This book should be in everybody's library. It is the best book on African American History that I have encountered. It is sectioned off into short chapters with questions to think about and group activitites at the beginning of each chapter. It also has a suggested reading section at the end of each chapter if you would like to read on about a certain area. This is one book that you will truly appreciate!

Molefi Asante's groundbreaking text The Afrocentric Idea offers an honest critique of the power structures behind the rhetorical foundation of how Americans view race and ethnic tradition. Truly Asante is worthy of being the top contemporary writer in Afrocentricity

Molefi Asante has done it again with this book. This book is a good introduction to Africa. He gives the main points of each area. He gives questions to make you think about what you've read. The pictures and the maps area absolutely beautiful. This is a book that you should have in your library. If you don't then it's your loss!

Part of the "Culture And Customs Of Africa" series, Culture And Customs Of Egypt by Molefi KeteAsante (Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University) is a straightforward and reader accessible look at daily life in modern Egypt, including its people, history, religion, art, food, social customs and much, much more. Written in a plain, easy-to-understand prose that is ideal for students and non-specialist general readers alike, Culture And Customs Of Egypt is an enriching presentation and survey of a great nation Middle East nation which is very highly recommended reading for tourists, vacationers, armchair travelers, and anyone else who wants or needs to know the basics of life, culture, society, and religion in Egypt today.

Egypt vs. Greece And The American Academy: The Debate Over The Birth Of Civilization collaboratively edited by Molefi Asante (Professor of African American Studies, Temple University) and Ama Mazama (Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University) is a selection of erudite, informative, challenging, scholarly essays by an eclectic variety of learned authors, each one of whom focuses on different aspects of the rise of human civilization, from how a genetic model compares to ancient African history to observations about Eurosupremacism in academia. A fascinating, involved, iconoclastic compendium, Egypt vs. Greece And The American Academy is very highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, as well as a seminal and ground-breaking addition to academic reference collections for the study of ancient history and the developmental origins of Western Civilization.

Of all Asante's work, this book (compiled in 1993 during the height of Afrocentricity's platform and Malcolm X mania) stands out as one of the more accessible and endearing tomes of his oeuvre. Despite the eye-catching title (for its time), we are treated to some excellent essays on a variety of subjects, which is a refreshing departure from much of the metathoery of his other work. One of the things that people charge Afrocentrists with is not fashioning practical positions on contemporary issues, and justifiably so in many cases. Asante deals with genocide in Africa, Malcolm X, gender and television with aplomb, heart and a solid voice.

A must for Asante fans, and a greta book for essayists, debators and peopel who love challenging, original thought.

A great starting point for the reader just beginning to read and form an opinion on this life science called Afrocentricity. This book is an easy read but direct in its approach.

Afrocentricity remains as one of the newest and least understood of philosophical branches. Originating in the late 19th Century through the work of W.E.B. DuBois and his contemporaries, Asante provides a brilliant stepping-stone, just scraping the surface for the uninitiated beginner, into this compelling branch of thought. Particularly interesting are his arguements on human nature and of universality. Afrocentricity is NOT Black nationalist propaganda, it is a legitimate point-of-view and a basis of serious scholarship. Essential reading for any philosophy student.

Hotep to those who want to recognize truth and bring enlightenment to our future leaders.

Dr. Molefi K. Asante has never been a favorite of anyone who wants African Americans to not gain victory over their plight in America(especially in the academy. As a teacher and a student, I've witnessed hundreds of students become more encouraged and realistic about their future and their history.

Afrocentricty is not for the timid or the meek. It was written for those persons who recognize the atrocities of our educational system and realize African Americans must view themselves as competent, creative, sensitive, and humane people, who have contributed much to humankind. A white American scholar named Ulrich C.Reitzug (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)wrote a a chapter in Theodore Kowalski's Public Relations in Educational Organizations (1996), entitled Changing Social and Institutional Conditions, stating that: "Prior to becoming a university professor I worked in K-12 schools for eleven years as a teacher and principal. The schools in which I worked wre attended by primarily white students from upper middle class, two-parent families. Nonetheless, there was sufficient diversity in these schools that there were also children in attendance from economically disadvantaged families and single parent families. As I reflect back on those days I realize that while overall I was well respected as an educator, i also know that education in the schools in which I worked was like a cheap tube sock-one size fit all...I believed in euity and justice. I cared for my students and their families; I wanted a top quality education for all students. However, I viewed these concepts through the narrow lens of a white middle class male living in a period of time when white maleness so dominated education that our focus was seldom challenged. Thus I was insensitive to cultural differences in learning style; I was unaware of certain aspects of student diversity; i did not now enough to question the Eurocentric content of the textbooks we used. I thought equality of educational opportunity meant providing the best "white" education for all children. If nonwhite children or other children who were culturally different from the mainstream "didn't get it," we would team them in a group with other children who also "didn't get it." There we would help them by providing white education in finer, more discrete increments. I was never sensitive enough to realize that the Eurocentric focus of the education we provided delegitimized the culture of children of color and ensure inequalitiy of educational opportunity for most of these children. This educator references in his bibliography, Molefi Kete Asante's Afrocentricity, as a book used in his research. For those of us who grew up under a system of Jim Crow and segregation, and now the eradication of Affirmative Action (thanks to African Americans like Ward Connelly), it is major that scholars like Asante, Patricia Liggins-Hill (author of the anthology Call and Response), Clenora Hudson-Weems (author of Africana Womanism and Emmett Till: The Sacrificial Lamb of the Civil Rights Movement),Tony Martin (volumes of books of the life and contributions of Marcus Garvey) and so many other African American scholars, continue to be Afrocentric in their research, writing, and actions. It doesn't mean they are against anyone. Afrocentricity means we as Africana scholars (some of these scholars have been white who have gained their scholarship the Temple University, thanks to Dr. Asante and others), want to correct the miseducation of all students from preschool to college; What will our future leaders think and say, if we do not make our voices heard and our writings sound to wipe the onslaught of racism and incorrect books about first world peoples? Afrocentricity is a spirit movement and a paradigm which Molefi K. Asante challenged the system and was victorious. For those who do not or cannot understand Afrocentricity, try praying for understanding and wisdom. Dr. Asante, on behalf of our children of the world, thank you. Oh, by the way. One year ago, the first Chinese student to earn his doctorate under Dr. Asante returned to China, to teach in the Afrocentric way. Need I say more.

Asante Sana! Thank you.

Not useful for the egyptophile in my view. On the other hand - if you buy the Black Ancient Egyptian trip - you might find this work of interest.

Molefi Asante's Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is a timely redressing of a serious omission in the human history -- the antiquarian contributions of African philosophers to medicine, philosophy, science, and the birth of civilization itself. Beginning with a chronology of Ancient World Philosophers, this scholarly, superbly crafted survey covers Imhotep and the "emergence of reason", Ptahhotep and the "moral order", Merikare on "common sense", as well as the contributions and insights of Akhenaten, Amenemope, and others whose work was ignored, suppressed, or simply unknown to the academia based on Greco-Roman sources and histories. Ancient Egyptian Philosophers: From Imhotep To Akhenaten is highly recommended reading for students of Black Studies, philosophy, and the history of science.

This book classifies and lists the African names by general region, other than by the specific African ethnic groups that use the names. Asante refers to this as as a 'Pan-Africanist' approach and an 'Afrocentric orientation' in classifying the names. The book does not go into detail, and does not address pronunciation of the names. The book would thus be welcomed by the general other than the sophisticated or inquisitive reader on Africa. The meanings that are alloted to the names are mainly brief, using only one or a couple more words. The names number about 1200. Asante admits that he has avoided listing names that have negative connotations. However, a thorough comprehension of African names requires the treatment of names of all kinds. African names that have negative connotations are, for the most part, intended for the good of children born under adverse circumstances. The African logic is that giving a 'bad' name to say a very sick child, will lure away the attention of the evil forces of death.

Ah, the jealous create their own worlds in order to comfort themselves.

Even if the ancient Greeks started by copying basic culture from the Middle East and Africa, they then expanded on it to create their own wonderful civilization. Did the blacks create philosophy, drama, or organized warfare? How do the sculptures of the Greeks compare to those of Africa? Are the Iliad and the Odyssey really African tales? Was Aristotle trully black? Did Plato sail down to Africa, copy ideas for his debates, and sail back to orate at the Acropolis? Did the phalanx come from Egypt?

Please people,how about a reality check? This book constitutes pure drivel. While different perspectives are always welcome, let them be based on fact, not someone's FANTASY. The way this book was embraced in a few quarters really demonstrates people's racism and their inability to think for themselves.

As our friend below states, the Greeks noted that the Egyptians were black Africans, Nubians. What he doesn't mention - or indeed doesn't know - is that Herodotus was writing in a time when the Egyptians had been assimilated by Blacks from the southern regions. Anyone who refers to the existence of sculptures that "prove" the Black heritage of Ancient Egypt must realize that these statues were made during the time of the Black Egyptians, in the last dynasties. The fact that the Egyptians had a Semitic language pretty much refutes the lie that Ancient Egypt was a black culture, on the contrary, the Egyptians made clear that their enemies were the black Nubians and Jews. The racial origin of the Egyptians isan enigma to say the least, but one thing is certain: they were not black.

When make you make a statement (about blacks coming from the south)"friend" back up with a fact that you know and not present day european assesment.I am not here to argue arfrocentrism of eurocentrism only that your coments have nothing to with the way the ancient world saw blacks etc.People are afraid to look something that Is an alternative to the way they have been taught to see things.Also to the idiot that wishes to call people kooks the only punks I know hide behind the Internet and make comments such as yours.Anyway, loved the book and hope people will read with an opened state of mind.