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Summary: Lefkowitz's Revisionism Satisfies Right Wing Politicos
Review: It is most interesting that Lefkowitz, a professor with no background in African history, turned out this revisionist book in an unscholarly attempt to legitimize the anti-multiculturalism argument. It is not enough that her work is a political statement that looks to satisfy the right wing and uphold her status a a professor of true classics. There is also the absolute fact that her charges are not based upon fact.First, with regard to the Egyptian-Black Africa connection, all one has to do is visit Egypt (particulary the South) in order to see the presence of Black Africans who have dwelled there for thousands of years. These same Africans lived in the north in large numbers until the Arab/Semitic invasions from the East. This is a well documented fact that knowledgeable cultural and biological anthropologists, and historians have verified. Also, one will see in Egypt that hieroglyphics portray Egyptians as darker and more African appearing the farther one goes back in time. After the Arab/Semitic invasions, the complexion of the peoples changed and so did the hieroglyphics and art depicting the people. Go to Egypt and see for yourselves. Second, any serious student of Africa and of western civilizations cannot deny that several prominent Greeks not only studied in in Egypt but also admitted this and gave credit for their knowledge to Egypt. Any number of resources that document the lives of prominent Greeks in toto will attest to this fact. A tour of the Great Books of the Western World will reveal -in biographies and text- the numbers of Greek scholars who studied in Egypt or received their knowledge from Egypt. It is unfortunate that a politically motivated book has so captured the intrigue and ignorant following of those who seek to attack or deny Africa's contribution to western civilization. This book is a scholastic failure and no serious, learned student of truth should be deceived into thinking it conveys factual information. It seems that those who have bought into this revisionist book only seek to justify European supremecy. Study more and see for yourselves.
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Summary: well it's about time.
Review: i cheer the courage of mary lefkowitz. though america is a successful nation, it is very young and doesn't have much history. There's an attitude of IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE. Well, it can. And anyone with a truly open mind , and can remember the horrors in europe during the Second World War will tell you there are many parrellels between what afro-centricism has mutated into, and the propaganda of hate that existed in the first half of this century. having recently heard through the grape vine of a little boy who was beat up after school (he was no older than 11 i believe, though I don't know him) for daring to include in his report on the Pharoh Ramses II that the Egyptian King was discovered, by a team of scientists in the 1970's, to have red hair. The boy missed several days of school and would not leave his house because of threats against him by other children. Well, the little boy is alright now, but the story makes me admire lefkowitz all the more. One thing is missing from our teaching of children. and that's something we should never forget. NO MATTER WHO YOUR ANCESTORS WHERE, OR WHAT THEY MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DONE, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT IN LIFE. BE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO BE. And that's how it should be
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Summary: Intilligently heroic
Review: When something makes good sense the human mind, through experience and emperical evidence, destroys with ease any of the doubts that a few free-thinkers in a society raise about any issue. With history, it is those who are not sure of their own that attack those whose history is well documented. And who shall we blame for the lack of a writing tradition among the Negro people of sub-Sahara Africa? This whole lack of an intellectual history that is so identifiable with ancient, and recent, sub-Sahara Africa, is the ROOT of the Afrocentric movement today. Combine this with a lack of identity and what one gets is the most dangerous group of people on Earth today. It is almost as if they have, thanks to Civil Rights and the victimization philosophy of post sixties society, a license to lie. Thanks to Mary Lefkowits for been a hero.
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Summary: THE TRUTH WILL ALWAYS STAND THE TEST OF TIME....
Review: I read the " book not out of africa" by mary lefkowitz. I am very disturb at what lenth some people would go to discredit the works of others. miss lefkowitz "a very cunning individual" in her attack on afro-centrism as teaching myth or false history. she fails to mention that the main source of information that the "afro-centrics" use are directly from the ancient Greek historians. It was not the afro-centrics who said that certain Greek philosophers study in Egypt, it was the ancient Greek historians who recorded this information. in her vain attempt to cast doubt on what the afro-centrics are saying, she cast doubt on the very people the ancient Greek historians who provided the information of their study in Egypt. case in point on page 60 "not out of africa" she said "herodotus and diodorus, could have been misled by their native informants about the extent of Greek cultural dependency on Egypt." again on page 71 she said "since herodotus is often skeptical and contemptuous of people who believed literally in myths, it's ironic that in the case of Egypt he is ready to believed almost everything that he is told. and on occasion willing to supply plausible explanations of his own invention." here you can see miss lefkowitz question the very work of these ancient Greek historians. by doing this, she is literally saying you cannot trust these ancient writers on what ever they say because of the way they gather their information. by dismantling these Greek historians work you dismantle the afro-centrics as well. herodotus and diodorus their work and others like them are what the afro-centrics basically rely on for information concerning Egypt an Greece.. "In my opinion I think miss lefkowitz is making one last attempt to hold on to a crumbling house that was build on a false foundation......
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Summary: Book is out of line!
Review: In the book's introduction, Lefkowitz states, "...all history is a form of rhetoric, and narratives of the past can be constructed virtually at will." She herself admits that history is in the eye of the voyeur. I, however, do not agree with her observations that afrocentric ideas are "outlandish" and "undocumented." Ms. Lefkowitz is probably one who doesn't think Jesus was the son of God and also thinks that leading a gay lifestyle is ok. I'm sure she doesn't believe in Christmas or the tooth fairy either. I stopped reading her book at the introduction because it doesn't make sense! Now, document that! Imot, Marietta, GA
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Summary: Racist?
Review: The truth is never racist
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Summary: ACADEMIC VICTORY OVER STUPID AFROCENTRIST FAIRY TALES!
Review: A very well reasoned analysis by Mary Lefkowitz that successfully destroys the silly theories of all afrocentrist wackos. After reading this book the majority of the fanatic afrocentrist extremists will be left with no choice but wake up to reality! In this book the author through her extensive analysis, proves all afrocentrist theories one by one as complete nonsense. And cry racism is the only thing the fanatic afrocentrists can do since they stand no chance against the evidence. Yet if they were to read this book instead of spreading paranoid rumors about it they would see for themselves that the book does not even contain the smallest bit of racism. Mary Lefkowitz carefully examined many afrocentrist beliefs about the ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt and very easily proved that they were not only totally wrong but also physically impossible. For anyone who is not familiar with afrocentrist literature, this would be a good book to read in order to find out about their wild theories. Afrocentrist theories concerning the ancient civilizations of the mediterranean all have the common theme of Egypt being the real foundation of western civilization and not Greece. For example, one famous belief of the afrocentrists is that Aristotle really got all his knowledge from the library of Alexandria after the invasion by Alexander the Great. Yet if you know a little something about ancient history this was impossible due to the fact that the library was constructed some 25 years after Aristotle's death. Not only that but the library was constructed by the Greeks and only contained books written in Greek. Before Alexander the Great's invasion of Egypt, the city of Alexandria(named after him) did not even exist. This is one of the many well reasoned points in the author's book. Another one would be the question of how could the Greeks have stolen all their academic knowledge concerning such things as philosophy, mathematics, science, and government from the egyptians due to the fact that Egypt has been visited by historians and archeologists from all over the world and yet none of the Greek achievements were ever found in the egyptian hieroglyphic language. The Afrocentrist claim is that the Greeks got most of their ingenius discoveries from the Egyptian book of the dead. Yet if you were to read the book of the dead it is about prayers, theories concerning afterlife, and the mummification process. It contains absolutely no technological information whatsoever. These are some of the topics carefully examined by Mary Leftkowitz that cleared showed that anyone who believes these crazy theories is as stupid as those individuals who believe in space aliens. Yet despite the incredible ammount of evidence that exists that puts all the afrocentrist fairy tales to shame, they still persist with their madness. If the arguements made by her are not enough I have some questions for them myself. First, if philosophy really originated from Egypt and not from Greece please explain to me why Egypt (as a monarchy) would be philosophising about subjects concerning democracy such as how to best govern a city-state? Second, if famous Greek Monuments such as the Athen's Parthenon and Oracle of Delphi were really cheap Egyptian immitations, then go ahead and show us all similar monuments in Egypt. Third, since a great deal of ancient Greek literature involved plays that were performed in theaters, I would like the afrocentrists to show everyone the ancient theaters in Egypt where these supposed plays took place. Fourth, why don't the fanatic afrocentrists now show us the stadiums where the first Olympics took place, since according to their theories are not really from Greece but instead Egypt. Fifth, if the Greeks were such idiots as portrayed in the majority of the literary works such as Black Athena, Stolen Legacy, and Black Spark White Fire, why is that the Persians(the world superpower at that time) conquered every civililization around them except Greece? The Persians succeeded in conquering the Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Phonecians, the Philistines, the Galatians, the Armenians, and yes even the magically advanced Egyptians! The only country Persia could not conquer after many attempts was Greece, which as we all know in history turned around and conquered Persia instead. I would like the afrocentrists to explain this since they are so firm in their theories that the ancient greeks were idiots. They won't be able to explain any of these logical questions will they? The Afrocentrists even try to claim that even the Greek language is stolen from Egypt when in fact the two languages have absolutely nothing in common. I myself am fluent in Greek and have no idea how they even dreamed that up. Pay no attention to any afrocentrist lunatic who tries dismiss this book as racism or propaganda. Because it can clearly be seen that they are the ones with the propaganda. And if they disagree with this book either they really did not read it or they did not have the intelligence to understand Mary Leftkowitz's logical arguments. Next thing you know the Afrocentrist's will be writing books claiming that the Chinese civilization or whatever, was also stolen from Egypt. Overall this book is excellent academic work for anyone interested in the ancient histories of Greece and Egypt, or anyone interested in what motives compel certain extremist groups to write junk. This book was especially written to correct some of this junk that is now circulating in bookstores and universities. Anyone with common sense would agree with me that if the Greek-Egyptian arguement was based on fact and not wild theories, than this book clearly won the debate.
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Summary: excellent book
Review: This well written book daringly attempts to stop revisionist history that is now being promulgated across campuses in the name of multiculturalism.
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Summary: Excellent and thorough analysis and argument
Review: When political correctness goes too far, history is re-written, facts are twisted and everyone loses. It is unfortunate that Ms. Lefkowitz felt compelled to write this book. But then thanks to the light her book sheds, we, and hopefully our children, are the fortunate ones. This book is not fiction. This book is pure fact. Read this book only if you are capable of handling the truth. This book is not about rasism -- white or black. It is about history. It is about the truth regarding the relationships between Ancient Greece and the other nationalities of the then known world -- the Egyptians, the Libyans, and the blacks Africans who were basically ignored by the Greeks. Excellent work.
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Summary: A Point by Point Repudiation of Afrocentric Theory
Review: A very commendable and succinct rejection of some of the major underlying themes of afrocentrism. As they say, the devil is in the detail, and Ms. Lefkowitz systematically addresses those details. Although at times it was somewhat mired in the minutiae, if you can tolerate listening to some of the leading afrocentric theorists, or read some of the reviews on this site, you should be able to read this book.
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