-black professional team, not the Harlem Globetrotters.) Abdul-Jabbar accompanies his insightful personal reflections with a wealth of lively anecdotes (like how the slippery dance floor of Harlem's Renaissance Casino and Ballroom became the site of the Harlem Rens' first games) and hundreds of poignant and powerful quotes. Among the latter are these words of charismatic--and controversial--Harlem Renaissance leader Marcus Garvey: "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without its roots." A thoroughly accessible and engaging mix of memoir and cultural history. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416534881
• ISBN-13: 978-1416534884
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #343,115 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Standing on the Shoulders of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, April 5, 2007

By	Author-Poet Aberjhani "The American Poet Who ... (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews

If the winner of six NBA championships and just as many MVP Awards wanted to write a book of passable reflections on the Harlem Renaissance and make it sound like a big deal when it wasn't, he could probably get away with it. Fortunately, that's not what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar chose to do in "On the Shoulders of Giants." He took the opposite route, providing readers with a superior work of lively history, passionate memoir, keen social commentary, and entertaining musical appreciation.

Dozens of books on the Harlem Renaissance have hit the shelves since the 2003 publication of Facts On File's Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance . Few (if any) have illustrated as precisely as "On the Shoulders of Giants" exactly why and how the Harlem Renaissance remains a vibrant cultural and spiritual force. Like other competent authors on the subject, Abdul-Jabbar provides literary snapshots of the major players and events that produced the Harlem Renaissance. Unlike other books, his gives us something more. He includes chapters on how elements of the Harlem Renaissance directly impacted the development of his own life as a son of Harlem and that of others who picked up where the Renaissance left off and kept it going in other forms.

The world knows Kareem Abdul-Jabbar mostly as a champion athlete. In "On the Shoulders of Giants," we meet him as the teen-aged scholar Lew Alcindor working beside famed educator Dr. Henrik Clarke. With Dr. Clarke, Abdul-Jabbar helped publish a weekly journal on Harlem and discovered how his birthplace earned the title "The Capitol of Black America." We see the youth inspired by the world famous Harlem Globetrotters give up his dream to play professional baseball in exchange for a plan to conquer basketball. We meet the great lover of classic black literature, the connoisseur of jazz, and the defender of his beloved community.

Aside from his individual highly informed observations of the Harlem Renaissance proper, Abdul-Jabbar also offers some daring interpretations of the movement. Take, for example, his contention that "The Harlem Renaissance didn't end... [it] pried open a lot of reluctant doors and those who came after learned how to shoulder those doors open even wider. The guiding principles of the Harlem Renaissance survived and flourished." Towards that end, he cites both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., as products and embodiments of Harlem Renaissance ideologies. This writer agrees with that assessment.

As important as "On the Shoulders of Giants" is for what it says about the past, it's even more important for what it indicates about the present and the future.

by Author-Poet Aberjhani
author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Harlem that I didn't know existed, March 25, 2007

By	Rosemarie H. Hight (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is an eye opening account of Harlem. I didn't realize that Harlem had such a diverse group of writers, musicians, singers, etc. A very eye opening book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, July 5, 2009

By	Scott E. Walters - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I teach a course on the art and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, and this has been the best "textbook" I have found to date. The chapters alternate between a historical descriptions of different aspects of the period (music, thinkers, geography, ect.) written by Abdul-Jabbar's co-author, and Abdul-Jabbar's descriptions of how the work of the Harlem Renaissance affected his life. This alternation between history and biography is what makes the book so inspirational, because Abdul-Jabbar makes very clear his belief that history should inspire present effort. The prose is dynamic -- a "good read." The added bonus of the sections on the Harlem Renaissance basketball team and its struggles connects sports, the arts, and politics in a very rich way. I recommend this book unreservedly.