Controversial and enigmatic, the tragic trajectory of Scott-Heron’s life and career is expertly examined in this testament...
The first full-length biography of the legendary poet/musician famous for his socially conscious lyrics.
A revered figure of both hip-hop and the counterculture, Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) was an artist who defied easy classification. Born in Chicago but raised predominately in the small town of Jackson, Tennessee, Scott-Heron experienced firsthand the hypocrisy of segregation and the blues’ “pathos and gut-wrenching emotional honesty,” which would provide him with a rhythm to which to set his evocative lyrics. International Business Times managing editor Baram, who knew his subject during his life, claims that Scott-Heron’s unique style “would emphasize certain words on certain beats, anticipating by a decade the revolution of hip-hop.” Though indebted to blues, his two major influences were Langston Hughes and John Coltrane. Scott-Heron had always considered himself a writer who used music as a way to perform his poetry, and it was Coltrane’s vision and drive that inspired Scott-Heron to focus on his writing. While at Lincoln University, Scott-Heron transformed from a somewhat reserved though passionate observer to an outspoken advocate of social justice. His music reflected this change in the narratives he sang of ghetto life, such as “The Bottle,” as well his bitter critique of American culture and power, “Winter in America.” The polemical “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” would define his career, though Scott-Heron often harangued its misinterpretation, despite licensing the song to Nike. Scott-Heron sought to raise awareness of and legitimize the black experience in America, only to witness the malaise and apathy of the late 1970s erode the progressive spirit that inspired him. He continued to record, but without longtime friend and collaborator Brian Jackson, his sales and critical reception waned. Retreating into a severe cocaine addiction, resulting in several arrests and jail sentences, Scott-Heron made a final recording in 2010 before dying in 2011.
Controversial and enigmatic, the tragic trajectory of Scott-Heron’s life and career is expertly examined in this testament to one of the last great radical artists.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1250012784
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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