Marcus Garvey and the Back to Africa Movement

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This book joins a number of others on Garvey, including those by Peggy Caravantes (Morgan Reynolds, 2003) and Anne Schraff (Enslow, 2004). While those authors seek primarily to explain his life, Kallen seeks more to discuss and expand on his contributions to Black Nationalism, and to place his particular movement within the context of his times. Here, Garvey emerges as a man who anticipated those later movements that centered on black pride and black power. In an exceptionally evenhanded manner, the author also shows Garvey to have been naive, unrealistic, and lacking in management skills. A superb speechmaker, a charismatic leader, and an excellent propagandist, he seemed ill prepared to deal with the powerful enemies he made, both black and white, in government and out. The result was a precipitous fall. Kallen describes this all in clear, well-written prose. Archival photographs are placed throughout to good advantage. An excellent addition.-Carol Jones Collins, Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.