Get Your Copy Writings On The Wall: Searching For A New Equality Beyond Black And White Written And Illustrated By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Available In Online Book
Human Being Needs To Read This Book! And I may not have if I weren't participating in the Kalamazoo Public Library's Community Reading Program called Reading Together.
I look forward to Kareem's other books, The only reason it took me so long to read this is I didn't have my own copy and finally had to give it back to the library, and then when I did get a copy it sat on my shelf for ages.
It's not easy to read,
It is extremely, vitally important to read,
You may not like everything he says, you may not agree with everything he says, but you need to read this book.
It ought to be required reading for everyone, I may end up reading it again, There are so many critical pieces of wisdom in this book that I know I didn't absorb it all,
Brilliant. Absolutely, thoroughly brilliant. Thoughtprovoking, funny, sad, and overall, an incredible book, A collection of cogent essays on a variety of big topics: race, gender, media, aging, and more, Starting from the idea that what makes people from the U, S. a coherent nation is the equal rights declarations of the constitution, he proceeds to document how our society, rulers, and others are failing to live up to socalled American ideals.
While often being funny, he also lays out a series of suggestions to improve the situations at the end of each essayevery writer should do that if they are going to point out flaws and failures.
While I may have a radical anarchist philosophy, the straightforward argument based on our society's own rules is a powerful tool in the hands of a skilled craftspersonas it is here.
Who knew Abdul Jabar a brilliant thinker/writer, Much food for thought on the state of American culture in this book, Guessing his impact on America may be on par with Muhamed Ali's when all is said and done, Kareem AbdulJabbar's book is full of the musings of a seniortype citizen of the US,
His
book covers a wide range of topics, including American Politics, Racism, Religion, Gender, Class Struggle, News Media and Seniors.
The final chapter is a letter to Generation Z,
Most every chapter offers Kareem's and coauthor Raymond Obstfeld's refreshingly progressive take along with suggestions to strengthen various streams of social justice.
What I found particularly interesting was the historical research on the term "American Dream, " Turns out, according to Kareem and Wikipedia, the term was made popular by James Truslow Adams, in hisbook The Epic of America.
Kareem quotes from Adams' definition:
"There has been also, the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man and woman, with opportunity for each according to his or her ability or achievement.
It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it.
It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.
"
The irony is that Adams was speaking of an entirely different American Dream than the current presidentelect of the US was referring to in his campaign slogan.
And given the results of that election, Kareem's book is, if nothing else, prophetically significant,
If you are a progressive thinking individual, Kareem's book will offer hope to get through the next four years, If you aren't, you should probably read it anyway, Disclaimer: The copy of sitelinkWritings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White was provided as a Goodreads give away.
This book was an excellent read, The author touched on many good topics dealing with the American society as a whole, Chapters include: politics, gender, race, religion, sports, the media and more,
In this Presidential election year, I find it funny that AbdulJabbar felt
The women's issues that AbdulJabbar breaks down were very enlightening, The religion chapter was also very powerful,
On a scale ofto, this book is a! In this book Kareem Abdul Jabbar flexes his extensive knowledge, thoughtfulness, and personal experience on matters of race, religion, gender, income inequality, and other issues.
There's a lot I like about this book, His thoughts are well reasoned and articulated and backed up by facts and statistics, Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is that he doesn't merely rant about problems, he diagnoses them and provides thoughtful solutions to them.
This solutions wouldn't fix all of America's ills, but they'd make great progress,
However, as great as the thoughts he expresses in this book are I found the experience of actually reading it exhausting.
There are many sections of the book that read like a paper written for a college course exhausting levels of restatements, statistics, anecdotes, and metaphors to make sure a point is hammered home and perhaps pad page count in the case of a college paper.
I feel likeof this book could have been left on the cutting room floor and it would have been just as effective.
He also relies overwhelmingly on metaphors, similes, and pop culture references to make his points, This makes his writing very approachable and it all feels genuine not pandering to those in on the reference but I grew very tired of it aboutof the way in.
There's a lot of great stuff in here, but it's probably worth more of a skim than a close read that's certainly what I found myself doing towards the end.
Kareem AbdulJabbar has a lot of opinions, Opinions about how to treat black folks, women, LGBTQ people, and religious minorities in the US hint: fairly, respectfully, and Constitutionally would be a good start, in his opinion.
He is opposed to oppression and in favor of social justice for all, Hes also got opinions about childrens sports, college basketball, and the elderly, not just “culture war” hotbutton groups, And he doesnt want those opinions to be based on garbage, so he spends quite a lot of time researching and doublechecking the opinions he would like to hold.
He says if he hadnt become a pro basketball player, he would have been a history teacher, so research seems to be second nature to him.
Which makes it sound as if a book full of his opinions might be a bit dry and dull, But it wasnt at all, I loved his writing style, which is an enjoyable mix of informative and chatty, He also sticks to the subject really well, which has not been the case with many nonfiction books Ive read, He provides an overview of each issue, digs into greater depth, and then at the end of each chapter sets out a list of ways the situations could be improved.
Some of his suggestions require political intervention, while others need only some changes in attitude and approach, I loved how dispassionate he is in laying out his positions, and how pragmatic his proposed solutions are, I also appreciated that by offering suggestions, hes also offering hope: nothing is truly frozen or paralyzed, Much of the inequality in the world is the result of choices, and different choices are always a possibility,
I give KAJ extra bonus points for discussing tampon taxes as an example of economic unfairness towards women, without a single apparent blush or twinge of discomfort.
I wish more politically focused books were this clear, consistent, and sensible, .