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Ready for Revolution

The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

By Stokely Carmichael
Introduction by John Edgar Wideman / With Michael Ekwueme Thelwell

About The Book

The astonishing personal and political autobiography of Stokely Carmichael, the legendary civil rights leader, Black Power architect, Pan-African activist, and revolutionary thinker and organizer known as Kwame Ture.

Head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Honorary prime minister of the Black Panther Party. Bestselling author. Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) is an American legend, one whose work as a civil rights leader fundamentally altered the course of history—and our understanding of Pan-Africanism today. Ready for Revolution recounts the extraordinary course of Carmichael's life, from his Trinidadian youth to his consciousness-raising years in Harlem to his rise as the patriarch of the Black Power movement.

In his own words, Carmichael tells the story of his fight for social justice with candor, wit, and passion—and a cast of luminaries that includes James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, and Fidel Castro, among others. Carmichael's personal testimony captures the pulse of the cultural upheavals that characterize the modern world. This landmark, posthumously published autobiography reintroduces us to a man whose love of freedom fueled his fight for revolution to the end.

About The Author
Stokely Carmichael

Stokely Carmichael, was among the most fiery and visible leaders of Black militancy in the United States in the 1960s, first as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then as prime minister of the Black Panther Party, where he coined the phrase "Black Power." In 1969 he cut his ties with American groups over the issue of allying with White radicals and moved to Guinea. He declared himself a pan-Africanist. In 1978 he changed his name to Kwame Ture, to honor African socialist leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekoe Toure. He lived in Guinea for 33 years, until his diagnosis with prostate cancer. He died on November 15, 1998.

Product Details
  • Publisher: Scribner (February 15, 2005)
  • Length: 848 pages
  • ISBN13: 9780684850047

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Raves and Reviews

"Stokely Carmichael is the most courageous and consistent black revolutionary of his generation. Long live his spirit!"
-- Cornel West, professor, Princeton University

"Ready for Revolution captures Carmichael's electrifying moments in the national spotlight and his emblematic journey."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"Maybe the single best autobiography to come out of the Movement struggles....Carmichael turns out to be a wonderful storyteller with a marvelous ear for dialogue."
-- Bookforum

"Carmichael's magnetism seeps through. The courage, warmth, and compassion of the man, the sharp intellect and devilish sense of humor. All are there."
-- The Washington Post

"Be prepared to revise your understanding of civil rights....Ready for Revolution [allows] Carmichael to tell his story and finally take his rightful place in history."
-- Chicago Sun-Times

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Ready for Revolution

The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

By Stokely Carmichael
Introduction by John Edgar Wideman / With Michael Ekwueme Thelwell