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Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America

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Author: Geoffrey Canada
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$13.00~~
Buy Used: $3.11
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New (37) Used (59) from $3.11

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7

ISBN: 0807004235
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.23097471
UPC: 046442004237
EAN: 9780807004234
ASIN: 0807004235

Publication Date: April 9, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
When award-winning educator and activist Geoff Canada was growing up in the Bronx, the "sidewalk" boys learned the codes of the block from their elders and were ranked--and to some degree protected--through the rituals of fist, stick, and knife. Weaving in and out of his stark storytelling is a cogent anaylsis of how the complicity of gun manufacturers turned this contained violence into today's world of drive-by shootings and automatic weapons. BRBRA Teacher's Guide for this book is available. BRBR"The vignettes band together with a kind of clarifying momentum, so that the result is something more. . . . A beacon."BRBRBR--New York Times Book ReviewBR"A more powerful depiction of the tragic life of urban children and a more compelling plea to end' America's war against itself' cannot be imagined.BRBRBR--Publishers WeeklyBR"Geoff Canada has been cultivating virtue, and hope, in children for the past 10 years."BRBRBR--NewsweekBR"A slim, revealing volume that should be required reading for anyone who was ever a child, for anyone who has ever negotiated the complicated hierarchy of 'rep' and revenge on city streets."BRBRBR--Boston GlobeBR"Part memoir, part social treatise, a wholly sobering view of inner-city violence and the codes surrounding it."BRBRBR--Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

One of the Most Powerful Books I've Ever Read April 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I flew through this book because I could not stop reading it. The details of life growing up in the Bronx were truly mind blowing, especially for someone who grew up in a super sheltered environment.br /br /However, the best part of this book is how Canada relates how the gun culture has doomed inner city children to an adolescence of violence and how something must be done to change this. br /br /This is the most powerful anti-gun books I have ever read, and the message isn't shoved down your throat, it's told through the author's own life experience which makes it that more powerful.br /br /A must read.

5 out of 5 stars

Mandatory Reading for a Better Society February 22, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is hands down one of the best books I have read. Not only does Geoffrey Canada explain in gritty detail the inner workings of ghetto society, he also lists solid well-thought solutions, which would enable inner city youth and residents to rise above poverty and despair. We, the people, have turned a cheek for much too long. Something really can be done. This book should be required reading for high school and college-level coursework.

4 out of 5 stars

Fistacuffs is better! September 24, 2005
3 out of 6 found this review helpful

Dr. Canada presents an emotive argument for gun control through story and eclecticism. He makes an interesting case for the slide from Fist to Gun without ever dealing with the reason for the violence of fist and/or gun. One might argue with his conclusions though one cannot argue with his heart's concern as to the results caused by the increased violence. Overall, a good read for thought and/or argument.

5 out of 5 stars

I have heard the author speak October 21, 2004
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

I personally have had the opportunity to hear Geoffrey Canada speak at my college twice, he an alumni of Bowdoin College. Not only is his book inspiring, he spoke to my class about joining the "losing team", and making a difference in the lives of others, like those of the South Bronx and Harlem, NY. Not only has he lived to tell, he has taken his experiences and turned them into something very positive, by developing and running the Harlem Children Zone, making a difference to those children there. The book is a great read for anybody who is an urban educator, or involved in social services.

5 out of 5 stars

Rivetting exploration of the roots of violence November 5, 2003
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

Canada grew up poor in the South Bronx in the '50s. Violence, then, as now, was a way of life. All boys fought - life was worse for those who refused. Violence and the rituals surrounding it established the social pecking order. In the preface to his memoir Canada says, "The difference is that we never had so many guns in our inner cities."pCanada's first memory of street violence came at age 4, when his two older brothers had a jacket stolen at the playground. The boys' mother sent them right back to fetch it, promising them a beating "ten times as bad as what that little thief could do to you," if they failed.pThey left the house in tears and returned triumphant, with the jacket. Their mother sat them down and told them it was a lesson in not becoming a victim. The author, her youngest, was unconvinced.pThen a neighborhood boy who habitually refused to fight was "stretched" over a car and savagely beaten by a group of boys. "The lesson was brutal and unmistakable. No matter who you fought, he could never beat you that bad."pCanada's memoir is a thoughtful, moving portrayal of social behavior in a culture of violence. A quick study, Canada learned to use posturing, attitude and negotiation as well as his fists to minimize the number and severity of violent encounters.pBut he is absolutely convinced that violence is a learned response, not innate. He and the other small boys, says Canada, were aghast at the prospect of fighting. Only fear of worse violence and a life of cowering in corners spurred them to fight.pToday, says Canada, the same imperatives operate. But guns have shattered the rituaized formality of the pecking order. Toughness is no longer determined by fighting skills or "heart" but by willingness to pull the trigger.brThis is the book's most chilling precept. The streets are now ruled by those whose most important attribute is a lack of compunction about killing.pCanada's own experience as a gun carrier is a perfect illustration. Home from college he found a nearby street ruled by a gang of toughs so intimidating he would take a circuitous route to avoid them. So he bought a gun. Carrying it, he found his whole personality changed.pInstead of avoiding the block or even crossing the street he would swagger through the gang, his whole attitude provoking a challenge. But back at school in bucolic Maine he saw his behavior in a different light. Appalled at how close he'd come to shooting someone, he threw away the gun.pThose who don't leave the ghetto don't have the luxury of contemplation.br brCanada has devoted his life to helping poor children and reducing street violence. Today he runs a program which offers classes and recreational activities which involve the whole community. The Rheedlen Center uses public school buildings, open 17 hours a day, in an effort to provide children and families with safety.pAt the end of the book, Canada offers a program for solving the problems of violence in the inner cities. Chief among them is getting handguns off the streets by using buyback programs, registration at the place of manufacture (so any gun can be traced) and registration of ammunition.pWhether the reader agrees with his solutions or not, Canada's memoir is powerful testimony of a future of little hope without major change. It is also a riveting and convincing personal history.

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