Lewis Black crafted comedy genius for most of his lifetime. And when anyone asks ‘Who makes you laugh the most?’ My answer is, without hesitating for a moment, the genius Lewis Black. He has a unique twist on the game that is standup comedy, and he truly stands out from other comedians in the standup field. His memoir, Nothing’s Sacred, is a journey through the standup comedian Lewis Black’s life. Starting from as early as he can remember. (while still making it a hilarious adventure) He depicts almost all of the aspects of his pre to post high-school life and how he got to where he is now. The book is artfully crafted and was all in all, a great read. While giving marvelous satire in the guise of telling a story Lewis Black also does a great job of being narrator, and can see what his struggles and early life was …show more content…
vividly. Probably the most entertaining line in the book was during his huge candy corn debacle, where he states “Here is a know fact: All candy corn ever made was produced in 1904.
That’s because none of us eat enough it so the candy corn company sends out their representatives to collect the discarded candy corn through dumpsters and trash cans, where it is then washed off and bagged up again. A few months later, and that candy corn is sitting on every coffee shop table in America.” It was truly amusing and drew me in at an early stage in the book, and there is plenty more quotes just like that one that draw you in and get you interested in whatever subject he is discussing, including the quote regarding catholicism. “Let’s face facts: If you took somebody with no religious learnings whatsoever and locked that person in a psych ward with nobody around and no stimuli, the Catholic religion is exactly what he’d come up with.” It was a witty remark to the issue concerning Catholicism that he briefly goes over in a chapter circled around religion and his view on certain religions, including his native religion, Judaism and its neighboring rival,
Catholicism. The book also entails his journeys post high-school, where he delves into the experience of working for the government, owning a theater and going through his first stand up routines. One recurring joke throughout the book is also coffee shops, which he has quoted many times throughout his book as witty remarks. They are significant to Black because not only did he own one in his later years, but he also spent most of his times in them as well by being a playwright and a stand up comedian. One quote concerning coffee shops that is fantastically delivered reads: “And on the eighth day, God created starbucks as far as the eye can see, and he said, “Give me venti cappuccino-I am exhausted.” There is also a coffee shop quote in the candy corn selection that says “A few months later, and that candy corn is sitting on every coffee shop table in America”. After journeying through this book I can truly say that it is a masterpiece of a memoir and is a must have if you appreciate stand up comedy or even biographies in the slightest way. The book was an absolute blast to read and was almost impossible to put down at times. As mentioned before, this book is a must read if you are even slightly interested in memoirs, biographies, standups, or Lewis Black’s work. If you stumble across this book in a store, be sure to pick it up because this book is a fantastic read and a wonderful experience.
C. Vann Woodward’s book The Strange Career of Jim Crow is a close look at the struggles of the African American community from the time of Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. The book portrays a scene where the Negroes are now free men after being slaves on the plantations and their adaptation to life as being seen as free yet inferior to the White race and their hundred year struggle of becoming equals in a community where they have always been seen as second class citizens.
The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford is a biography about Rene “Boxer” Enriquez, an East Los Angeles native and former Mexican Mafia member. The gang also known as Le Eme, or “M” in Spanish, the Mexican Mafia is out to be one of the strongest gangs in American history. The gang was established in city of Los Angeles, as well as other smaller gangs such as the well known MS-13, and Florencia-13, which are brought up and mentioned in the book on how Boxer relates to them. Even though the Mexican Mafia was not originated in Mexico, a lot of it roots and thoughts tie back from Mexico. This biography describes in depth the life of Enriquez from being just adolescence stealing fire crackers; up through the present day; an ex Mexican mafia member. Now that he is out of the gang life, he is retelling his story as a normal citizen, trying to warn others about the risks. As well as trying to get the picture through to young kids that it’s not all about getting woman, money and cars. He is trying to help others by retelling his story so they can learn from his mistakes.
“Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.
“The Black Ball” and “Why, You Reckon?” share similar themes that are conveyed through similar literary techniques and plots. While they do so in different ways, Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes both explore the theme of racism.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this book is worthwhile reading although it is a quite thick and might take longer time to finish reading it. I might not good in reviewing a book or giving criticism for something. Reading this autobiography can benefit people in many fields. Different people will see things differently. So does when reading this book, certain people might take the lessons differently and it might benefit differently. For example, as a sociological study, it could provide fascinating insights into ghetto life and the ways which an individual learned to survive in the ghetto. Meanwhile as a religious work, it does tell about how an individual is struggling in order to find his God. And it cannot be denied as it is clear that in political work is the book has had its strongest impact.
Black Boy, which was written by Richard Wright, is an autobiography of his upbringing and of all of the trouble he encountered while growing up. Black Boy is full of drama that will sometimes make the reader laugh and other times make the reader cry. Black Boy is most known for its appeals to emotions, which will keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat. In Black Boy Richard talks about his social acceptance and identity and how it affected him. In Black Boy, Richard’s diction showed his social acceptance and his imagery showed his identity.
In Stanley Milgram’s “The Perils of Obedience,” Milgram explains his own study on the effects authority has on levels of obedience. Milgram designed the experiment in order to recognize the subjects as “teachers,” and actors as “learners,” with another actor posing as an "experimenter.” (Milgram 78). Milgram required the teacher to read a list of word pairs to a learner and to test their remembrance afterward (78). As Milgram explains in his essay, each time the learner answers incorrectly, the teacher is required by the experimenter to flip a switch on an electric shock generator. The author illustrates that the experimenter implies that the teacher is electrically shocking the learner; however, no shocks are actually inflicted. Diana Baumrind
In Stuart Hall’s “What is This “Black” in Black Popular Culture?” the historical implication of popular culture in the U.S is examined and the influence that blackness has in it is deconstructed. According to the text, the departure of European concepts of culture after WWII sparked a hegemonic shift as the United States emerged as a world power. Due to this, the U.S. became the epicenter of global culture production. However, since America has always had a large ethnic population due to slavery, the true face of American popular culture was black American vernacular traditions. Even today, slang that emerge from black ghettos and communities become highly popular with people of other races. In fact, much of black culture is not just our culture,
The book offers a view from the Afro-American life that I never would have seen otherwise. Before reading the book, I had the image of Malcolm X being a radical leader, encouraging violence and supporting Pan-Africanism. What I now understand is that Malcolm, along with every other single Afro-American, have been undergoing some of the worst discrimination in history. Malcolm gave support to the Afro-American in the fact that he preached the white man was to be the devil while under Black Muslimism, I cannot blame him for doing so as I would have as well if placed in his shoes. Not only that but in Malcolm’s last years he converted to Islam, where he was introduced to a world of peace where races could co-exist with no problems, only after being outlawed from Black Muslims where Malcolm gave many years of devotion to promote the religion, also another example of the hardship Malcolm was faced
...and he changed his last name to “X” signifying that it was unknown. Malcolm along with being a Minster became a civil rights leader. But he differed from other civil rights leaders in the sense that he didn’t want to “integrate” the black man into that white mans society, but he rather wanted to “liberate” the black man. If he could not accomplish this he would want to separate not segregate, but completely separate from the white mans society. He felt that the white man was the devil. He was a great man, and it was a real shame when he was assassinated. He was a great man, and I think that his autobiography affected me like no other book has. He led an amazing life, and in some aspects I can relate to him. I liked most about this story, that no one he had known when he was younger would have guessed he would be so successful. And I would have found it interesting, if Malcolm had been able to track down that English teacher of his, and to find out from him what he tough of him then. This book was very well written, and I recommend it to any and everyone. Despite race gender or religious beliefs, this is an amazing book, and is hard to put down.
He also used his writing to find out more about himself. he also wrote outside of prison talking about his experience as a black man in society, and also the experience as a black man in the ghetto. The book basically compares and contrast being a black man in three very different scenarios.
The White Silence is about Ruth, her husband Mason, and the Malamute Kid on a trek through the Yukon with their dogs. Resources are scarce so they only have enough food for themselves and nothing to share with the dogs. They set out on their journey after they finish eating. The dogs are weak from having no food and Carmen, one of the dogs falls in the traces. Mason slashes the dog with his whip, which starts an argument with Malamute Kid. Mason decides to leave the dying dog behind and ventures ahead of Ruth and Malamute Kid, stopping by a large pine tree. The pine tree falls from the weight of the snow onto Mason, crushing his shoulder. He survives but is gravely injured, Ruth and Malamute Kid are unable to take him back with them. Mason tells Malamute Kid to take care of Ruth and to go on without him, but Malamute Kid pleads to wait three day before leaving; Mason agrees to allow them to stay only one day. With no improvement from Mason, Ruth says her goodbyes to her husband and her and Malamute Kid leave Mason behind.
Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire. Monk is the second most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more than a thousand pieces, whereas Monk wrote about seventy. Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10, 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and was the son of Thelonious and Barbara Monk. Thelonious Monk and his family moved to New York City when he was four years old. He started playing piano when he was around five. In his early teens, Monk found his first job touring as an accompanist to an evangelist. While he toured with the evangelist he would
Everywhere you go there are always people who treat you differently because of the way you are dressed, the way you act or behave, or because of the color of your skin. The Jews were almost exterminated because of their race, and in America Blacks were discriminated because of the color of their skin. In life, people give others a hard time, simply because of their race. This results in those people who are being discriminated living very hard lives that are difficult. In the story Black Ball by Ralph Ellison the black ball symbolizes the difficulty of being a black person, the struggle, and humiliation, and discrimination of being a Negro.
In the book “Freedom on My Mind” it states, “the legal status of blacks in early Virginia remains controversial because laws regulating slavery do not appear in the colony’s legal statutes prior to the 1600s.” Since laws regulating slavery did not appear, English colonists were able to create codes which determined who could be a slave. I will go into detail about these codes and how it made an impact on the development of black history. This will also answer the legal status of people of African descent in colonial Virginia and how blacks where distinguished from other Virginians.