eGuerrilla: The autobiography of W.E.B DuBois - DuBois
In Search of Identity: an autobiography - Anwar El Sadat
The man died; Ake; Isara; Ibadan; You must set forth at dawn - Wole Soyinka
Arafat (In the Eyes of the Beholder) Janet Wallach and John Wallach
Frantz Fanon: a biography - Irene Gendzier
Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah - Nkrumah
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley
Malcolm X: A life of reinvention - Manning Marable
Malcolm - Bruce Perry
Che Guevara (A revolutionary life) - John Lee Anderson
Fidel (A critical portrait) - Tad Szulc
Fidel - Carlos Franqui
An Autobiography - Angela Davis
The side of glory - David Hilliard and Lewis Cole
Revolutionary Suicide - Huey P Newton
The life of Mahatma Gandi - Louis Fischer
C.L.R James (His Life and Work)- Paul Buhle
A taste of power (a black woman's story) - Elaine Brown
Assata: An autobiography of Assata Shakur - Assata Shakur
Head Above Water - Buchi Emecheta
Soul on Ice - Eldridge Cleaver
Chester Himes: A life - James Sallis
Monster: The biography of an L.A Gang Member - Sanyika Shakur

chairman u don read books o!
am now reading;Soul On Ice:Eldrige Cleaver.that book is bomb
see sufferness!

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert.T.Kiyosaki, not an authobiography really but he discussed how his perception to wealth was developed from childhood.

The black boy:Richard wright
Soul on Ice:Eldrige Cleaver
Think Big:Ben Carson


Gifted Hand:Ben Carson

Aduacity of Hope :Braka Obama

why ask Why:John Manson

...and the host of others incluoding NairaLand that are too funny.

The rise and fall of Idi Amin

shymmex: I dunno but I may be the lone voice - but does anyone else think both MLK and Nelson Mandela are overrated?

Personally, I think Malcolm X, WEB Dubois, and arguably Huey P. Newton sacrificied more for the negroes than brother MLK.. Even the Jews benefited more from the civil rights movements, than blacks.. Despite blacks being at the forefront of the struggle, and dying in huge numbers.. I rate MLK for giving his life for the struggle, but it's just a pity his dream became a nightmare - with the death of blackwall street - and other great black institutions..

As for Nelson Mandela, he did his thing - but I'll always put Steven Bantu Biko before him.. I don't think there would ever be an intelligent, articulate, brilliant, educated, conscious, and brave 26years old on the African continent again.. This brother gave his life for what he believed in, and he was a genius.. He's the father of black consciousness, African renaissance, and solving African problems with African minds.. When people talk about black being beautiful, and being proud to be African - they're definitely talking about the dreams of Bantu Biko..

His biography, and life story - changed my life forever.. You can never get realer than 26years old Bantu Biko.. Bantu Biko to me is the greatest African to ever walk this planet..

WEB Du bois was an elitist and a sellout and a member of the boule ( black illuminati that works for white society ). he was only concerned about the top 10 percent of black society. he was one of the people who thwarted the efforts of marcus garvey in repatriating black people to africa. dont get me wrong he put in work, but his work was more towards trying to prove to white people that black people are intelligent and should be accepted and as such he only kowtowed to the elites of black society while marcus garvey kowtowed to the poor and the working class. MLK too was a boule and in bed with the white jews. the main purpose of desegregation was so that the jews can harness the buying power of black people. prior to this black people could only buy from black stores and this strengthened the black communities and formed cohesiveness in the black community. however after desegregation, white businesses quickly moved in and the black communities regressed into poverty and drugs. so mlk was a boule ( black illuminati put in place by white society ) for the white establishment.

malcolm x and huey p ? great men with little resources and no caucasian support so not much impact.

dunno much about steve biko but mandela is more than meets the eye. dont let the old age fool you now, this guy was a guerilla war expert. planting bombs and blowing up places and getting support from the russians and sleeping in bunkers and safe houses inbetween operations.

buzugee: WEB Du bois was an elitist and a sellout and a member of the boule ( black illuminati that works for white society ). he was only concerned about the top 10 percent of black society. he was one of the people who thwarted the efforts of marcus garvey in repatriating black people to africa. dont get me wrong he put in work, but his work was more towards trying to prove to white people that black people are intelligent and should be accepted and as such he only kowtowed to the elites of black society while marcus garvey kowtowed to the poor and the working class. MLK too was a boule and in bed with the white jews. the main purpose of desegregation was so that the jews can harness the buying power of black people. prior to this black people could only buy from black stores and this strengthened the black communities and formed cohesiveness in the black community. however after desegregation, white businesses quickly moved in and the black communities regressed into poverty and drugs. so mlk was a boule ( black illuminati put in place by white society ) for the white establishment.

malcolm x and huey p ? great men with little resources and no caucasian support so not much impact.

dunno much about steve biko but mandela is more than meets the eye. dont let the old age fool you now, this guy was a guerilla war expert. planting bombs and blowing up places and getting support from the russians and sleeping in bunkers and safe houses inbetween operations.

Dubois did apologize to Marcus Garvey before he died.. And don't forget he died in Ghana, and was buried on the continent..

As for Nelson Mandela, I just thought he sold out at the end.. Apartheid would have ended anyways, but he sold out a the..

Brother, I never knew much about Bantu Biko till I read his biography.. The guy was a genius, period.. He also lived in different safe houses during the apartheid struggle - and he was the guy who coined, and defined the word "black consciousness."

As for MLK, the Jews used him.. Everytime I read about the rise and death of blackwall street - I just think he sold his people out unknowingly, and the Jews took advantage of him..

Brother, we need to open a new thread to have a discourse about these legendary people..

slam7000: Long walk to freedom...Nelson Mandela

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin..


The story of my life...Helen Keller...gr8 novel if you are looking for inspiration.

This is a must have for all,practically changed my life.
Also, Long walk to Freedom by Madiba himself

Teenaba:
Black Boy by Richard Wright can be found in book stores. Fred Douglas I had to download from the net. Used both for my BA dissertation in 2005. For other KKK novels I think your best bet would be the internet..

Thank you dear. Will look out for "Black Boy."

ayo jango: Measures of a Man- Sidney Poiter
Gifted hands-Ben carson

Gifted hands-Ben carson
Thats one terrific and ispiring book

buzugee: WEB Du bois was an elitist and a sellout and a member of the boule ( black illuminati that works for white society ). he was only concerned about the top 10 percent of black society. he was one of the people who thwarted the efforts of marcus garvey in repatriating black people to africa. dont get me wrong he put in work, but his work was more towards trying to prove to white people that black people are intelligent and should be accepted and as such he only kowtowed to the elites of black society while marcus garvey kowtowed to the poor and the working class. MLK too was a boule and in bed with the white jews. the main purpose of desegregation was so that the jews can harness the buying power of black people. prior to this black people could only buy from black stores and this strengthened the black communities and formed cohesiveness in the black community. however after desegregation, white businesses quickly moved in and the black communities regressed into poverty and drugs. so mlk was a boule ( black illuminati put in place by white society ) for the white establishment.

malcolm x and huey p ? great men with little resources and no caucasian support so not much impact.

dunno much about steve biko but mandela is more than meets the eye. dont let the old age fool you now, this guy was a guerilla war expert. planting bombs and blowing up places and getting support from the russians and sleeping in bunkers and safe houses inbetween operations.

I have never read any work by W.E.B Du Bois but I read about his "talented tenth" theory and most of what he stood for. Thank you for letting them know about Madiba. All we see is the frail old man revered world over for reconciling South Africans of all colours when history shows us how he employed guerilla warfare in his struggle against the Boers. Umkhonto We Sizwe anyone? Think the militant wing of ANC. Mandela was no softie. I am amazed anyone thinks he is. Thanks for saying it as it is.

@virgo

Can you read?? Maybe, if you can - you would notice that I never called Mandela a 'softie.' I only said he sold out at the end.. Steven Biko on the other hand - gave his young, and promising life for what he believed in..

And Steven Biko has continued to inspire millions of Africans, black people around the world - since he died.. He died young - and neve got any recognition in the western media like mandela.. But he's still the father of black consciousness - and when black people around the world talk about black consciousness, african renaissance, and solving african problems with african minds - they refer to Steven Bantu Biko..

shymmex:

Dubois did apologize to Marcus Garvey before he died.. And don't forget he died in Ghana, and was buried on the continent..

As for Nelson Mandela, I just thought he sold out at the end.. Apartheid would have ended anyways, but he sold out a the..

Brother, I never knew much about Bantu Biko till I read his biography.. The guy was a genius, period.. He also lived in different safe houses during the apartheid struggle - and he was the guy who coined, and defined the word "black consciousness."

As for MLK, the Jews used him.. Everytime I read about the rise and death of blackwall street - I just think he sold his people out unknowingly, and the Jews took advantage of him..

Brother, we need to open a new thread to have a discourse about these legendary people..

he died in ghana dont mean a thing. he angrily left for africa because he was neglected and his work was not recognized in his later years and he was been courted by kwame nkrumah. and then the american govt refused to give him a passport so he renounced his america citizenship and became a ghanaian. but it was all circumstantial and not intended. dont quite agree with you that mandela sold out. the man is a smart elderstatesman. the wealth of south africa lies with whites so he has to appease them so the wealth can stay in south africa. the action he took on behalf of whites is the difference between south africa and zimbabwe today. all the whites ran away from zimba and took their wealth and skills with them. you have to transition gradually not meteorically.

as far as steve biko ? i think his fame or popularity is in your head because you have recently read the book or something. on a global scale, heck even on an african scale, not a lot of people know who steve biko is. heck i just hear the name once in a while myself and have never been driven to go research who or what he was about. all i know about him is that denzel washington played him in some movie in the 80s, and despite and inspite of that movie, nobody still cared. dont ask me why. maybe he was not a charismatic fellow ?

as for black wall street ? black wall street was long dead before martin came on the scene. black wall street was in oklahoma tulsa in the 1920s and white people burned it down to the ground because they 'said' a black elevator boy touched a white woman in the elevator, meanwhile the guy just staggered in the elevator and mistakenly touched her breasts or something stupid like that. because of that, the white people burned the prosperous black wall street down. they were jealous that black people were living so good and were just looking for any reason to burn it down. well they got, or concocted one.

virgo:


I have never read any work by W.E.B Du Bois but I read about his "talented tenth" theory and most of what he stood for. Thank you for letting them know about Madiba. All we see is the frail old man revered world over for reconciling South Africans of all colours when history shows us how he employed guerilla warfare in his struggle against the Boers. Umkhonto We Sizwe anyone? Think the militant wing of ANC. Mandela was no softie. I am amazed anyone thinks he is. Thanks for saying it as it is.

oh yeah his talented tenth was an exclusive group that included alain locke ( president of howard university ), charles s johnson ( big time magazine publisher in the 20s 30s ), james weldon johnson, jessie redmon fauset, claude mckay, zora neale hurston, jean toomer, wallace thurman, countee cullen, and langston hughes. they were a clique who ran around harlem drinking and partying together and all had wonderful careers for that era. all people i mentioned, the talented tenth, helped usher in the harlem rennaisance. they were poets, university chancellors, magazine owners, langston hughes is a well known poet, zora neale hurston is a well known poet, etc etc. google all those people i mentioned. the talented tenth. funny enough most of them were gay. dont ask me why. i guess it takes gays to write poetry lol. but yeah w.e.b dubois spent his days looking for black talents like these and introducing them to white america and solicitng their approval of black intellect.
no probs about Madiba, he earned the accolade.

Go read about warren buffet then you start to believe and depend on nobody but youself,he started hustle at 6yrs old and he's currently the world 3rd richest man.

Gifted Hands by Ben Carson
The Renegade- the making of President Obama
Not my command by OLusegun Obasanjo

Ojuwku by Frederick Forsyth

I doubt if most people have come across these two books by Ayan Hirsi Ali- 'Nomad' & 'Infidel'

Those are my best so far and 'How I lost my Virginity' comes next.

eGuerrilla: The autobiography of W.E.B DuBois - DuBois
In Search of Identity: an autobiography - Anwar El Sadat
The man died; Ake; Isara; Ibadan; You must set forth at dawn - Wole Soyinka
Arafat (In the Eyes of the Beholder) Janet Wallach and John Wallach
Frantz Fanon: a biography - Irene Gendzier
Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah - Nkrumah
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley
Malcolm X: A life of reinvention - Manning Marable
Malcolm - Bruce Perry
Che Guevara (A revolutionary life) - John Lee Anderson
Fidel (A critical portrait) - Tad Szulc
Fidel - Carlos Franqui
An Autobiography - Angela Davis
The side of glory - David Hilliard and Lewis Cole
Revolutionary Suicide - Huey P Newton
The life of Mahatma Gandi - Louis Fischer
C.L.R James (His Life and Work)- Paul Buhle
A taste of power (a black woman's story) - Elaine Brown
Assata: An autobiography of Assata Shakur - Assata Shakur
Head Above Water - Buchi Emecheta
Soul on Ice - Eldridge Cleaver
Chester Himes: A life - James Sallis
Monster: The biography of an L.A Gang Member - Sanyika Shakur

You must be Philosophy scholar.

shymmex: @virgo

Can you read?? Maybe, if you can - you would notice that I never called Mandela a 'softie.' I only said he sold out at the end.. Steven Biko on the other hand - gave his young, and promising life for what he believed in..

And Steven Biko has continued to inspire millions of Africans, black people around the world - since he died.. He died young - and neve got any recognition in the western media like mandela.. But he's still the father of black consciousness - and when black people around the world talk about black consciousness, african renaissance, and solving african problems with african minds - they refer to Steven Bantu Biko..

@Shymmex, if you had read my post properly, you would have deduced that my response on the Mandela issue was not for you, I was merely seconding @Buzugee's opinion about Mandela's fighting history. On another hand, describing Steven Biko as "brave" among other things will be to suggest that Mandela was not. I hope Buzugee's submission and mine disabuses your mind of that notion. Steven Biko deserves his place in history and so does Mandela. Giving up your life for 27 years can be rightly described as a sacrifice. So you kind sir are wrong to classify Mandela as overrated. Thank you and have a good day.

I know why the caged birds sing - Maya Angelou
dreams from my father - barrack obama

Which bookstore can i find most of these books in Lagos

James bond: The authorised Biography by John Pearson.

Making of an American Capitalist- Roger Lowenstein.

A biography of Waren Buffet

OXYZ: Which bookstore can i find most of these books in Lagos

Laterna Ventures, Oko Awo close, Victoria Island ,Lagos.

buzugee: he died in ghana dont mean a thing. he angrily left for africa because he was neglected and his work was not recognized in his later years and he was been courted by kwame nkrumah. and then the american govt refused to give him a passport so he renounced his america citizenship and became a ghanaian. but it was all circumstantial and not intended. dont quite agree with you that mandela sold out. the man is a smart elderstatesman. the wealth of south africa lies with whites so he has to appease them so the wealth can stay in south africa. the action he took on behalf of whites is the difference between south africa and zimbabwe today. all the whites ran away from zimba and took their wealth and skills with them. you have to transition gradually not meteorically.

as far as steve biko ? i think his fame or popularity is in your head because you have recently read the book or something. on a global scale, heck even on an african scale, not a lot of people know who steve biko is. heck i just hear the name once in a while myself and have never been driven to go research who or what he was about. all i know about him is that denzel washington played him in some movie in the 80s, and despite and inspite of that movie, nobody still cared. dont ask me why. maybe he was not a charismatic fellow ?

as for black wall street ? black wall street was long dead before martin came on the scene. black wall street was in oklahoma tulsa in the 1920s and white people burned it down to the ground because they 'said' a black elevator boy touched a white woman in the elevator, meanwhile the guy just staggered in the elevator and mistakenly touched her breasts or something stupid like that. because of that, the white people burned the prosperous black wall street down. they were jealous that black people were living so good and were just looking for any reason to burn it down. well they got, or concocted one.

@buzugee,
Twice now you have made remarks that are completely uncharitable about DuBois. And as if that was not bad enough I notice you have now taken a similar approach to Steve Biko.
@Shymmex actually tried to locate the lives of both of these men in an appropriate context, but as it is clear that you only measure the sum-total of a man’s life in portions it is easy to understand your refutation of his timely input.

I know your disposition too well, it is all too evident in the hard-to-disguise cultural micro-nationalism which would, undoubtedly, have shaped a world view that only frames events in ‘black and white’ terms – in other words only when human interactions are set against the backdrop of the foreboding Other Fanon mentioned.

The problem with this type of mind-set is that, it is largely self-serving beyond a point.

DuBois lived for close to a hundred years - evolving through the stages of petty bourgeois sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and then foremost Pan-Africanist - and yet to you; decisions taken in his life were “all circumstantial and not intended”?
How does anyone advance such a view in good conscience?
What has been your net-contribution to our peoples’ struggle, eh?

For fear of derailing this thread, I will stop at this point.
Consider this, though: Huey and Malcolm whom you praised earlier would undoubtedly have rejected your one-dimensional, acerbic portrayal of DuBois’ life, in their later years.
Before being felled in their prime, and at a point in their personal evolution where the building of new bridges was seen as an imperative, your journey down the low-road of reductionism and schisms which completely negates ‘historical context’, would have been seen for just what it is – self-serving!

the biography of MALCOLM X
fowarded by ATTALAH SHABAZZ
read this book you gonna weep for the black race, MALCOLM X of blessed memory is the truest black leader

Steve Jobs biography by Walter Issacson. From being abandoned by birth parents,He embarked on a rebellious life of self discovery and awareness. Knew what He wanted from a tender age and not wait on government,society,family,friends or whatever excuse peeps give these days for failure

K.08:
You must be Philosophy scholar.

Those big shoes won't fit, not just yet, perhaps never.
I have read @Shymmex's narrative about his life on these boards, which portray a young man who has sailed close to the wind - straddling the straits of 'gangsterism' in one quick minute before embarking on a cerebral journey into the world of education (computer science).
That account closely mirrors my own travels...

OXYZ: Which bookstore can i find most of these books in Lagos

I have Steve Jobs biography by Walter Issacson for sale for 5k
olalekanbabs@yahoo.com

The ones I read are:
1 The Story of My Experiments With Truths - M K. Gandhi
2 My Life - Bill Clinton
3 Think Big; The Big Picture and Gifted Hands - Ben Carson.
4 The Audacity of Hope - Obama Barrack
5 The Joy of Service - Oladele Olashore

Of all of them, Dr Ben Carson's books inspired me the most.

eGuerrilla:

@buzugee,
Twice now you have made remarks that are completely uncharitable about DuBois. And as if that was not bad enough I notice you have now taken a similar approach to Steve Biko.
@Shymmex actually tried to locate the lives of both of these men in an appropriate context, but as it is clear that you only measure the sum-total of a man’s life in portions it is easy to understand your refutation of his timely input.

I know your disposition too well, it is all too evident in the hard-to-disguise cultural micro-nationalism which would, undoubtedly, have shaped a world view that only frames events in ‘black and white’ terms – in other words only when human interactions are set against the backdrop of the foreboding Other Fanon mentioned.

The problem with this type of mind-set is that, it is largely self-serving beyond a point.

DuBois lived for close to a hundred years - evolving through the stages of petty bourgeois sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and then foremost Pan-Africanist - and yet to you; decisions taken in his life were “all circumstantial and not intended”?
How does anyone advance such a view in good conscience?
What has been your net-contribution to our peoples’ struggle, eh?

For fear of derailing this thread, I will stop at this point.
Consider this, though: Huey and Malcolm whom you praised earlier would undoubtedly have rejected your one-dimensional, acerbic portrayal of DuBois’ life, in their later years.
Before being felled in their prime, and at a point in their personal evolution where the building of new bridges was seen as an imperative, your journey down the low-road of reductionism and schisms which completely negates ‘historical context’, would have been seen for just what it is – self-serving!

i am sorry you feel that way. opinions i have offered are from a book i read ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS by kareem abdul jabbar. and i am not diminishing what steve biko accomplished. all i am simply saying is for some peculiar reason he is not well known.

good book too http://www.amazon.com/On-Shoulders-Giants-Journey-Renaissance/dp/1416534881

For authorbiography- losing my virginty by Richard Bramson