Kareem Abdul Jabbar Books

First things first: This book provides a very interesting and seemingly thorough review of the forms of art to emerge from Harlem. It is worth reading for that reason alone. I would merely caution readers that Kareem is not hesitant to express a resentment against white America. Harlem is a very, very dangerous place, and has been for a long time, but reading this book you would never think that. You would think any acts of violence done there were brought on by caucasian mistreatment, that the Harlem Renaissance was an effort by blacks to overcome all the harm they had been done - and are still done - by whites. Someone of Kareem's influence could have gone about that differently. He could have described the art and literature as he did, mention the influence of black hardship in creating that culture, then at some point mention how black America has the role models it needs to excel. He could have pointed out that while making a living as a writer or a trumpet player is great, carrying and using a handgun with the same intentions is not. I always wished Carlos Santana would make more of a contribution to his culture's growth through his music. Maybe Kareem's next book will make a similar effort.

I have only scanned the book, however I am historically familiar with a
lot of the content which motivated me to buy the book as a collectors
item. I also order the book for my grandson and a friend's son.

Doug Murray

Here is a man who should be an inspiration to a whole generation. This book is more proof that he is more than just an athlete. This book is recommended reading for all teenagers

On the Shoulders of Giants speaks of a bygone, sometimes forgotten piece of America and its culture that nevertheless has great, reaching tentacles into our present, and that will continue to shake and embrace us well into our future. Beautifully written, with a title that says it all, this book is just as evocative and fascinating for non-sports, non-jazz fans as it will undoubtedly be for those entrenched in both subjects.

A wonderful discovery.

Especially interesting are the musicians and music that originated or passed through Harlem during this time.

I found this book to be very informative and very well writen! I particularly enjoyed learning true historical facts that have long been misrepresented, or clouded with partial information. I highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys history and is interested in learning truth.

I don't know about the book, but the author brings an entire new meaning to the term, "head up".

Call me Ishmal......

Simply put, I love this book. I like the fact that it summarizes the lives of so many African Americans including the famous and the still unknown. I highly recommend this book to any reader seeking information about the lives and consequent impact of some of our heroes.

I bought this book in hardcover when it first came out and since then have bought several copies to give to other people, both black and white, both young and old. Without fail, this book has impacted people, and every one of them has told me how much they learned from this wonderful book.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did a masterful job in gathering these inspiring stories from what has been, unfortunately, the footnotes of history, if they were acknowledged at all. The achievements by black Americans and their contributions to this country have been largely ignored by historians until recently. And even today, many black Americans who were not taught as young people about their heritage remain oblivious to what should be a matter of great pride.

We have taken great steps to equalize human rights, but we still have a way to go to completely obliterate the racial prejudice many of us grew up with. Books like this by people with the stature of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will help get us to where we should be--respecting people of all races, colors and creeds.

What's more remarkable than the informative nature of this text is how it came to be...
An African American sport icon who gained success through one of the primary avenues African Americans have to reach affluence (sports and entertainment) just to use it as an avenue to actually uplift the intellectual level of his community. Well done!
I can't tell you how many tears it brings to my eyes to see a brother who achieve greatness through the stereotypical avenue of sports and actually use his greatness to do the truly great...uplift his people. Though there have been lists and books previous to his on the same subject, it has rarely been done by a person with such influence among youth, and for that I credit him unlike other past atheletes who simply use their stardom to sell grills, orange juice, or try and become rappers.

Peace to the God

The book, Kareem!: Basketball Great is a wonderful book. The book provides a look into his childhood, where he struggled to fit in because of his height, Also, it tells of how he envisioned California as a great place but upon arrival at UCLA he hated it. His struggles with the national attention he recieves and the immaturity of his dormmates. The book gives a view of the beginning of his pro career with the Milwaukee Bucks. I give the book 5-Stars and recommend it to all sports fans.

The book, Kareem!: Basketball Great is a wonderful book. The book provides a look into his childhood, where he struggled to fit in because of his height, Also, it tells of how he envisioned California as a great place but upon arrival at UCLA he hated it. His struggles with the national attention he recieves and the immaturity of his dormmates. The book gives a view of the beginning of his pro career with the Milwaukee Bucks. I give the book 5-Stars and recommend it to all sports fans.

"The Buffalo Soldiers performed with distinction during the post-Civil War opening of the West, and they did so despite routinely being selected for the most dangerous, arduous, and tedious assignments. They were often despised by the very people they protected, for the color of their uniforms (Union blue) and of their faces. Beyond showing enormous bravery in battle with many of the Indian Nation's most adept fighters, they strung telephone lines, guarded railroad crews, built roads, escorted mail parties, and erected forts from the Dakotas to the Rio Grande. The photographs in this book of postcards celebrate the Buffalo Soldiers in portraits, official documentation, and candid shots of army life in the Wild West.

"Published with The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. Twenty-eight duotone reproductions bound in a handy 4 3/4 x 6 7/8" small book. ISBN: 0-7649-2878-3."--© Pomegranate

This book is terrific for kids who look to sports for role models. While from a different generation, these 4 athletes exemplify what being a leader is and are timeless in the positive effect they will have on children.

This master piece is a must have. The whole set is a beautiful journey through the Harlem Renaissance, where jazz was king.

The only thing bigger than the chip on Mr. Abdul-Jabbar's shoulder in this text is the grand and engaging story he tells. For fans or just the curious observer (as I was), he takes us on an insightful journey into his motivation, his doubts, his difficulties, and his dreams. It sometimes seems that the persona behind the person is revealed more to the reader than to the writer.

Giant Steps is an auto-biography of Kareem's first 30-35 years. A lot of people know Kareem as a sullen and bitter man and with good reason. But after reading his perceptions on his own life, you start to get an idea of what shaped Kareem and made him the man he was and how it shaped the man he is today. Raised in NYC, he was always a hoops phenom, always the tallest kid around, and after a few years, he became acutely aware of his blackness. A high school coach spitting a racial slur at him for "motivation" and a bus ride to racially insensitive North Carolina opened Kareem's (at the time his name was Lew Alcindor) eyes to racial inequality. He developed a keen interest in Islam (Kareem mentions the differences between the Islam he believes versus the Nation of Islam that Muhammad Ali believes in--very interesting take on this) and his own race.
After high school, it was on to sunny California and UCLA to play for John Wooden. The UCLA campus, chock full of white folks and scholars, was a bit different from the jazz joints he'd be hanging out at in Harlem.
From the US's two greatest cultural epicenters to Milwaukee? From the year-round paradise-like weather of LA to the frigid temps of Wisconsin? From the shelter of John Wooden's hoops program to the spotlight of the NBA and its aggressive media? Life can't change a lot more than that. And Kareem definitely had his difficulties, which he addresses and doesn't attempt to excuse.
You can feel Kareem's edge throughout the majority of the bio. The unforgiving chip on his shoulder weighs heavy on him, and after reading and understanding what pushed a bit more you can begin to sympathize with his personal struggles.
Near the bio's end you can literally feel weight sliding off of him. It's slow, it's gradual, and it's not complete, but it's the start of something. The "Giant Steps" title can refer to a lot of things in Kareem's life, New York to LA, LA to Milwaukee, college hoops to pro hoops, Wilt Chamberlain's friend to Wilt's enemy/competitor, but I believe the biggest steps Kareem takes are the steps toward acceptance of himself and others.
A companion book to Giant Steps is "Kareem". "Kareem" is a bio/diary Jabbar kept during his final season in the NBA. The second book picks up right where "Giant Steps" left off. His remarkable growth after his 35th birthday is clear to the most unobservant reader.
Kareem and his co-author clearly express his development in rich language. This isn't just for hoops fans. "Giant Steps" is for anyone curious about race relations in America. Anyone curious about what it means to be truly different (7'1" black Muslim/basketball player in America in the 60s-80s--not too many of them around) and be forced to feel those differences every second of your waking life should take a look.
"Giant Steps" shows an angry, but passionate young man develop into a thoughtful, (somewhat) outgoing adult capable of contributing much of what he's learned to younger generations.

KAREEM TELLS OF HIS LIFE GROWING UP IN NEW YORK IN GREAT DETAIL IN THIS BOOK. BUT I THINK HE SHOULD HAVE TOLD US MORE ABOUT HIS PLAYING DAYS AT UCLA, MILWAUKEE AND LOS ANGELES. THIS HAS A LOT OF GOOD STUFF LIKE HIS FIRST MEETING WITH WILT, HIS TEAMMATES AT UCLA, AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH CHERYL PISTANO. I REALLY FOUND HIS BUDDAHISM AND ALL THE PEOPLE INVOLVED TO BE VERY WEIRD AND UNINTERESTING. KAREEM IS AN INTELLIGENT GUY WHO ENJOYS THE MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL THINGS IN LIFE. HIS PIECE AT THE TIME CHERYL PISTANO, HELPED HIM TO BE MORE OUTGOING AND CORDIAL TO PEOPLE AND HELPED OPEN HIS LIFE MORE. JUST WISHED HE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE DETAILED ABOUT HIS SEASON TO SEASON CAREER AT UCLA AND THE NBA. A GOOD READ.

Much respect is due to Kareem Abdul-Jabaar for going after these stories and getting them in print for posterity. I admired you as a sports figure, but now I honor you as a man of principle. Much respect.

There are all types of history books. Some are textbooks other historical fiction some autobiographies. This book is not of these and something else altogether. Not since I read "Manchild in the Promised Land" by Claude Brown at the age of 13 years, have I been moved as I have by Mr. Jabbar's effort. Brothers In Arms now ranks with my very favorite books. It is engaging and informative. It makes me want to buy a ticket and go to France and Belgium and retrace the footsteps of these heroic men. What more could you ask from a book. Yes there are inaccuracies, inconsistancies and errors in the book. But not where it counts. Obviously, Kareem sat down with some of these men and got their stories. First hand experiences. Those are the things that draw you in and make you want to know more. Those are the things that make you cry when one of them dies, even though it happened over 60 years ago. Yet you weep for them still. And in the end, when the book is done, there is a heaviness in your heart but an overwhelming pride fills your chest.

This book should be required reading for all High school students along with Killer Angels, Catcher in the Rye and 1984. I could go on but you should simply read the book instead.

I really did like this book and found it to be very well done; I couldn't put it down. Kareem abdul-jabbar did a great job of tying the history of the unit into is his life (one of the main characters was friends with his father). It wasn't only intresting because of the whole Black Soldiers in WW II subject area, but was also a great read concerning WW II tankers in general (not just black tankers). Mr. Abdul did an outstanding job and I would recommend this book to anyone.

Terrible Narration with pronunciation errors (see below)
A Number of factual errors
Almost NOTHING about the major battle of Bastogne

While I like the subject and generally liked the book, I found several items that should have been caught by a good editor: Factual errors (see other reviews), Should have had much more about the design, development and manufacture of the Sherman tank (a co-star of the book), Bastogne is barely covered, and the narration.

I would never have purchased this book if I had known the narrator was so clueless. The reader's errors were distracting and painful to hear so many mispronounced words and not just obscure city names, but common words and names common to World War II: Pate-on for Patton (only one time), straff (rhymed with raft) for straf, personal mines for personnel mines, Ver-DUNE (rhymed with maroon) for Ver-done (Verdun), ambu-LANCE for ambulance, Ar-DEAN (rhymed with Marine) for Ar-den (Ardennes), Ba-vah-ria instead Ba-VARE-ia, GORE-ing (rhymed with snoring) instead Goering, Elbee (rhymed with sleepy) for Elbe, and for anyone with with the slightest experience with the History Channel the following is absolutely ludicrous looftwaff (no idea what this would rhyme with) for Luftwaffe.

As for the people who say that we are nitpickers when we point out errors, just imagine if there was a book about Rev. King and they said that he was killed when shot at close range at a gas station in Chicago. HUH?? you would say. That's just crazy!! that would make me wonder about the rest of the book.

I finally requested a refund and got it from Audible.

In "Brothers in Arms", Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton try to bring to life the personal accounts of the soldiers of the 761st Tank Battalion.

The book begins by documenting the memories of the soldiers who faced their own battles with racism here in the United States. The flow of the book follows the natural progression of the soldiers from their days as recruits, armored school, and then through their combat exploits in France and Germany.

Having previously read "Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II", this book didn't contribute any new information about armored warfare. Despite numerous factual errors, the book does highlight the ugliness of racism that was prevalent in the nation at the time. All in all, this is a collection of stories that needed to be told.

This book was very interesting and was filled with a lot of information in many ways. Abdul-Jabbar told us the history of the surroundings, the Apache tribe, and also told of his daily challenges and joys.

The honesty with which Kareem Abdul-Jabar's "A Season On The Reservation" is written is quite refreshing. In this age of spin control, especially when it comes to athletes and other public figures, it's nice to see a high-profile individual such as Mr. Abdul-Jabar share his insights and interactions with no noticeable smoke or mirrors. He begins his journey to an Apache reservation with hopes of uncovering some history (Mr. Abdul-Jabar has a fascination with Native-American history) and of sharing his wealth of basketball knowledge with the resident high school basketball squad. There are many bumps in the road, though, and "A Season On The Reservation" speaks eloquently about the cultural differences Mr. Abdul-Jabar encounters when dealing with the Native-American basketball players. They are not comfortable being singled out for criticism and they are not necesarily open to learning techniques that may make them better players. Over the course of the book, however, they learn from Mr. Abdul-Jabar and he, in turn, learns from them. One scene in particular, a confrontation with a player named Tony, is amazingly honest. "A Season On The Reservation" paints Mr. Abul-Jabar as a fellow human being, not a sculpture standing on a pedestal. The history lessons in the book, often drawing a parallel between Native Americans and African Americans, get a bit cumbersome occassionally, but "A Season On The Reservation" is well worth the cover price thank to its honest approach.

After being frustrated in his attempts at beginning a coaching career at either the collegiate or professional level, circumstances led the NBA's all-time leading scorer to an Apache reservation in Arizona where he became the assistant coach of the boys high school basketball team. In addition to relating the chronology of that season, Kareem also provides a fair amount of history while he's at it, and offers more of himself than he typically did during interviews throughout his playing career. As might be expected, Kareem gained as much from his year on the reservation as his players did.

Kareem tries to impart the difficulties of introducing a western cultural ideal to a group of young men that are trying to keep their own cultural ideals intact while at the same time competing within the majority culture. This book reflects Kareem's own difficulties in aculturation, and his conflicts in trying to impart his basketball culture on another group. This is a thoughtful though imperfect work, less about basketball than about the difficulties of blending different people in the world today.

This book is a record of Abdul-Jabbar's first season as a basketball coach. When Abdul-Jabbar's mother died, he became quite distraught and didn't know what to do with himself. One of his friends at the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona invited him to come to the reservation to try out coaching by working with the high school basketball team on the reservation for a season. Abdul-Jabbar found the invitation attractive for a number of reasons, and decided to give it a go. Once on the reservation, he had to learn not only how to coach rather than play basketball, but he also found himself trying to lead teenagers who weren't always looking for his directions, all while operating in an unfamiliar culture.

After reading the first chapter of the book, I stopped to re-examine the title and cover page to find out who the ghost writer was. After all, most books by sports figures are "told to" rather than written, especially books whose prose flows as well as this one. I was surprised to find that this volume had no ghost writer listed at all. As I read further along in the book, the reason became clear-unlike many other sports figures, Abdul-Jabbar has a number of academic interests and writes quite well. In reading this book, one finds that Abdul-Jabbar is a thinker, a person who brings his analytical skills to problems and new situations. He tries hard to get kids to appreciate the mental aspects of playing basketball. He is quick to pick up on the cultural characteristics that make the Apache kids react differently than other kids in mainstream America. He is occasionally carried away with emotion at games, but afterwards analyzes his inappropriate actions and chalks them up to lessons learned about coaching. Abdul-Jabbar explains how he happened to make a connection with the reservation, describes the kids on the team and the other coaches, and recounts hoop-by-hoop stories of several key games. In a few places, the tale bogs down a little in detail, but overall, it's well written and very enjoyable to read.

Do you think you are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's biggest fan? If you are, this is the book for you to read. This book is a diary of Kareem's last season in the NBA. He played an unheard of twenty years.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided he was going to retire after the 1989 season before it started. He thought of it as a farewell tour considering all of the other team's crowds would be secretly cheering for him in his final season of a fine NBA career. One thing he didn't realize right away was how he wasn't concentrating as much on the game but on his special honors he received at away games.
Some things I liked were how Kareem had a diary kept for the whole season starting in training camp all the way through the finals. Also the diary wasn't just about the games as it included some talk about his family. A dislike was how it kind of became repetitive after reading the book for a while because Kareem's schedule was the same.
This is another chance for all of you hardcore Laker and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fans to relive the 1988-1989 season through Kareem's eyes. This is a classic season. Could the Los Angeles Lakers win their third championship in a row? Find out by reading Kareem.

JABBAR AND AUTHOR MIGNON MCCARTHY COME UP WITH A SOLID AND INTERESTING MEMOIR ON THE LAST TIME AROUND FOR NBA GREAT KAREEM. I FOUND MOST OF THE INFO INTERESTING AND WELL TOLD. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT JABBAR'S PRIVATE LIFE BUT THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED PRIVATE. HE WAS TRULY A LEGEND ON THE COURT AND SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY DECENT GUY OFF IT. I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL FANS WHO FOLLOWED HIS CAREER AND WERE SAD TO SEE IT END. I REMEMBER HIM AT UCLA AND WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD BLOCK HIS SHOT RIGHT BACK IN HIS FACE. BUT AS TIME WENT ON, I ALONG WITH KAREEM MATURED. I REALLY CAN APPRECIATE AND RESPECT THIS LEGEND OF THE GAME.

"Kareem" is based on a personal diary written by the legendary center during his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1988-89 campaign. As the quote from Jackie Robinson in the front of the book reminds us, "Athletes die twice." The Lakers were the two-time defending N.B.A. champions and going for a three-peat. However, in the finals against the Detroit Pistons the Lakers lost both of their starting guards and were swept in four straight. Suddenly Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career was over. Knowing that ending becomes important as you start reading this book, because, as Kareem says, "we were going for writing our names in the sky."

This is not a great sports biography, but it is certainly interesting, mainly because you get the private reflections and personal memories of a man who was also introspective and usually aloof. When his home burned down and his priceless collection of jazz records and Persian rugs was destroyed, Kareem was touched by all the people who sent him records to replace what he had lost. I think it is obvious on at least one level opening up like this was Kareem's way of returning the favor, a "written good-bye" to the fans, his fellow players, and the game for which we was one of the greatest players ever. His final season provides the framework for the book, but Kareem does cover his entire life and playing career, so you will also read about John Wooden and Oscar Robertson as well as Pat Riley and Earvin Johnson. Fans of the game are well aware of what he had done on the court all those years; this book lets us know what he has been thinking.