Not Out Of Africa: How ""Afrocentrism"" Became An Excuse To Teach Myth As History - Hardcover

Lefkowitz, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465098371 ISBN 13: 9780465098378

Publisher: Basic Books, 1996

Synopsis

Not Out of Africa has sparked widespread debate over the teaching of revisionist history in schools and colleges. Was Socrates black? Did Aristotle steal his ideas from the library in Alexandria? Do we owe the underlying tenets of our democratic civilizaiton to the Africans? Mary Lefkowitz explains why politically motivated histories of the ancient world are being written and shows how Afrocentrist claims blatantly contradict the historical evidence. Not Out of Africa is an important book that protects and argues for the necessity of historical truths and standards in cultural education.For this new paperback edition, Mary Lefkowitz has written an epilogue in which she responds to her critics and offers topics for further discussion. She has also added supplementary notes, a bibliography with suggestions for further reading, and a glossary of names.

About this title

Review:

Wellesley classics professor Mary Lefkowitz takes aim at the basic claims of leading proponents of Afro-centrism, in this expansion of her New Republic article exposing flaws in the argument that black Africans were responsible for the great civilizations of Egypt and Greece that brought praise from historians and criticism from Afrocentrists. Lefkowitz argues that the Greeks' African heritage touted by Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop is based upon a single dubious source and that Egyptians never considered themselves black Africans, in fact, that they consciously disassociated themselves from blacks. She argues that the legacy of these two cultures remains so rich even foes of European civilization want to claim that legacy for themselves.

About the Author:

Mary Lefkowitz is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0465098371
• ISBN 13: 9780465098378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240