|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
—Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University
“Jamar Nicholas is a master of his craft—his drawings are full of life and truly stunning.”
—Bryan Lee O'Malley, creator of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
“I wish every city had a Geoffrey Canada.”
—President Bill Clinton
“It's a no-brainer, buy one for yourself and one to put in the hands of a young man who may benefit from it as well. The life you save may be your own.”
- BlackSuperHero blog
“This is exactly the sort of broadly appealing and gripping nonfiction graphic novel that librarians need to be adding to their shelves.”
- Publisher's Weekly
Product Description
Long before President Barack Obama praised his work as “an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children,” and First Lady Michelle Obama called him “one of my heroes,” Geoffrey Canada was a small and scared boy growing up in the South Bronx. His childhood world was one where “sidewalk boys” learned the codes of the block and were ranked through the rituals of fist, stick, knife, and, finally, gun. In a stunning pairing, acclaimed comics creator Jamar Nicholas presents Canada’s raw and riveting account, one of the most authentic and important true stories of urban violence ever told.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Child in the 'Hood,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fist Stick Knife Gun (Paperback)
This little book is a lot of different things: a memoir of a violent childhood, a study in the psychology the urban poor, a treatise against the gun industry; and a promotion of community service centers. Collectively, these pieces make up an impassioned plea to end the insanity of violence and chaos in the inner city, to stop ignoring the fact that many of our cities' neighborhoods have death rates that qualify them as war zones. It's compelling reading, although at times it felt a little like preaching to the converted. I wish the author had focused exclusively on his childhood; for me, these parts of the book are by far the most interesting. As a teacher who works with inner-city kids, I want to know more about what it's like growing up in that environment, how it shapes your world view. The glimpses we get of the author's neighborhood in the Bronx are fascinating, the best biographical writing I've read in a long time.The story of the author's adult involvement in violence prevention is worthy of telling, but I think it belongs in a separate book. In the context of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, the perspective of the adult community activist seems simplistic and almost disrespectful to the stark drama of the childhood memories; "that was the problem, here's my solution," Canada seems to imply. The easy answers he offers muffle the powerful resonance of his stories of growing up on the streets.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read if you live anywhere,
By Cristina Miller (The Mil) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fist Stick Knife Gun (Paperback)
I read fist stick knife gun in one day. Not because it was short, not because it has easy to read font, but because it was one of the most important books I had ever read. Like the author, my roots were in the poor central city. Unlike the author, the central city I grew up in was Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not New York City. Besides being female, I come from a white, two-parent family, so my perspective of the inner city is very different then the author Geoffrey Canada. As I read about his neighborhood I recognized elements similar to my own from childhood, and yet his story was unlike any other I had ever read. "fist stick knife gun" is not just one mans youth, but is a history of what made the ghettos and why they still exist. As Canada gives us his account of growing up, he also tells us what laws were put in place, and what was changing in both New York and the nation that were catalysts of the current inner city scenario. This includes the infiltration of crack and the concurrent development of gangs. In the last quarter of the book, Canada tells us his ideas of what could be done to end violence in the inner city. Whether or not these are effective plans, they at least give us options and the beginning of a dialogue, which is not the result of most books. I recommend this book to everyone, because lawmakers and voters alike need to understand what the problem of violence is and why it exists, and this book gives an effective and readable look.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meaningful,
This review is from: Fist Stick Knife Gun (Paperback)
The author shares his personal story of growing up in the inner-city. The focus is on helping people understand the culture of violence; not only in the city, but in America. Canada does a wonderful job of showing how violence and acceptance of violence is an ingrained part of our culture. I strongly recommend this highly readable book to anyone interested in America's children and their future. [...]
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
|
