On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
Written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
Narrated by Richard Allen
4/5
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About this audiobook
In On the Shoulders of Giants, indomitable basketball star and bestselling author and historian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites readers on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace, through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in our history, revealing the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life. Beginning with the rise of the Harlem Rens as pioneers of professional basketball, Kareem traces the many streams of historical influence that converged to create the man he is today-the NBA's all-time leading scorer and a veritable African American icon.
Travel deep into the soul of the Renaissance-to the night clubs, restaurants, basketball games, and fabulous parties that have made footprints in Harlem's history. Meet the athletes, jazz musicians, comedians, actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, and writers who not only inspired Kareem's rise to greatness but an entire nation's.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born in the midst of a cultural reawakening, carried on the shoulders of athletes trying to prove there was a lot more at stake than a ball game, men and women who made music that could break your heart, and writers and intellectuals who gave voice to not just the ideals of a movement but the raw emotions. Kareem tells what it took to get these revolutionaries to Harlem and how they changed the world. A world that is still riding on the shoulders of giants.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is recognized by Sports Illustrated and Time magazine as history’s greatest basketball player (he is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer). The author of several New York Times bestsellers, Kareem’s previous books include Giant Steps, Kareem, Black Profiles in Courage, A Season on the Reservation, and Brothers in Arms. Since his retirement as a player in the NBA, Kareem has worked as a special assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers and acted as a volunteer coach for children on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona.
More audiobooks from Kareem Abdul Jabbar
On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 2: Master Intellects and Creative Giants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 3: Basketball Comes to Harlem Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 4: Jazz Lights Up Harlem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 1: How Harlem Became the Center of the Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for On the Shoulders of Giants
12 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We've kown for a long time that there's more to Kareem than skyhooks. In On the Shoulders of Giants, he shares his passion for history. He describes the Harlem Renaissance from several points of view: the social history that led up to it, the significant thinkers who contributed to it, the black basketball teams that originated there, and finally the jazz music that flourished in Harlem. He ties up each section with a couple of pages about how that facet affected his life. Not superficial but not terribly deep either, the book gives overviews of key topics and fascinating descriptions of key individuals, and it can serve as a guide for further investigation for the reader who is so inclined. I enjoyed it quite a bit.