Customer Reviews

On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here is a man who should be an inspiration to a whole generation. This book is more proof that he is more than just an athlete. This book is recommended reading for all teenagers

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.

i just have to say I really enjoyed this book. It is the first book by the author that i have read. Growing up watching him play b-ball I knew he was one of if not the best in his sport. Well I am just as pleased to say that he is also a good author. I learned so much from reading this book.
Thanks Kareem!

On the Shoulders of Giants is a good book and I commend Jabbar for writing it and other books dealing with African American heroes and black history. As a former sports star, he reaches people that other authors wouldn't, so he is doing valuable work. But the book has one very bad mistake. That mistake is the inclusion of certain quotes about the blues from the author Richard Wright.

Jabbar ends a section of the book titled "The Birth of the Blues" by quoting Wright as stating that a "submerged theme of guilt" seems to run through the blues and quotes Wright wondering whether the guilt "stemmed from the burden of renounced rebellious impulses." Jabbar then writes that Wright wondered "if the sexual nature of many of the songs isn't in fact more about the impotence of black people in failing to act on their own behalf in the face of the racism that was at the root of much of their 'blues'." Next, Jabbar writes "Weren't the blues just redirected self-loathing, the result of an oppressed people believing the oppressor's propaganda that they are not worthy?"

Jabbar does not attempt to answer these questions nor does he present alternative views to the reader. Instead, he simply ends his discussion on the birth of the blues with these questions left hanging--questions which suggest terrible things to the reader about what lies behind the blues--and moves on to a new section about W.C. Handy. This leaves the impression that Jabbar agrees with what is being suggested.

I would respond to the above with a quote from Ralph Ellison. In his essay The World and the Jug from his book Shadow and Act, Ellison writes "if you think Wright knew anything about the blues, listen to a "blues" he composed with Paul Robeson singing, a most unfortunate collaboration!; and read his introduction to Paul Oliver's Blues Fell This Morning." Also, Alan Lomax sharply criticized Wright for his views on black southern oral traditions (of which the blues was a part) in the introduction to his book the Land Where the Blues Began. By the way, Lomax's book is a great place to learn about the blues and what really lies beneath its surface.

I don't believe that the blues was rooted in guilt. The blues was a form of resistance, a way of surviving a hellish life under Jim Crow. In Maya Angelou's A Song Flung Up From Heaven, she writes about how James Baldwin told her that African Americans put surviving in everything: in their clothing, their pots, their folk tales, and their dancing. Ellison would add that they also put it in their music. According to him, the blues was "one of the techniques through which Negroes have survived and kept their courage during that long period when many whites assumed, as some still assume, they were afraid."

Some black intellectuals look down upon the blues. I don't think that this is the case with Jabbar; he writes some very positive things about the blues in his book. Still, he could have done a much better job writing about this great music. Here is another example. Jabbar takes Carol Burnett's definition of comedy as "tragedy--plus time" and adapts it to define jazz as "the blues--plus time." He then goes on to write "in other words, blues is the ailment; jazz is the treatment." Equating the blues to "the ailment" is a very bad choice of words. Wouldn't it have been better to write that blues is the hurt and jazz is the healing?

While this book is not specifically about the blues, I am afraid that young men and women--especially young African American men and women--who read it will adopt a negative view of the blues. (The book is part of an On the Shoulders of Giants Teachers' Kit.) Today, African Americans make up a very small part of the audience for blues music. Jabbar's book won't contribute to changing that fact.

My main interest here was on the NY Rens BSKB team. Very well done on that! Overall, it was a fascinating account. In particular, to see how the apartments in the original Harlem were actually MORE expensive than in other areas, and, unfortunately, how blacks exploited other blacks. A sad commentary on our society no matter what the race. Also wonderful that Jabbar cares enough to document this history. Overall, very informative.

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.

I have only scanned the book, however I am historically familiar with a
lot of the content which motivated me to buy the book as a collectors
item. I also order the book for my grandson and a friend's son.

Doug Murray

On the Shoulders of Giants speaks of a bygone, sometimes forgotten piece of America and its culture that nevertheless has great, reaching tentacles into our present, and that will continue to shake and embrace us well into our future. Beautifully written, with a title that says it all, this book is just as evocative and fascinating for non-sports, non-jazz fans as it will undoubtedly be for those entrenched in both subjects.

A wonderful discovery.

Especially interesting are the musicians and music that originated or passed through Harlem during this time.

The Harlem Renaissance continues to contribute to society today, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains why in this memoir.