Book Review: Living Black History

Book: Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America's Racial Future by Manning Marable

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

There was a lot of information in this that will give readers something to think about. In my opinion America has had a problem with discrimination and oppression ever since this country had been "discovered". Although things have improved immensely over the years, the country is still not at the place where the citizens no longer have to fight for equality.

As the description of the book states, everyday we live history and from the choices we select we also make history. This five chapter book goes into some of the problems the United States has had with long patterns of discrimination and how many of those who have been opposed to that have tried to work against it. It also focused on some of the historical figures W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X and the case Brown v. Board of Education. The author wrote about how most of Black historical content is becoming lost due to being shut away from the public by private collectors or institutions leaving the past to be redefined and edited instead of being able to provide the true recollection of events.

I found quite a few things interesting in the chapter that focused on Malcolm X. It showed that the author Alex Haley for the book The Autobiography of Malcolm X may have had his own personal agenda going as he co-wrote the book with Malcolm X. The publication of the book contains less of the real Malcolm due to intense rewrites and editing from both the publisher and Haley. I also found it quite enlightening Malcolm X's opinions of women which he didn't think very highly of but I guess I also have to factor that into the time period and his religious views.

But all that goes to show you is that the late author and professor Manning Marable did thorough research for this book and provided an unbiased look at history.

This was very well-written and researched but there were times when this felt a little text bookish. I said it before sometimes it's hard to make history books appealing even more so when it deals with the awful truth of history.

One downside, I had with the book was it focused more on male historical figures and didn't really provide much in the way as to what the women during those eras did to help change history.