Africana Books

MY PRODUCT WAS WONDEFUL AND IN WONDERFUL NEW CRISP CONDITION THANKS AMAZON... AND ALSO FOR HAVING MY PRODUCT GET TO MEIN A PROMPT TIME FRAME...

This is a good "reference" for someone who is seeking some surface knowledge about African Americans and their histroy, but I was hoping for a little bit more "meat". It is a well written text, but it is like a dictionary with very little specific insight into the subjects mentioned in the text. It gives the reader more of an overview of topics. Additionally, some very importanat people in African American history are not included in the text. If you are looking for something that is comprehensive, this is NOT the book to get. It is possible that the entire Africana would be more appropriate for my needs.

Scholars Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., paid homage to the great W.E.B. Du Bois' dream to produce an encyclopedia cataloguing the achievements and history of the African Diaspora with the publication in 1999 of the massive 2,095-page AFRICANA: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Appiah and Gates duly acknowledge Du Bois' many contributions to history, literature, and the struggle for human rights around the world with: their dedication of the book to him, a regular encyclopedia entry on his achievements, and an "interpretation" by Cornel West of his historical significance.

While AFRICANA is exactly what the title implies, it is also quite a bit more. The book itself represents a major achievement of publishing technology. What Du Bois was not able to accomplish by sheer brain power and intellectual camaraderie, Appiah and Gates achieved through developments in modern communication technology, the computer, and a global team of dedicated intellectuals. The scope of AFRICANA encompasses literature, religion, music, dance, sociology, politics, and, above all, history. In reading the book for pleasure or referencing it for specific topics, one realizes just how much of the African-American and African experience has shaped and defined the greater modern human experience.

Aberjhani
Author of THE WISDOM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS
And ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Thank you for your promptness. The recipient truly loved the gift. Thank you once again. Bernadette

As the author of The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities, I was disappointed to not see any reference to the nine African American Fraternities and Sororities, particularly since W.E.B. DuBois was a member. It seemed like a strange omission for such a comprehensive book.


--
Lawrence C. Ross, Jr.
The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities (author)
The Ways of Black Folks: A Year in the Life of a People (author)
Sometimes Rhythm, Sometimes Blues (contributor)
Friends With Benefits (author: September 2005)

As a university professor in African American Studies, I looked forward to the first edition and bought it. But I was disappointed by the woefully lacking index which is also the case with the 2nd edition.

The five-volume 2nd edition is much easier to handle in terms of weight for each volume than the VERY heavy one volume 1st edition. However, one must wonder how Harvard professors (the editors) could allow a lack of a comprehensive index the second time around.

I bought the 1st edition, but I recommend not buying the 2nd edition. If a future edition has a comprehensive index, I will buy and would urge you to buy, as there is a wealth of information.

As for this (2nd) edition, save your money. Use the volumes at your school/university or community library for good general background information on the African and African American Experience.

In the west, where the knowledge of the sacred techonology of the mother is almost non-existant, this book is a blessing. Gives a great introductory understanding of the dynamic force/being/ability/power that is Ájé.

Henry Mitchell, Jeremiah Wright, Otis Moss III, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Valerie Bridgeman Davis, Marilyn Thornton, Safiyan Fosua, and Linda Hollies are some of the contributors to this incredibly rich collection of essays that focus on worship within African-American and Caribbean churches. The essays span practices of worship, including, for example, the reading of scripture and the interpretation of it among the Bassa Christians in Liberia. The essay by Otis Moss III concerns new styles of worship, moving from traditional understandings of worship to a new dynamic for worship in the 21st century.

This collection is appropriate for pastors and scholars, for those within African-American churches and for those who live outside it. Were more people to read works such as this one, the recent controversy concerning the preaching of Pastor Jeremiah Wright might be understood in a far different light than the coverage within the popular news outlets.

I look forward to more of the thinking of the contributors and to other books in this series of resources.