Stokely: A Life

It was a difficult, complex time defined by anger and injustice, but Peniel Joseph manages to penetrate the posturing and public persona of Stokely Carmichael as much as possible both on and off of the political stage that he helped define. He gives ample attention to Carmichael's Trinidadian roots. I quite enjoyed this biography.

I just completed the reading of Stokely: A Life by Peniel Joseph. My thought, Peniel 's audience should find the book fascinating and an easy read. I would, however, recommend the reading of additional works about Kw3ame' Ture' and the Movement, to help them through areas that I found confusing on this first read.One such area would be the discussions, pages 87, 88, 93, 96-99, 162-163 about the Lowndes County Freedom organization in Lowndes County, Alabama, that Joseph calls the Alabama Black Panther Party. The Lowndes County Freedom Organization is an independent political party. It's a political party like the Republican Party and/or the Democratic Party. Joseph's discussions confuses the Lowndes group and the Black Panther Party of California. However, in his epilogue Joseph does Kwame' justice with the following.: "Ture's legacy remains central to understanding a historical epoch with which our collective memory has yet to make peace. Ture's journey from civil rights militant and Black Power icon to the revolutionary socialist who unfurled the Pan-African banner high enough for much of the world to see indelibly changed the black freedom struggles." This is the Kwame' that I hope readers take away from Stokely: A Life.

This work, "Stokely..." Like previous books written by Professor Peniel Joseph regarding the Black Power era is interesting, informative, and gives the reader insight into the life of the man who coined the phrase "black power."

Haven't finished it yet, but he was great civil rights leader. I met him back in the day.

I heard of a brewing controversy over Professor Joseph's biography of Kwame Ture, which failed to materialize in my reading of this book. I recommend it for the serious student as well as those that are generally curious about the life and work of a pan-African thinker.

Very interesting almost inside view of the movement as well as the man (Stokely Carmichael). Very informative. I enjoyed the work from start to finish. It was neither slow or unsatisfying.

Great book! Stokely Carmichael is not studied enough.

Exceptional historical account!

A well researched study of Stokely's political career and development but lacking the depth of political analysis I would have expected from an author who is a professor of history. For example there was no real debate about why he stood against John Lewis to be chair of the SNCC nor, more crucially, why he resigned a year later and the wisdom of this decision. It reads like a...what Stokely did &said next account at times.However the book does get across his importance to the civil rights and Black Power struggle. It is excellent on his relationship with Martin Luther King. It also shows him to be right in his logic for supporting Pan Africanism, after all the working class in the "democratic west" are living on the cheap labour of farmers and factory workers in Africa and Asia.

The book was an interesting read and not someone you learned about at school or should I say I didn't.A good read for learning a little more about the civil rights movement and the direction stokely Carmichael took.