On the Shoulders of Giants
My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
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3.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author and living legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shares how the power of the Harlem Renaissance led him to become the man he is today—basketball superstar, jazz enthusiast, historian, and Black American icon.
In On the Shoulders of Giants, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites us on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace of Harlem through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in history. He reveals the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life.
Travel deep into the soul of the Renaissance—the night clubs, restaurants, basketball games, and fabulous parties that have made footprints in Harlem’s history. Meet the athletes, jazz musicians, comedians, actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, and writers who not only inspired Kareem’s rise to greatness but an entire nation.
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.
