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Sto caricando le informazioni... Manchild in the Promised Land (originale 1965; edizione 1999)di Claude Brown
Informazioni sull'operaManchild in the Promised Land di Claude Brown (1965)
1960s (102) Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. An autobiographical account of the life of a young black man growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, the book chronicles his shockingly early introduction into a crime-filled life (by the age of nine (!) he was a seasoned thief and gang member), through his stints in institutions such as Eleanor Roosevelt's Wiltwyck, and his amazing efforts to leave behind that life to make a better one for himself. I can't say that I liked it - this isn't a book that you enjoy reading. It's hard and harsh and bleak. But it's also incredibly well-written and inspiring, and still an important read today; I learned so much about what life was like for kids growing up in Harlem at that time, a world that, as a white farm-raised girl from the Midwest in the 80's, I knew nothing about. So I'm grateful for this narrative and humbled by Brown's ability to rise up out of his beginnings and become the impressive scholar and writer he was. Be warned, though: Brown pulls no punches in his no-nonsense way of detailing scenes of violence, drug use, and even gang rape. (I nearly put it down several times, but decided to push on because I thought it overall an important story to finish.) Revisiting something I read in Junior High, I think, perhaps high school. At first, I thought, yeah, yeah I have read many like this but it really does hold up well and offers insight and humor. The last page about living in and returning to Harlem as home but not in the sense of a house, but rather, the streets as home was very personally familiar. Well done. This was a unique read for me. It's been described as epic, and it is very much an epic tale of youth in black Harlem. The earliest years of the author in this autobiography I found quite reminiscent of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain intended humor; I wasn't sure whether or not the author did, but the candid, direct commentary on life was very refreshing, despite some unsavory situations. The author continues his journey well into early adulthood, showing amazing insight and candor into general life changes as a youth, life as a black person in Big City America, and most especially as his own individual self making choices about if, when, and how to fit in with a group or strike out on his own. Even though this was set mostly around the 1950s and has some dated phrases, it's stunning how much it applies to present day intercity life. It makes the reader want to rethink very presumption that he or she may have made about black youth in our urban communities. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
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With more than two million copies in print,Manchild in the Promised Land is one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time--the definitive account of African-American youth in Harlem of the 1940s and 1950s, and a seminal work of modern literature. Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s. When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem--the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor. The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because of its inspiring message. Now with an introduction by Nathan McCall, here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and grew up to become a man. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)305.896073092Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Ethnic and national groups ; racism, multiculturalism Other Groups African Origin North America African AmericansClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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How Claude Brown managed to escape the neighborhood, find a job, find his way to night school to earn his high school diploma, learn to play the piano, etc., seems miraculous to me. It was an era of lost lives and grim futures. Those few that managed to escape should be applauded, but for most, it seemed that escape wasn't ever an option. While not a recent book, it's still a worthwhile read, both for inner city youth, as well as for people raised in relative wealth who have trouble understanding the problems of life in the ghetto.
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