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$10.08 - Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America
Product DescriptionWhen award-winning educator and activist Geoff Canada was growing up in the Bronx, the "sidewalk" boys learned the codes of the block from their elders and were ranked--and to some degree protected--through the rituals of fist, stick, and knife. Weaving in and out of his stark storytelling is a cogent anaylsis of how the complicity of gun manufacturers turned this contained violence into today's world of drive-by shootings and automatic weapons.
A Teacher's Guide for this book is available.
"The vignettes band together with a kind of clarifying momentum, so that the result is something more. . . . A beacon."
--New York Times Book Review
"A more powerful depiction of the tragic life of urban children and a more compelling plea to end' America's war against itself' cannot be imagined.
--Publishers Weekly
"Geoff Canada has been cultivating virtue, and hope, in children for the past 10 years."
--Newsweek
"A slim, revealing volume that should be required reading for anyone who was ever a child, for anyone who has ever negotiated the complicated hierarchy of 'rep' and revenge on city streets."
--Boston Globe
"Part memoir, part social treatise, a wholly sobering view of inner-city violence and the codes surrounding it."
--Kirkus Reviews
Most Recent Customer ReviewsDate : 2010-03-05
Summary : Not very interesting
I read this constantly waiting for drama, a new and inspiring message, anything. Here's the poop: Impovershed neighborhoods are dangerous places filled with young people who grew up fighting and now have firearms. If you visit certain streets in Harlem, sounds like a bullet proof vest is in order. It sucks to be poor. The author is a good person who has helped many in need. This book should have been a pamphlet.
Date : 2010-03-03
Summary : Heart-grabbing crucial reading
Dr. Canada in stark detail and personal revelation captures the critical need to address violence in our society. His experience in dealing with the issue and sensitivity to the realities of life in our day package this message beautifully.
I was spellbound and given concrete actions I can take to help turn things around.
Date : 2009-08-08
Summary : Violence in America: A Martial Artists Perspective
If you have never really understood inner city or gang violence, read this book. If you live in the inner city or must deal with gang violence, read this book. If you are prone to pass judgment on inner city youth, read this book. If you want your eyes opened about violence in America and contributing factors to that violence, read this book. If you want to read about a program that works, ...yes, read this book. Geoffrey Canada is a fellow martial artist that is using his skills to make a positive difference in the world. I have tremendous admiration for what he is doing.
Date : 2009-05-04
Summary : Very deep book
Awesome story about life growing up in the Bronx. Those who grew up in the Bronx, can definitely relate to many of the stories.
Date : 2008-04-19
Summary : One of the Most Powerful Books I've Ever Read
I flew through this book because I could not stop reading it. The details of life growing up in the Bronx were truly mind blowing, especially for someone who grew up in a super sheltered environment.
However, the best part of this book is how Canada relates how the gun culture has doomed inner city children to an adolescence of violence and how something must be done to change this.
This is the most powerful anti-gun books I have ever read, and the message isn't shoved down your throat, it's told through the author's own life experience which makes it that more powerful.
A must read.
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