Brian Belton
Black Routes: Legacy of African Diaspora
Recommended by my work colleague who was taught by the author at college. A run through of a number of Black activists and authors. Very interesting and led me to find out more and read some of the people he chooses. It does seem very personal and random with no real thread running throughout. The commentary is from a personal point of view and it's often difficult to know if you are reading the author's views or the person he's writing about. This personal angle is taken to extremes in writing about an ex West Ham player who becomes a very successful coach in the USA. We are then led into a long list of games played and successful players that he's coached which is not really that interesting, unless you are a fan of MLS, and this chapter takes a quarter of the book. To be honest it feels like a massive filler. But the most disappointing part of the book is the very short chapter on Louis Farrakhan who whilst undoubtably has a very large following is not condemned by the author for his views (widely extremely conservative) and as someone who has endorsed Trump sits very uncomfortably alongside the others in the book.
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