Manchild in the Promised Land

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Summary: One of my personal coming of age favorites!
Review: Folks in the 40s had Betty Smith's, "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". In the 50s it was J.D. Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye". As a child of the 60s I had Anne Moody and Claude Brown to educate me. I quit counting after the 5th reading of this book. I still own my paperback copy;it is severely battered, my version of a much loved rabbit. Sonny still runs around in my head and I am about to pass him over to my 13 year old son, who lives a life that is the flipside of Sonny's. He needs to know what happens in places where there is no green grass.

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Summary: Claude Brown's prose is REAL and Alive!!!!
Review: I am a teacher of freshman English at Florida State University. This semester I had the opportunity to teach a remedial English class that consisted of many students who had never read a book before. . .they were a tough and rugged bunch with a lot of undirected, raw energy. The course objective was to get them to become more comfortable with reading. It was a beautiful and incredible experience to watch Claude Brown humble them, and then turn them into anxious readers. When they began to discuss the book on days when we weren't scheduled to discuss it, I knew I was on to something--Manchild in the Promise Land is a must read. It changed mine and my student's lives. . .It's full of spirit, soul, and that raw primordial energy that moves us whether we like it or not.

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Summary: A must read for African Americans (and others) of all ages.
Review: I am an African American male.  I first read Manchild when I was 13 years old.  It was the first book I ever read that really spoke to me as another lost young black man in America trying to find his way.  Claude Brown helped to put my young black life and plight in perspective.  At the age of 43, I have just finished reading Manchild for the 5th time in my lifetime.  Like the first time, I was mesmerized as I walked the streets of Harlem with Sonny.  Though written years ago, most of Claude Brown's observations are as relevant today as they were then.  Attn:  BLACK MOTHERS (especially, single black mothers) Please give this book to your teenage son or daughter to read.  It will save a lot of grief later. I could go on and on and on. Thank You, Claude Brown.

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Summary: Manchild shares the true meaning of from rags to riches
Review: I first picked up the book in 7th grade and am still reading it in 11th grade. Even though I was not brought up the same way with the same situation it helps me to better understand what other people are going through in their everyday lives. I would recommend this book to all who don't understand the saying from rags to riches. This book is never going to be put down from the hands of the reader because it captures more than your heart but also your body, mind, and soul.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I first read this book in 1966,at that time it haunted me for
many months. Little did I realize I was reading the book that
was to be the single most important book that I was to read.
I just read the book again and it still has the same impact
that it had forty years ago. I would be very interested in
knowing what became of Mr. Brown I cannot find information on
him. Thankyou for what was for me ,a life changing book.

Rating:
Summary: Truthful
Review: I had to do a summer reading project over last summer for 10th-11th grade. It was literally the longest book that I have ever read, but no complaining here.. I thought it was a really good book. Very moving, entertaining, and it told the real truth about how street life was like in the past.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: I have to say this is one of the best autobiograhies i've ever had the pleasure of reading, there was never a dull chapter. Claude Brown starts off with his bad childhood, how he skipped school, stole, and a lot of other bad things, He end ups in and out of school for troubled kids, where he meet teachers who really make's him want to change his ways. He was wise enough not to fall under the influences of drugs like so many of his peers. He tries to help guide his brother through the right direction. The only issue I have with this book, I would have liked to see all of Claude's dreams come true, and know more about happened after the last chapter, like did he go to college.

Rating:
Summary: Takes you into a different, but very real American world.
Review: I highly recommend this book. It tells the story of the post World War II Black American urban experience through the eyes of a very smart, confident Black 8 year old. In many ways this book reminds me of Mark Twain's Huck Finn. In both books, very clever, independent young American boys take the world as it is and they push to assert themselves and they are man child's with a great sense of adventure.

While other reviewers have noted the harsh, violent incidents of the book, I felt it was more balanced. Claude Brown's New York City of the 1940s and 1950s was certainly a rough place, especially when hard drugs were coming in, but it was also tough and loving in a good way. Claude Brown had tough teachers in his public school that cared about him and there was also a truant officer that would chase after Claude and the other boys who were skipping school. This White truant officer was one of my favorite characters in the book and Claude took great interest in him as a very important enemy. Claude cautioned the other boys who wanted to skip not to try to outrun this White truant officer - because he had great foot-speed (got to admire a White guy with the courage to out run and chase down and catch Black boys in their own Harlem neighborhood :-)

I also enjoyed seeing the different Black cultural mix in Harlem from Blacks in the rural South to street savvy urban Blacks. Claude Brown's father isn't in to politics or hustling, he came to the city for economic opportunities and generally respects the social order of police, teachers, job bosses. Claude's father used to have to beat little Claude to get him to go to school, then later in life Claude wants to go to do graduate school work instead of taking down a steady paying job. This just doesn't fit with the country values of Claude's father.

In any event, this book takes you into the heart and soul of Black urban America and it isn't propaganda - it shows Black American culture with all of it's dirty laundry. The ghetto can be a rough place, we need good, strong tough people to clean up these places and make them safe, good places for smart, adventuresome boys like Claude or a Huck Finn.

Rating:
Summary: A good read!
Review: I initially read this book as an undergraduate student in college years ago. Loved it then, despite the sometimes foul language. Here it is 15 years later and I like it more, especially when compared with the contemporary Black so-called writers.

Rating:
Summary: Hard Times For Claude Brown...
Review: I put off reading this book for too long. I finally read it and have this to say. This book is about African-Americans journey to the promise land, North. In particular, it is about Claude Brown's family. His parents were born South and he and his siblings were born in New York City.

The period covered is the 1940s and 1950s. The spirit of this boy, Claude Brown, as told when an adult, describes emotional longing, to be loved and to also love, not only generational differences but also geographical, the illegal market known as the hustle, alive and kicking, and how all the emotional turmoil shapes and reshapes this youth.

Claude Brown's work is emotionally moving; it is about an American living in an America that needs a world of healing, especially spiritually healing. Living in a America that is wounded from so many battles, in search of justice!

Sincerely,
Diego Rodriguez