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Although it's been part of the cultural soundscape for over 25 years, hip-hop has been the focus of very few books. And when those books do pop up, they tend to be either overtly scholarly, as if the writer in question has just landed on some alien planet, or a bit too much like a fanzine. If there's anyone qualified to write a solid, informative, and entertaining tome on the culture, politics, and business of hip-hop, it's Nelson George. A veteran journalist, George is one of the smartest and most observant chroniclers of African American pop culture. Much as he broke down and illuminated R&B with his acclaimed book The Death of Rhythm and Blues, George now tackles hip-hop with the clarity of a reporter and the enthusiasm of a fan--which is fitting, because George is both. A Brooklyn native, he began writing about rap back in the late 1970s, when the beats and the lifestyle were not only foreign to most white folks, they were still underground in the black communities. Hip Hop America is filled with George's memories of the scene's nascent years, and it tells the story of rap both as an art form and a cultural and economic force--from the old Bronx nightclub the Fever to the age of Puffy. Highlighting both the major players and some of the forces behind the scenes, George gives rap a historical perspective without coming off as too intellectual. All of which makes Hip Hop America a worthwhile addition to any fan's collection. --Amy Linden
Book Description
Now with a new introduction by the author, Hip Hop America is the definitive account of the society-altering collision between black youth culture and the mass media.
Customer Reviews:
Music For the Masses in America Hit It Big........2006-11-27
The musical scene in the Sixties and the Eighties was hip-hop for all races and religions in the USA. The Seventies was devoted mostly to folk music. In the Ninties it was more rap and contemporary and also country music hit it big in the whole country and not just Nashville, Tennessee.
Who Takes The Blame?, August 13, 2006
Reviewer: Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
In February, 1969, a study titled "Black-White Contact in Schools: Its Social and Academic Effects" was published by Purdue University sociologist Martin Patchen. In it, he concludes "Available evidence indicates that interracial contact in schools does not have consistent positive effects on students' racial attitudes and behavior or on the academic prformance of minority students." In March, it was declared that the AIDS virus started in Africa and on the Caribbean island, Haita and spread to the United States via tourists. Get this! Susan Sontag decided in 1988 that "the virus was sent to Africa from the U.S. as an act of bacteriological warfare" as a conspiracy.
July, 1985, a survey conducted in New York City using the HIV antibody test finds that of frequent drug users, 87 percent carried the infection. The majority of the addicts were black and Hispanic. In August 1988, on Zachary's birthday, Jean-Michael Basquiat died in New York village of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 (Zach was 26 then). He was a graffiti artist whose pieces sold for $50,000 at the time of his death. There was a lot of debate about his artistic worth.
This book traverses the years 1979 to 1989 in America and is mostly about the singers and groups in the entertainment area but also writers which proliferated during that time. It is the time of affirmative action and Clarence Thomas who was married to a Causcasian woman but courted the office girls and almost lost his nomination. I watched it all on t.v. The girl took all the blame, and she was honest and above-board, blameless. The results of overcompensation has caused much turmoil for us all in America and some are deceitful by trying to pull the wool ober the eyes of political figures to the detriment of everybody.
Excellent Overview.......2006-09-29
Nelson George has written several books on Hip Hop and African-American popular culture, all of which are worth reading. This book is particularly good for the clarity of thought evident in the writing. It is an assessment of the overall position of Hip Hop as an American cultural phenomenon branching out to the rest of the world.
It provides a neat and insightful stock take of what Hip Hop was about in the late nineties for academic purposes, but is written in an easy to digest style that suits readers of a non academic background too. It is a good book to read to get a good idea of how Hip Hop evolved from a localised phenomena to a wider cultural movement. It is enlivened by the author explaining his viewpoint, and not just presenting a dry account of facts.
excellent overview & inclusion of broader culteral impact but don't expect exhaustive material on all the big players.......2006-08-30
I am currently writing an entry about Grandmaster Flash for the forthcoming Icons of Hip-Hop (Greenwood Press). First of all, Nelson George is one of the most experienced, respected and eloquent hip-hop journalists alive, and he maintains his reputation in this book. He grew up in the middle of the birth of this artistic-come-cultural phenomenon, and tells the story as both insider and critic. Though there wasn't much specific material about Flash (which I didn't expect), George paints a genuine, if disarming or infuriating, portrait of the rise and continued influence of hip-hop through elegant and sometimes even poetic language and virtually unsurpassed insight. The latter observation comes, in part, from his willingness to explore the broader picture that this culture informs and is controlled by. He raises political and socioeconimic questions, takes on the task of discussing the record industry and how its desire for hit records over individual talent promotes a homogenous selection of 'rap artists', and is unafraid to question the roles society has played to transform hip-hop almost completely from what it was in its nascent form. Some people complain, with regard to hip-hop reference books, that the author obviously has no real authority. No one can make that claim about George. After all, he is respected enough to be able to interview GM Flash, Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa (considered the 'Holy Trinity'/founding fathers of hip-hop) in the same place at the same time. [For those of you who don't understand the significance here, no one has ever been able to get these three guys together, because of past rivalry among other things, and Kool Herc had not discussed hip-hop publicly for about thirty years prior to this interview.] So, George gives an authoritative, articulate, thoughtful and insightful account of the rise of hip-hop and the consequences of its appearance in mainstream society (which basically transformed it completely, so that the only true-to-its-roots subculture is underground hip-hop). Buy this book - but don't expect an in-depth discussion of the major players because that isn't what the book is supposed to be anyway.
STILL USEFUL.......2005-07-10
I read this book when it first came out, and from the onset I realized the book was flawed by Mr. George's ego. Mr. George has great thoughts and opinions, but unfortunately, he allows personal biases to mar how presents them to his readers. Like one of the other reviewers, I didn't agree with a lot of what he wrote, but it is still useful for information about the early days of hip hop.
Especially good on the early days of hip hop.......2003-11-18
I read this book for an African-American Studies class at UNC. At first I did not like it at all. I did not connect with George's choice of language, which seemed outdated and out of touch with current hip hop lingo.
But as I got into the book, I realized that this outdated language was not George's fault. After all, as George himself points out in a section about hip hop movies, trends and lingo in hip hop change too quickly for anyone to keep up without a very detailed scorecard. So if you can get past him using somewhat outdated language, this is a great book.
George manages to discuss a wide array of topics, from graffiti to break dancing to production and distribution of records to hip hop themed movies to hip hop lingo to the proliferation of hip hop around the world. Despite the very diverse topics, George manages to tie everything to a common theme, the impact of hip hop on American culture.
If I had to pick one aspect of the book that was especially good, I would have to choose his discussion of the roots of hip hop and its early days. As a native of New York during hip hop's formative years, George is very well informed on the topic and indeed was a witness to many key events in the early days of hip hop. He also has connections with many key figures, throughout the time period covered in the book, and he is able to recall these connections to tell unique stories you cannot find anywhere else.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of hip hop. It is a quick, enjoyable, and informative read.
Customer Reviews:
Saddam's Secrets.......2007-10-15
General Sada reveals how Saddam moved much of the WMD stockpile to Syria, taking advantage of a call for assistance in a flood. He used airplanes from Iraqi Airways to make fifty-six trips to turn over to Syrian Army Ordinance his stockpile for safekeeping. Sada also reveals much of what was taking place in Saddam's quest for nuclear weapons. He was an insider and had first-hand knowledge of what was really going on.
This is the Book the Leftist Establishment has Fahrenheit 451'd.......2007-09-17
I have been reading Georges Hormuz Sada's harrowing account of life in Iraq during the ruthlessly cruel regime of Saddam Hussein. He seems like an honest man worthy of our respect. And yet, I strongly suspect that "Saddam's Secrets" was only a modest success. The leftist dominated MSM and intellectual institutions pretend it doesn't even exist. Try finding anything on Google.com. The results will be virtually fruitless. The author, who was a close advisor to Saddam, has been effectively dropped into a Fahrenheit 451 memory hole. Sada is thankful that the Bush administration liberated Iraq. He also tells the world about the late dictator's weapons of mass destruction. These are truths the leftist establishment prefers to ignore. There is no doubt in my mind but that Sada's name would constantly be in the news if he told the leftists what they wanted to hear. The "elite" university crowd would pay him thousands of dollars for a two-hour lecture.
Georges Sada's book reminds me why I'm so lucky to be an American. Our citizens, after all, are not murdered for casually disagreeing with the country's leader. Sada is a very brave man. We owe it to him and ourselves to be victorious in Iraq.
Iraq from a TRUE INSIDER.......2007-07-12
Gen Georges, born & lived in Iraq all his natural-born days, a rare "Assyrian Christian", which perhaps is why Saddam trusted him and sought out his opinion, though he rarely followed it. Georges told him "2+2=4", when all the other sycophants were telling Saddam "2+2=9". How different things might have been!! A very skilled fighter pilot, Georges rose to one of the highest position in the Air Force, which gave him the opportunity to train in the US and the UK. At the time of writing, he was in the Defense Dept of the present Iraqi government. He was true to his government since he was a true patriot, but realized how horribly evil Saddam was. He says the bad dude was constantly scheming for his own ends, though his government was supposed to be "socialist" (didn't we hear that from another government which collapsed in 1990 after more than 70 years in power? As of the writing (copyright '06), Georges was quite hopeful. It would be interesting to hear this thinking at this juncturre!!
The Devil in Disguise.......2007-03-10
The author of "Saddam's Secrets," Georges Sada, is an Assyrian Christian born and raised in northern Iraq. He was a General in the Iraqi Air Force. Besides being the best pilot in the entire Iraqi Air Force he was also the only one who defied Saddam every time he was asked to comment, describe or advice on any crazy matters that came to Saddam's vile and morally reprehensible mind. However, others close to Saddam who tried to defy him in answering the same crazy questions wound up with their head chopped off. Georges preserved his Christian values and told Saddam the truth and nothing but the truth -----and God helped Georges Sada. Saddam was stupid, and ignorant, but exceptionally cunning. He knew he needed someone to tell him the truth regardless of how deplorable it was for him to accept it.
*Excerpt: "Ever since Saddam seized power in 1979--and, really, for a decade before that--we knew that truth was whatever the leader said it was. I Saddam wanted two plus two to equal nine, then everybody would say it was nine."
According to the author, Saddam was a stupid and ignorant, unknowledgeable man, however, "Saddam was cunning, crafty, clever and an expert in manipulation: "I've often said he was a genius. Like the communist leader Josef Stalin, on whom Saddam modeled himself, he was truly a genius at doing evil. He was a man without a conscience. He was ruthless and brutal, and there was nothing he wouldn't do to achieve his own ends. He killed many times and ordered the brutal murders of hundreds of thousands of [his] own people."
The author tells how Saddam managed to trick the world into believing he did not have weapons of mass destruction. He goes into detail how Saddam managed to hide all evidence of WMD's and how he managed to move all of them out of Iraq under the noses of the United Nations weapons inspectors.
The reader will find out it was a stroke of "good" fate the United States got rid of Saddam when it did. Saddam was about to unleash a barrage of attacks with WMD's against Israel which would have, more than likely, started another world war.
*Ending Excerpt: The author of "Saddam's Secrets" ends his powerful novel by stating the following: "I love my country, and I only want good things to happen in Iraq from now on. Even though I am a member of a minority in Iraq, as an Assyrian and a Christian, I have always tried to be faithful and do my duty at all times. I wanted to fulfill my commitment as an officer and a gentleman to the best of my ability. If I had tried to write or speak about the situation in Iraq during those years, it would have been propaganda. It would have been just one more boast for a regime the whole world knew was corrupt and destined to fail. And I would have never have written such a book."
One thing for sure, if everyone in Iraq were like Georges Sada, Iraq would be a peaceful and honorable country.
I strongly recommend this book to every human being. Not only should the book be read in the United States of America but everyone in the rest of the world. Doing so will help better understand the problems with Iraq and what made it so violent and how it got to where it is now.
Sadam's Secrets, the truth about WMD.......2007-03-09
Due to the political climate and motivations that we are wrestling with in America over the war in Iraq, I wanted to find something that more honestly described the conditions in Iraq during the rule of Sadam Hussein and possibly learned the truth about the WMD that existed prior to the US led wars of Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. In "Sadam's Secrets" we read a detailed, and believable account of a man who lived and survived inside the world of Sadam Hussein as an airforce general with a personal first hand knowledge of the dictator's history, methods of operation and decisions that recklessly pushed his nation into war with his neighbors and eventually led to the two US invasions.
Product Description
A wonderful, easy-to-understand beginning harmonica book for both folk and blues harmonica stylings. Several different styles are analyzed and representive tunes are given in each style. With the various sections the songs are roughly graded as to difficulty. An extra section examines some specialized techniques and introduces some harmonicas other then the standered ten-hole-twenty-reed diatonic harp (in the key of C) for which most of the songs in this book are written. All together, 41 harmonica arrangements are included. Lessons on the companion DVD are taught by Phil Duncan. CD included.
Customer Reviews:
Funny to Watch..........2006-11-12
This video is funny to watch, but really does not help you learn how to play the harmonica. The video (DVD which has to be taken from a copy of an old VHS) has to be from about 1985 at the latest. It is funny to watch the guy, but it goes fast and the explanations on how to do things are so poor that it is really only good for comedy value. I give it three stars because it made me laugh, but then gave it two because it made me cry when I realized I wasted my money.
Customer Reviews:
Very good however..........2005-04-18
It has been awhile since I read this book so I have to rely on my memory somewhat of the book's contents. Yes, it is a very interesting book and as a Motown fan, I certainly enjoyed it. Sometimes, though, I wonder about some of Mr. George's comments (and if you are reading this Mr. George I mean no disrespect).
Did he really have to describe the talented Kim Weston as a "dark skined woman with a tendency to put on weight?" Was she really laughed at when she got on stage? To me, Kim Weston was one of Motowns most talented female singers. Couldn't the author have spent a little more space on her vocal talents?
He dismisses the Supremes post-Diana Ross career in a few sentences. Did he ever listen to any of those records? The post-Ross Supremes made some wonderful music which is just now being rediscovered.
He writes off white singer Chris Clark as a "not very gifted singer". From the few songs I have heard, she may not be a virtuoso, but she's not that bad! I know of some rabid Chris Clark fans who would challenge Nelson George on that point.
He spends a lot of time on certain subjects such as Motown's post-70's decline, but seems to spend very little time actually analyzing the music.
A writer, of course, has a right to his opinions and I think, in all fairness, he does a very good job with the book. My biggest complaint is that he seems a little cynical about Motown. I know that not all was happy beneath the wonderful music people heard, but there is still something in his attitude that bothers me a little. Sometimes he seems a little bit mocking in his tone. He wrote a later book about hip hop (a music style I don't care for) and seemed to treat the whole subject with more respect.
I'm probably being a little too analytical about this book.
Anyway, this is still a good book. Put on some Motown music and enjoy.
A Must for fans of the Motown Sound.......2004-01-06
I found this book to be very informative on the music that I grew up with but it also revealed how Mr. Gordy has ruined the lives of talented but uneducated people.
The BEST Motown book.......2003-03-25
One of my smartest purchasing decisions was to pick up this work by Nelson George in June 1986 when it was still in hard cover. I've never let it out of my sight since. Time has proven it the precursor of a deluge: `Dreamgirl,' & `Supreme Faith' by Mary Wilson (1986, 1990), `Temptations' by Otis Williams (1988), `To Be Loved,' by Berry Gordy (1994), `Inside My Life' by Smokey Robinson (1989), `Dancing In The Street' by Martha Reeves (1994), and `Between Each Line of Pain and Glory,' by Gladys Knight (1997), among others. I bought them all and I read them all. By far the worst, was the October 1993 work by Diana Ross, `Secrets of a Sparrow,' which was quickly named the worst non-fiction work of the year by People magazine. I couldn't argue with them.
`Where Did Our Love Go,' on the other hand, proves a truth we discovered in the day of the very music it chronicles: no amount of tepid covers surpasses a towering original. Perhaps because Mr. George was not an insider at Motown in the 60s, his history of the company is so objectively good. I've read it many times in over 16 years, and haven't found a date or factual mistake.
And it is balanced. The wonderful music of those glory days in Detroit is given the respect and affection it deserves, as well as the how-it-came-about details. Mr. George acknowledges as most of us do, that Motown's 60s sound is timeless, and is going to outlive Berry Gordy, the artists whose names appeared on the labels, and we baby-boomers who were weaned on it.
Yes, the who-struck-John stories of disappointment are delineated fairly too: the career declines and /or disappointments of folks like Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, Chuck Jackson, Marvin Gaye and, especially Florence Ballard. But unlike the recollections of the authors listed above, `Where' is not told by a writer needing to come out smelling blameless or put-upon at the end.
All these years later, `Where Did Our Love Go,' by Nelson George remains the single most essential biography of Motown Records you can own. Buy it anyway you can manage to, even used - just don't ask to borrow mine. Beyond it, there are two companion works you should also seek out for some fair and detailed `inside' looks of Motown in those days: `Divided Soul,' David Ritz' account of Marvin Gaye's life, which appeared first in 1985, and might have been helped in its excellence by the fact that its subject was no longer around to censor it or `advise.' Finally, from 1989, J. Randy Taraborrelli's `Call Her Miss Ross,' could likely be a dozen times more factual and objective than the 1993 work of the former Supreme herself could ever be!
Best book on motown I've read.......2003-03-14
Although a little short on photos (it was obviously not the authors' intention to be another photo book), this is in many ways the best book for someone really interested in the subject of Motown to own,in that the author pulls no punches. Other books on this record company/hit machine of the 60s & 70s suffered from censorship by the record company's head and his people.
This book does not suffer that hinderance, and it allows us to read what really went on behind the scenes. It was not such a happy family with Berry Gordy Jr. as the paternal head as it is often depicted.
An excellent book, both readable and informative, and well worth getting hold of for all fans of the music who want to know what really went on as the records were made and the tours were run.
Get this book!.......1998-11-17
Part of the success of Motown lies in Berry Gordy's tight control over public relations. Put simply, he would not cooperate with reporters until and unless he knew, and approved of, the nature of their stories in advance. In "Where Did Our Love Go", Nelson George breaks the mold. This is an unauthorized biography of the Motown Record Corp. George managed to circumvent Gordy's media chokehold and, thereby, come up with a picture quite different from the common myths. This results in two marvelous types of revelations throughout this book: (1) The "dirt" on Motown; and (2) the good, joyful, and uplifting things that we never knew. Get this book!
Book Description
In September 1979, there was a cosmic shift that went unnoticed by the majority of mainstream America. This shift was triggered by the release of the Sugarhill Gang's single, Rapper's Delight. Not only did it usher rap music into the mainstream's consciousness, it brought us the word "hip-hop." And It Don't Stop, edited by the award winning journalist Raquel Cepeda, with a foreword from Nelson George is a collection of the best articles the hip-hop generation has produced. It captures the indelible moments in hip-hop's history since 1979 and will be the centerpiece of the twenty-fifth-anniversary celebration.
This book epitomizes the media's response by taking the reader on an engaging and critical journey, including the very first pieces written about hip-hop for publications like The Village Voice--controversial articles that created rifts between church and state, the artist and journalist, and articles that recorded the rise and tragic fall of the art form's appointed heroes, such as Tupac Shakur, Eazy-E, and the Notorious B.I.G. The list of contributors includes Toure, Kevin Powell, dream hampton, Harry Allen, Cheo Hodari Coker, Greg Tate, Bill Adler, Hilton Als, Danyel Smith, and Joan Morgan.
Product Description
How to See was originally published in 1977. This reedition is updated and in color.
More than a guide to visual appreciation, this is a book about how to recognize, evaluate, and understand the objects and landscape of the man-made world. The pursuit of design is not about the way things appear, but rather about the way things give meaning and relevance to the human experience.
Customer Reviews:
The founding father of American Modern Design.......2006-01-15
George Nelson was not only a creative artistic talent, he was also a commercial genius (just like Picasso was). These two talents provided his secret for success that would reward him throughout his life. This book is an actual reprint from the original edition. It documents in detail how George Nelson thought and designed. The attention is clearly on his biography, this is not a coffee table book filled with an overdose of pictures. A wonderful biography about a designer that was the founding father of American Modern Design. I also suggest to visit the wonderful online archive about George Nelson at WWW.GEORGENELSON.ORG.
Book Description
This collection of poems assembled by award-winning writer Marilyn Nelson provides young readers with a compelling, lyrical account of the life of revered African-American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver. Born in 1864 and raised by white slave owners, Carver left home in search of an education and eventually earned a master's degree in agriculture. In 1896, he was invited by Booker T. Washington to head the agricultural department at the all-black-staffed Tuskegee Institute. There he conducted innovative research to find uses for crops such as cowpeas, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, while seeking solutions to the plight of landless black farmers. Through 44 poems, told from the point of view of Carver and the people who knew him, Nelson celebrates his character and accomplishments. She includes prose summaries of events and archival photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Carver's Life in Sanpshots of Poetry.......2003-06-17
This biography that won both a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor is an awe inspiring book. Nelson tells the story of George Washington Carver's life through a series of poems that act like snapshots in a photo album. She begins with a poem about Carver and his mother being stolen from their owner when they were slaves. John Bentley is sent after them but can only find baby George who he returns to the Carvers who raise him with his brother Jim. The poems go on to tell of Carver's search for education, his resourcefulness, and his spirituality. Different poems describe his artistic abilities, his studies of botany, his appreciation for all of nature, his artistic nature, and his dedication to his students and all of his people. The book traces his life from its beginning in slavery to his years in college and as an instructor at the Tuskegee Institute. Nelson's poems describe the life of an amazing genius who is too often overlooked as simply the inventor of peanut butter. Each poem acts as frame in the film of Carver's life. The poems work together to tell the story, but each poem can also stand on its own as a photograph of a moment from an amazing life. The historical footnotes in the text help to clarify the poems and the photographs of Carver, his family and friends, his creations, etc. help to create a better understanding of this incredible man.
Carver's poetic life.......2003-05-16
First I have to say that Marilyn Nelson is a wonderful person. And I think she is one of the best poet's of her generation. Her poetry is great, and her book, _The Homeplace_ is one of those books that everyone should own. But even great poets can write mediocre poems. This collection is a series of short poems, usually a dramatic monologue of some sort, that together are supposed to make up the story of George Washington Carver's life (it includes pictures and little biographical footnotes). Pretty much the same thing she did for The Homeplace. It worked in The Homeplace, but not here. The problem isn't so much Nelson's skill as a poet (few are better than her), rather it is Carver's life. It just doesn't make good poetry, or at least not 60 poems. I understand Marilyn wants to tell us about Carver, but perhaps prose would have been a better way to go about it (that and this book seems to be marketed for young children--I don't think they can fully appreciate the nuances of Nelson's poetry or Carver's life). That said, there are several good poems in the book, "Clay" and "Cafeteria Food" being my personal favorites. Well, not every collection is going to be great (look at Frost's later books), so I eagerly await the next book from Marilyn Nelson, be it poetry, essays, or fiction.
excellent!.......2002-11-05
i really enjoyed this collection of poems by george washington carver! i have plans to be a teacher when i finish college and i think that i will use this book in my teaching plans! the poetry is basic at times so that most any student will be able to understand and yet it has a deepness that will require some thought on behalf of the students. i recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry, history, or teaching. i have put this book on my wish list with hope that someone will but it as a christmas gift for me. that is how much i liked carver's work. kudos to mrs. nelson for putting the collection together and getting it published. i can clearly see why carver a life in poems won the newberry award.
Entrepreneurial Alchemyýs Best and Greatest Advocate.......2002-04-12
As a person coming from a hard-core science and engineering background, I never thought that poetry had any `value'. I never once saw in poetry insight into the nature and state of affairs of human beings. So I was very surprised when I read Ms. Nelson's Carver, A Life in Poems. Ms. Nelson presents us with poetry so rich in texture, so layered in meaning that these few lines of prose convey much, much more information than hundreds of pages of dry text. The book skillfully combines anecdotal historical footnotes with powerful poetic prose to tell the story of the most influential man in American agricultural history.
Carver the man overcame severe hardship and the prejudices of others to achieve great things. Living in a time when opportunities were few and far between for American Blacks, and slavery was a vivid recollection, Carver blazed a trail that few have been able to even approach, let alone top, since then. Even though he dealt with his share of racism, not every person not of African-American ancestry was unkind to him. Given the least of all of his peers, black or white, Carver went on to achieve the most in life. In spite of the hardships, the racism, and even the slights and insults of his own people, he left behind a legacy of good work, compassion, and technical accomplishment that stands the test of time. As such, Carver takes a solid place among the great minds of antiquity- from Imhotep, Egypt's greatest builder, to Confucius, China's greatest thinker and statesman.
Although Carver's array of inventions is impressive, his ingenuity and knack for turning what others see as worthless into something valuable, as in the poems `Chemistry 101' and `The Wild Garden' and `God's Little Workshop', is truly astounding. Carver had tremendous impact in a host of scientific disciplines- agronomy, botany, chemistry, and plant pathology to name a few. For me, Carver's life demonstrates the importance of a creative and spiritual base. Carver could not have developed the hundreds of practical uses for the `goober', or peanut-the plant that African slaves brought to the United States, and that White farmers fed to their animals before eating themselves- if he did not have a highly developed creative side. Moreover, his unyielding faith in the Creator, and his reliance on his faith in times of great peril and suffering, enabled him to endure what I and most other people would consider to be the unendurable. Carver's creativity and great spiritual faith gave him the inspiration to make practical use of those things that others considered worthless. In many ways, Carver was the unassailable prototype of the entrepreneurial alchemist- he created something of value out of literally nothing. Professor Carver's many achievements clearly demonstrate the importance of the study of economic botany.
I would like to add that four of his most important contributions to agricultural science- resting the land, crop rotations, application of riparian sediments and the use of legumes to replenish the vital nutrients of intensively cultivated and depleted soils, closely parallel the ecological practices of the great agrarian societies of Asia and Central and South America. The Native Americans, and their Asian compatriots, were well aware of the benefits of these practices, and had developed strong, stable and successful agricultural methods which in turn allowed for the flowering of some of history's greatest civilizations- the Inca, the Maya and the Aztec cultures. In fact, as F H King pointed out in his groundbreaking work, Farmers of Forty Centuries, at the beginning of the 20th century, the farmers of Asia had been using these techniques continuously to maintain and perpetuate the cultivation of the same plots of land, feeding increasing numbers of their people, for over four thousand years. In effect, these ancient farmers had developed sustainable farming practices and projected them four millennia into the present. In this way, I see Professor Carver as not only the Father of the Peanut industry, he is, and rightly so, The Father of Sustainable Agriculture in America.
It is both refreshing and heart-warming to me to know that an African-American man of science can also be a Renaissance Man in the fullest sense of the word. Gifted in the arts and gifted in the sciences, Carver blended art and practicality in a way I can only hope to partially attain. From this book, I humbly receive a new and invaluable hero, a new and awesome role model- Professor Carver, Jack of All Trades, Renaissance Man Extraordinaire- a true man of the people, a true Titan of Science.
Thought-provoking!.......2001-12-24
This group of poems tells so much in so few words...tells of a life (George W. Carver's) lived with integrity and courage. The poems brilliantly paint a portrait of the noble human spirit that shines thru when an individual rises above pettiness, self-centeredness and dishonesty. I believe the author must share some of the good values evidenced in Carver's life - else she could not write as she does. Hopefully, all readers of this treasured book will be empowered to let their OWN good values shine forth.
Average customer rating:
- SEDUCED by a good read.
- Fast-paced story rich with New York jargon and hip hop flava
- Very HIP!!
- SLOW MOVING IN THE BEGINNING....BUT EXCITING IN THE END.
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Seduced
Nelson George
Manufacturer: One World/Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0345412664
Release Date: 1997-01-21 |
Book Description
"[A] smart, funny, and wonderfully resonant novel . . . It's the 1980s, and aspiring songwriter Derek Harper is a man easily seduced. Not only do the Big Three *money, fame, and women *keep him running, but Harper falls prey to subtler forms of seduction as well: the ease of rationalizing bad behavior, abdicating responsibility, and keeping the whole world at arm's length. All these issues are brilliantly interwoven with a behind-the-scenes look at the music industry, particularly the evolution of rap."
*Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Seduced is at its most compelling when author Nelson George delves into the differences between life in the projects and the middle-class heaven of St. Albans and how it evolved over thirty years. . . . George's style is, well, seductive, luring the reader into a world that takes in the range of black experience funneled through the music industry."
*St. Petersburg Times
"Seduced shows Nelson George at the top of his game doing what he does best: zinging the black music biz. The road chapters alone have enough shrill wit, stabbing satire, and tight accuracy to parallel the life of anyone who's ever been out there during the Reagan-stressed '80s."
*Houston Chronicle
"In Seduced, Nelson keeps it real. This is a sex story, a New York story, and a music biz story rolled into one, starring a humble, beautifully average middle-class dreamer, who's not unlike a male version of a Terry McMillan heroine."
*Touré
Customer Reviews:
SEDUCED by a good read........2000-07-22
SEDUCED took it's time to get where it was going, but when it did, it made up for it's slow pace with gripping story and complex characterization. Not one of the best book that I have read, it gripped me with it's world of music and success and how it doesn't always mix. All in all, it turned out to be a good book.
Fast-paced story rich with New York jargon and hip hop flava.......1999-01-27
Although I was familiar with Nelson George as an author, this was my first time reading one of his books. I was thoroughly impressed. Being from the New York area and being close in age to the main character, I could easily relate to the story. The story also interestingly chronicles the growth of D. Harper, the main character. If you think you'll enjoy reading about the music industry and New York in the late 70s, the 80s and early 90s with glimpses of the New York club scene, you'll love this book.
Very HIP!!.......1998-06-21
This is a very hip book. It takes a slice of americana that isn't written about very often. It was a breezy well written believable story of life in urban african-american society. I'm reading Urban Romance now!!!.
SLOW MOVING IN THE BEGINNING....BUT EXCITING IN THE END........1997-08-29
Excellent overview of Black Middle-Class Queens, New York....I know because I lived it. Nelson depicts the music world and the people in it vividly, you feel like you've been there and know them. Kudos, to Nelson for the happy ending, I hope Derek & Candi stay together "Till death do them part."
Books:
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites: Sixteen Driving Tours with Directions and the Full Story, from Tallulah Bankhead to River Phoenix
- In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad
- James Dean: Fifty Years Ago
- Laurence Olivier: A Biography
Books Index
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