Lee is an old-school journalist, building the story from the ground up. No politicos or academics for her: Rasta is a...
The loose threads of Rasta history, impressively woven into a flag of green, red, and gold by French music journalist Lee.
This is a “real-time adventure in ethnology and religious history,” writes Stephen Davis in the introduction, and he might have added that it’s a clear-eyed political history, for Lee is a student of Jamaican history as well as a bit of a spiritual seeker. Rastafarianism is with Bob Marley and reggae, though Lee shows that it’s a multifaceted and abiding presence in Jamaica and beyond. It can be said to have started with Leonard Howell, a Jamaican who made the work of Marcus Garvey and Athlyi Rogers fit the Jamaican situation, borrowing elements of Millenarist and Ethiopianist religions, aspects of the Hindu cycle of karma and rebirth, and wedding them to the national struggle for power. As much as a spiritual vision, Rastafarianism was a class fight, a force at odds with the colonial authorities as it espoused the social redemption of the black race: this being treason, for the king revered was not George V but Ras Tafari: Halie Selassi I of Ethiopia, lord of the land of return. Then there is ganja, which Howell may have begun deploying in his “tea room” on 136th Street in New York—“we can hardly imagine him serving Lipton tea”—but which was used also for overcoming fear, as of the colonial authority. Ganja, like music, became entwined in a nexus of profit and spirituality yet played a pivotal role in the ascension of various political parties. And the music—Kumina on to Burru, Count Ossie, and Marley—could be what “defines the country,” though that seems a step back in terms of Rasta’s kaleidoscopic past.
Lee is an old-school journalist, building the story from the ground up. No politicos or academics for her: Rasta is a movement of everyman.Pub Date: July 15, 2003
ISBN: 1-55652-466-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
