This book was outstanding!

This work, a re-issue of the late 1960s anthology entitled "Willian Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond," is the best place to go for the reaction of the black intellectual community to Styron's fictional treatment of Nat Turner's 1831 slave rebellion in Virgina. This review refers to the orginal edition and doesn't address any edits or new introductions or essays included in this 2001 version.

Styron called his work a "meditation on history" and it sparked a long and bitter debate about views of Turner (a preacher whose rebellion was the most violent and longest-lasting of the several slave rebellions before the Civil War) two centuries after his birth. Styron has been criticized for racist and apologist views on slavery and a poor portrayal of Turner -- and his defenders have responded that he wrote a well-constructed, moving, and accurate portrayal of American slavery and Turner's life.

The truth lies somewhere in between, I suspect. But to decide for yourself, everyone who reads Styron must also read this excellent collection of essays.

My sole complaint with the style of this work (although one could endlessly discuss the content) is that some of the essays are redundent, several are too long, and at least two are too short to adequately make their points. But this work was orginally a rapid response to Styron's work, so you'd expect it to be a little rough around the edges.

After hearing a speech of Clarke's on the radio, I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it let me down.

Clarke's writing lacks style - I frequently was wondering if I was reading a high school composition rather than a book by the great orator.

There is a complete lack of continuity and cohesion throughout the book. Topics change from paragraph to paragraph. One gets confused if he is writing about himself, his life, the people he has known or his unpublished books. Any given paragraph may include some or all of these in a rather haphazard manner.

In reading this, I especially hoped to sink my teeth into understanding more about Clarke, more about the Africana movement, more about the history of the African people. Instead, I got some anectdotal stories and superficial glimpses. There was no significant depth to the content of this book.

In spite of my disappointment with "My Life in Search of Africa," it is an important book to read. History has typically been approached from a European (white) perspective, and it is essential that we get beyond that approach, that we learn more of the rest of the world, and that we learn from and about the people enabling that knowledge.

well i realy hate thebook, why are you asking me that question about the book. leave me alone!

I'd suggest this book to anyone who is reading recent books on the origins of civilization. What I liked about it is that Diop was bringing a wealth of research that was otherwise inaccessible to me to the this issue--and I found that I could connect this history to that of Europe and Britain using other resources that I have. the issue I have with is is that some of the work struck me as oriented to handling one set of politically motivated forms of anthropology that he found objectionable-but he didn't consider the work of a lot of other major authors (i.e. the work of Lewis Spence on connections between North Africa and Ancient Britain). I thought Diops criticisms of Gimubutus were especially interesting.

Diop demonstrates his multidisciplinary genius in this book. His scientific approach leaves no stone unturned, even when dealing with linguistics. He addresses so many topics, from the origins of civilisation to political and social organisation in ancient states. I especially treasure the chapters on Africa's contribution to humanity in sciences and philosophy. A real eye-opener. Mostly French speaking authors are referenced and critiqued though. It's a shame there aren't more African scholars following Diop's lines of research.

Diop's is an african scholar who deserves to be a part of every person of african descents library. I take offense to frank stallone's obvious byass and limited views. He is obviously not a person of african descent and is unable to grasp the full meaning of Diop's work. If you are not interested in truth and the upliftment of the african peoples then this book is not for you.

[...] I was amazed. This guy is not only serious in his convictions; he seems to believe he has single handedly overturned the modern ideas on 'race.' This is the kind of book I would have expected to find originally published a hundred years ago, of course with the targets being non-Europeans. Isn't this called racism? Yes, of course it is. So, Mr. Bradley, the races are permanently different? Everything is not only nature over nurture but is also easily discovered by tracing ancestry? All previous and much more thoughtful research has clearly shown that all cultures, or races if you can't get out of that rut, were and are equally prone to what are universal human behaviors. Aggression and violence are not more pronounced in Western Europe, it was simply these westerners who were better able to effect their aggression. I am amazed that this piece of, um, spurious scholarship was published. On second thought I can. I can only hope that only those who seek this kind of [...] will read this, [...], and not a person genuinely interested in history. Especially not someone who comes upon this book early in their explorations of a very interesting area of study. In short, if you have already made up your mind that white men have ruined the world, buy this book and find a companion in your unreasoning conviction. If you have not decided this, don't waste your time.

This is not a serious work on anthropology, genetics, human evolution, history or biology. The assertions put forth within it don't hold up to even minimal scrutiny nor can they withstand even modest criticism. In fact, they simply outlandish, and therein lies the appeal of this book.. It will appeal to those who have some kind of bigotry towards whites, but for those who wish a book based on reality, fact, and reason, I suggest looking elsewhere.

Michael Bradley, as a member of the Caucasian race, has bravely stepped forward with a valuable contribution to the analysis of Caucasian group behavior, or should I say misbehavior, toward people of color. No matter what your political affiliation or race, anyone who engages in a discussion of race relations is in reality examining why people who call themselves white have such a seemingly inherent animosity to people classified as non-white. Mr. Bradley also asks why Caucasian culture has an adversarial relationship to the planet Earth. It is a rare white person who will even admit the existence of the global system of white supremacy, let alone one who will acknowledge that the group mentality of his race is indeed the source of the racism, pollution, and resource depletion that plague the world.

As part of the system of white supremacy, whites have developed an entire vocabulary (e.g. "affirmative action," "immigration reform," "civil rights," or calling Egypt part of the "Middle East," thereby removing the nation from Africa) which allows them to talk about race without mentioning any explicit racial terms. That way, anyone who speaks candidly about the core of the race problem - white group behavior- can be accused by white people of preaching anti-white racism. I'm sure some Eurocentric people who are only used to receiving "information" that bolsters the white viewpoint will be shocked by some of the things Bradley says; but Eurocentric people need to be shocked out of their extreme xenophobia. I don't neccesarily agree with some of the conclusions the author reaches but I have to commend him for his honesty. Other books that cover the same subject matter but, in my opinion, do a better job of analysis are: The Isis Papers by Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing and, especially, Yurugu by Marimba Ani. I will conclude by saying that anybody interested in truly addressing the problem of white supremacy should include these three books on their essential reading list.