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Swap the books you've read, for some you haven't!
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Nigger : An Autobiography by Dick Gregory
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  | Pocket, 1990
Mass Market Paperback, 224 pages
edition: Reprint
isbn: 0671735608
value: 12 credits
condition: good, Book is in good condition with no tears or dog-ears on the pages / cover. Some slight spine creasing. Back cover has a incision on the back cover from where somebody opened the package it was in with a stanley blade. Barely noticeable and does not affect the readability of the book.
Will ship internationally.
Book is in English.
I normally do my shipping on a Wednesday and a Saturday morning. Can provide proof of postage via receipt.
My books are also listed on whatsonmybookshelf.com so check them out.
Thanks for Looking!!!!!!!!
| owner: moomins     
Note: the owner's email address is currently unconfirmed. When it is confirmed you will be able to request this book.
A strong memior, lots of touching and interesting detail about his life growing up, his constant struggle to overcome adversity. I totally empathized with his hustling and lying at points to get ahead in a world so poised against him. the main thing I liked about the book was his VERY HUMAN side, his compassion for himself, his pain he suffered at being poor, mostly fatherless, black, dirty, hungry, uneducated. I loved it that he could cry, he could keep his humanity despite the world's cruelty...and not just keep it and feel it, but write about it later.
Weak point: the ending petered out. It went from being a man's internal struggle to "make it" in the world - the place in which I found the book's power lay - to being just another typical civil rights journal. And although I think the civil rights movement has its place, and Dick Gregory his place within it, I think I would have found the book far more satisfying it ended by its author turning further inward and exploring his own motives on his own purely personal journey, rather than outward to the struggle of society. Perhaps he wasn't ready to write on this level when he published his memoir, as he was only 30 or 31 when he wrote it, but to me his lack of wisdom still doesn't let the book off the hook. |
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Nigger : An Autobiography by Dick Gregory
Review: I have never heard of Dick Gregory, and it was the title of the book that grabbed my attention. I read the blurb and the book was sold!
I loved the directness and of course the humour of the book; how Gregory never gave up on his personal struggles and dreams, and then later go on to fight in the civil rights movement.
I enjoyed the book so much, I actually kissed it! LOL
Review: Dick Gregory's autobiography 'Nigger' is one of the most interesting works of the African American counterculture of the Sixties. From his childhood in poverty to his struggles to make it as an athlete in college and his later hardships as a night club owner and performer on stage: Gregory's writing provides us with a sober but nonetheless intriguing account of what it means to be a male black radical in the United States. His thoughts might not always be pc, but dig the humor and pain of his experience. Whereas his spoken word performances stress the gallow's humor so typical of the black comedians of his time, it is the more reflective and serious Gregory who speaks in his autobiography. A must read.
Review: Since I enjoyed reading Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin and Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody, I thought I would enjoy this book. I could not have been more wrong. This book is not of an honorable struggle for civil rights, it is a portrayal of a man that lied, cheated, and complained throughout. Never once does it appear to exhibit any balance of the author's character which only leaves me to believe that this IS his unfortunate character. The purpose of this book escapes me. It can not possibly inspire or encourage and I am sorry that I helped support this book by buying it.
Review: I'm sure a large number of comedians, including bill cosby paved the way for african american comedy, but Dick Gregory was probably the first to gain recognition for racial jokes. If not, please comment to let me know, because Dick Gregory was famous a few years before Pryor came on the scene, and I'm sure Pryor (RIP) was influenced by Gregory. I don't think Dolemite (RIP) opened as many doors (although he inspired many). This is a three-part bio beginning with his youth in poverty, and his success as an athlete in high school that leads him to college. The second part concludes his college experience, then military experience, where a disciplinary measure leads him to perform in a talent show that initiates his life as a comedian. The third part of the book is about his experience as a civil rights activist -- he knew everybody!!! A great, inspirational rags to riches story that confesses ugliness and inspires love and greatness.
Review: This book can be read on many levels. A frank personal confession and introspection, clever allegories that teach life lessons within one man's journey, and a critical indictment of a man's bitter outlook toward the unfair world bequeathed him and an absent father he could not make peace with.
As much as he wants to be angry and justified in his rascist resentment toward White America his life bears out the fallacy of blaming others for one's ultimate outcome. It seems that deep down he understands that where we are is not all we can be; too many factors remain in our control.Therein lies the sweet pain of this book. Sometimes we get lost in the depth of our own sorrow and fail to see the possilities left to us.
Gregory grew up w/ the dream of being a comedian, maybe intuitively undestanding that humor can be a chatharsis for pain. He grew up in stifling poverty but w/ the youthful ambitions of everyman. I found his ambition and resolve and self control admirable. The book can be read as a chronicle of as a youth becoming his own hero, w/out any positive role models, a young black man trying to forge a career in show business, or it can be seen as an allegorical commentary on that period of time; 1950's-mid 60's.I am terrified that in today's politically correct atmosphere this book will be banned or at least the title will be changed. When that happens the cause of free speech and education will be set back 50 years. Words are an expression of thought and when words are controlled and feared then thoughts will be stifled and the message of this book will be kept from so many young people who desperately need it. Please buy this book and read it.
Review: I LOOKED ALL OVER FOR THIS BOOK AND YOU WERE ONLY ONE THAT HAD IT. THANKS
TERI ANN GARCIA
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