- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Bantam; New edition edition (Jan 4 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0553378686
- ISBN-13: 978-0553378689
- Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 1.5 x 23.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 395 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,420,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Extending the sensibility of Joseph Campbell, Ford exposes readers to African myths and folk tales, finding that they harbor both culturally specific and universal motifs. Ford (Where Healing Waters Meet) has a diverse background in business, chiropractic, psychotherapy and African-American history. He recounts many traditional African stories, exploring their metaphors, symbols and archetypal figures, their answers to the timeless questions of how to live, how life began and how it will end. While these tales have been notoriously absent from world literature, they are strikingly similar to Eastern, Western and Middle-Eastern mythology in many ways. As Ford splices the myths with his engaging analyses of them, he illuminates universal themes and values, symbols and characters. Applying the hero's journey to the African diaspora ("the massive forceful displacement of millions of Africans"), he ruminates: "there is every reason to believe that African slaves... understood their capture and travails in just such mythic terms." Likely to find its way into college classrooms, Ford's comprehensive work supplies a missing piece of world mythology.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
In an attempt to correct the absence of African myth in the works of modern mythology, Clyde W. Ford presents an insightful and beautifully written investigation into the stories and themes of African folk history. With his lilting tenor voice, Ford recalls ancient African tales and probes into their metaphorical significance in world culture. Both an entertaining and informative audiobook, THE HERO WITH AN AFRICAN FACE brings pertinent knowledge to young and old alike with excellent production quality and intelligence. R.A.P. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
All God's Children,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)
Increasingly, happily (albeit painfully)the new question for modern man and woman is "Am I my black brother's (sister's) keeper?" Conversely, "Am I my white brother's (sister's) keeper?" The answer is a resounding "Yes!". This book is a tremendous contribution toward the fulfillment of that Dream, toward a universal Philadelphia (phila = love; delphia = brother): the City of Brotherly Love, genuine agape, Unconditional Agape.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A monumental work,
By John M. Gilmore (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)
Clyde W. Ford helps us to connect to African mythology on so many levels. It is encouraging and illuminating to finally see African mythology treated in the manner that it deserves: as vital as those of any other culture. He demonstrates the importance of myth for centering our lives and providing focus for living. His discussion of the meaning and role of myth in the preface is worth the price of the book alone.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a context for African American spirituality!,
By
This review is from: The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (Hardcover)
The last paragraph of the book is in my day timer as a reminder of who I am, where I came from and why and how I will always be. Ford's view of the African American story as an epic journey is liberating. He contrasts the intimacy between African diety and the common person with the separation between the western God or Goddess and their subjects. As someone who is struggling to understand the deepening division of black and white in US culture, I find this book very helpful in clarifying our root cultural differences. This also is a wonderful book to give a young person who is away from home or struggling with the questions of identity. As someone who has worked with children in multiracial families (particularly adopted children) who are struggling with a sense of place, I wish I'd had this book a long time ago.
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