Like most serious African-American educators, I don't have a high opinion of so-called "Afrocentric" history. However, I do understand why many of the Black masses feel the psychological need to beleive the historical tall tales and overemphasis on Egyptian Mythology (although in reality, most of today's African-Americans are descended from West Africans).

Dr. Moses does a good job of tracing the roots of afrocentric thought and I learned a lot from the solid evidence he offers. However, he could have left out the personal attacks and name calling regarding Moefi, Lefkowitz, and Karenga and discussed them strictly within the faultiness of their historical work. But other than that, it's a pretty good book.

This book is required reading not only for anyone interested in Afrocentrism and its history, but also for anyone interested in how "popular" history shapes cultural images, goals, and political aspirations. For those who presume that Afrocentrism is a product of postmodern relativism, this book is an important corrective: Moses demonstrates Afrocentrism's emergence (or, more accurately, the emergence of different Afrocentrisms) in the discourse of nineteenth-century African-American intellectuals. (In fact, as he points out, the key concepts of Afrocentric discourse have remained virtually unchanged since their conception.) Moses' commitment to *understanding* how Afrocentric discourse *works* produces genuine insight into how the "literate public" appropriates historical concepts for its own purposes. (He is particularly sympathetic to Afrocentrism's interest in high culture.) Moses is also willing to apportion praise and blame when due, with both Mary Lefkowitz and Maulana Karenga coming in for scathing shares of the latter. In addition to the book's scrupulous research, one must praise its elegant writing style--all too rare in academic prose these days.