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Stolen Legacy | 
 enlarge | Author: George G. M. James
Creator: Molefi Kete Asante
Publisher: African American Images
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
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Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 60445
Media: Paperback
Pages: 200
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 0913543780
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780913543788
ASIN: 0913543780
Publication Date: April 1, 2002
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Product Description
Challenging the notion that civilization started in Greece, this uncompromising classic attempts to prove that the true authors of Greek philosophy were not Greeks but Egyptians. The text asserts that the praise and honor blindly given to the Greeks for centuries rightfully belong to the people of Africa, and argues that the theft of this great African legacy led to the erroneous world opinion that the African continent has made no contribution to civilization. Quoting such celebrated Greek scholars as Herodotus, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Thales, and Pythagoras, who admit to the influence of Egyptian studies in their work, this edition sheds new light on traditional philosophical and historical thought. Originally published in 1954, this book features a new introduction.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 This book is terrible but I understand the purpose December 5, 1999
Obatala (United States)
101 out of 129 found this review helpful
Hotep, I first read this book when I was 11 or 12 and I really liked it then. Unfortunately, this book is hideously flawed with regard to accuracy. As I grew older and increased my personal knowledge of Kemet/Egypt the inadequacy of this work became ridiculously obvious. James' representations of Kemetic thought are completely erroneous. That being said, I do not side with James' other critics on this page. I appreciate what he attempted to do for African people and I understand the brutality of the environment in which he operated. I honor him as an Ancestor. At the same time I am not pleased when I see people (particularly Black people) using this inaccurate work in their attempts to combat the well armed and well entrenched Eurocentrists and Neo-Eurocentrists. Neo-Eurocentrists and Eurocentrists find this book incredibly useful to their cause. Stolen Legacy is used to dismiss a diverse Afrocentric movement as a bunch of dreamers, demagouges, and ill prepared romantics. Another note: I found it very amusing how certain contributors to this page confidently stated or implied that "the Egyptians are not Black" or that "Egypt had no connection to Sub-Saharan Africa." (smile) Very cute, however one might actually want to study Kemetic religion, history, language, and culture before opening their mouths to make such inane statements. This is particularly the case with regard to Egyptian history, language, religion, and culture. The "Blackness" of this African people is not really an issue for me (I'm sure Kemet was not absolutely homogeneous)but it annoys me when silly people confidently assert that these AFRICANS were not Black. Another note: Kemet/Egypt is not the only great African civilization. Those who truly want to study Africa, live as Africans, and or assist in her ressurection cannot allow themselves to be confined to to a single branch of the African family. One more VERY IMPORTANT thing. Black/African people, particularly those who call themselves "Afrocentrists" need to stop focusing so much upon our relationship to Greece and other European civilizations. 1. We need to study Africa and our people in our own right and through our own eyes. "Proof" of our contribution or relationship with a European Civilization should not be viewed as a way of legitimizing or increasing the status of a given African Civilization. 2. Greece and European Civilizations can stand in their own right. Eurocentrists and Neo-Eurocentrists do not usually view themselves as such. They view themselves as "orthodox", "careful", "OBJECTIVE", and "SCHOLARLY" (whether they are or not). The fact is they are the established camp and they hold a greater following upon the masses. We must put works such as "Stolen Legacy" to rest and make sure that in our pursuits we are commited to accuracy and truth. This is the only path towards victory. The multitude of African Civilizations are interesting, wonderful, and legitimate without any fantasy and romanticism added to them. Di en ek ankh udja soneb (may there be given to you life, prosperity, and health)
history is about FACT and not "point of view" October 10, 1999
24 out of 32 found this review helpful
This book is utter nonsense. Its writer doesn't know the slightest thing about Greece or Egypt. For example he says that the existence of a god-sun called Aten (and sometimes Atum) in Egyptian mythology is proof that Egyptians established the theory of atoms!!! In fact, the Egyptian Aten sun-god was replaced by the sun-god Amon-Re long, very long before Democritus presented the atom theory, which has no relation whatsoever to Egyptian mythology. Atom is a Greek word, coming from the Greek "a" prefix (=non/no) and the Greek word "tomo" (=incision) (which the neutral for "tomi", btw). Thus, atom= the (smallest existing) particle that cannot be further intersected, exactly what the atom theory maintained. Of course, this book is a flood of inconsistencies, fabrications, lies and hatred propaganda. It has been mentioned a thousand times before, but I feel obligated to mention myself that Alexandria's library was built many years *after* Aristoteles' death, and yet the writer proclaims Aristotelean philosophy is the result of Aristoteles going to Alexandria's library and copying its books!!! In fact Alexandria's library was itself Greek, founded by the Greek Macedonian leader of Egypt, Ptolemy the 1st, as any historian scientist/researcher will verify. Here is what the Grolier Encyclopedia mentions about it: "The greatest large Greek library was established (3d century BC) by Ptolemy I in the museum at Alexandria, Egypt. Scholars there copied, revised, collated and edited works of the classical Greek writers. Their copies of ancient works became the standard editions on which other ancient copyists and libraries depended and, ultimately, the basis of most of the manuscripts in European libraries. The library flourished for several centuries and held about 500,000 papyrus scrolls." Also, don't be misinformed by any illiterate parrot trying to convince people that any library comparable to Alexandria has ever existed in Egypt before said achievement. It is a lie. The fact is that no other libraries senior to that of Alexandria have been found in Egypt and neither have there been speculations about any. Also, keep in mind that the first people to develop Western philosophy and philosophical thinking were Greek (at about the same time with the Asiatic Indian tradition and earlier than the Chinese). There is no Egyptian philosophy at this timeframe (neither, of course, earlier than this timeframe) we are speaking of, and this is not said with any intention to belittle the Egyptians' important advances in other sectors of human activity. It is simply a fact, that we have manuscripts of Egyptian religious beliefs, for example, or manuscripts reporting the restoration works on pyramids, or the pharaohs' succession, but there are absoutely *no* Egyptian manuscripts on philosophy, and there is no mention of such texts by anyone, contemporary or ancient. Of course these scientifically proven facts mean nothing for this writer, because this work clearly serves political agenda more than everything else. Its sole purpose is to maintain (and pertain to) the afrocentrist political/racial bigotry. What else could be the purpose of someone who goes so far as to say that the Athenean Acropolis, the Parthenon, is a copy of Egyptian architecture(!). Anyone who knows the slightest thing about Egyptian architecture, Egyptology, or general archaeology is aware that there is no connection between Greek and Egyptian architecture. Ask yourselves: do Egyptians have anything similar to the Parthenon? Since they don't, how can this writer accuse Greeks of copying the Parthenon (!!!) from Egyptians? It's simple: he is based on pure malice, as well as racial prejudices and bigotry. Which is also the reason moronic (not to mention paranoid) afrocentrists say that Egyptians helped Greeks win the Persian wars. So say the bigots. But how could Egyptians help Greeks win the Persian wars? Not a single Egyptian archer fought on the Persian wars on a side other than that of the Persians. Why is it so, the ignoramus illiterate will ask. EGYPTIANS WERE UNDER PERSIAN RULE when Leonida's Spartans heroically defended Thermopylae, or when the Greeks defeated Persians for the first time at the Marathon battle, and later, at Plateus battle, or when the Greeks burned the Persian fleet at the sea fight in Salamis!!! And they remained under Persian rule through the whole period of the Greeks' prevalence over the world's superpower (the Persians, that is, ruling Egyptians from 525Bc to 404 bc, and from 341 to 331 bc, when Alexander the Great, the Macedonian leader of Greece entered Egypt and was accepted as equal to Gods, and then pronounced pharaoh by the Egyptians). Read the book, if you must, and decide for yourselves. I, for once, am reluctant to believe that the unprecedented bigotry in this book represents any more than a insignificantly small fraction of non-thinking, feeble minded illiterates. And if you should decide to learn the scientific community's view on this subject, read any of professor Lefkowitz's work, or any other historian's views, for that matter of fact.As for those reviewers that criticize all others as being "ignorant or racist" because they disagree with neo-nazist pseudo-history, I would suggest them get some facts and evidence on their beliefs next time they post, here or anywhere. Saying rage is proof of racism is both ignorant and mala fide, but however illogical the argument may be, it could serve as proof to James' racism, since there is nothing more than hatred and rage on this book. But, exactly like Holocaust deniers, rabid nationalists, and George James, these reviewers do nothing else than to insult anyone disagreeing with this book and its author, even though all these people have given Evidence and Facts to Prove the historical truth.
"Just So" Stories Claiming to be History January 18, 2003
Avital Pilpel (New York, NY United States)
22 out of 37 found this review helpful
The main idea of this book is that the ancient Greeks were thieves: they invented nothing--not science, not philosophy, not anything--but stole all of it from the Africans, that is, the Egyptians, thus beginning the anti-black racism that kept black people down for thousands of years. There is just one problem: it isn't true, as anybody with any knowledge of the ancient world knows. To start with, the book is full of factual mistakes. First of all, the ancient Egyptians weren't blacks. (Ancient Egypt was racially mixed, and in any case skin color meant about as much as eye color.) The "Egyptian mystery system" James describes in the book was actually invented in the 18th century by French mystics; it is related to Plato not because Plato stole it from the Egyptians, but because the 18th-century French relied on Plato. Aristotle and Plato never visited Egypt, let alone the library of Alexandria, which didn't actually exist until they were both long dead. Quite apart from all these factual mistakes, the main thesis of the book is ludicrous: it is one thing to say the greeks were influenced by the egyptians (obviously true, and as any scholar of history knows, this was never deined), or even that the greeks never invented anything and merely plagarized the egyptians (not true, but at least logically possible.) But James says that the egpytian legacy was literally STOLEN. That is, not only did the greek plagiarize them, but that miracolously, this plagiarism caused the egyptians to instantly forget all of the plagiarized material and not make any new records of it! How on earth was this supposed to happen? If you teach someboy something, or even if he copies an idea you've got, or even if he steals the book where the idea is written, as James claims Aristotle did, do you instantly forget it yourself and can no longer recreated it? Even if the Greeks copied everything from the Egyptians, would that make the egyptians somehow forget their own original teachings? Of course not! The very idea is silly. This book is, in sum, simply fiction: a ludicrous thesis "supported" by numerous historically inaccurate claims.
 Why Do People Attack This Book?????? December 30, 2000
9 Ether (Memphis, TN USA)
20 out of 39 found this review helpful
I don't understand why people attack this book. This book is very factual in its content. I guess the reason why people disagree with this book is that some people do not want to accept the fact that the ancient egyptians were of the black race and think that "afrocentrists" are racist. But, if you read the writings of such white scholars as H. Spencer Lewis, Homer, and many other european writers they will admit that Greek knowledge and philosophy came out of egypt and they describe the Egyptians as being black. Rosicrucians teach that their sacred teachings and esoteric knowledge started with A'aferti Thutmose III, and the Hermitcs and European orders who practiced alchemy give credit to Hermes Trismegistus a.k.a. Tehuti as the founder of the sciences. So, I don't see the controversy concerning the Egyptian origin of Greek philosophy. George G. M. James did a good job writing this book and his research is well organized. He admits that modern masonry has its origin in Egyptian Mysteries. He goes into detail how the Egyptian Mysteries are similar to that of Greek philosophy and how these European philosophers were educated in Alexandria. Very informative and a classic book, indeed.
Masterpiece February 21, 2003
Milton (Garland, Texas United States)
19 out of 30 found this review helpful
Contrary to the opinions of the reviewer who calls himself "classics lover" (after reading his review, it should be more along the lines of "fantasy lover") this book is a Masterpiece that needs to be read by any serious student of true, historical fact.
First of all, contrary to "classics lover" opinion, ancient Egypt was founded, cultivated and reached it's peak as a civilizing empire by aBLACK, AFRIKAN PEOPLE. Their own documents, in their own words say as much and while in the later (and by the way declining) years of the empire, they did intermingle with other races of peoples that they had conquered.
As for the "Mystery System" to place the founding of this system in 18th century France is to show one's ignorance in full display & spectacle. If you were to do any real and detailed study into the mystery systems of the world such as the Free Masons, Kabalists, etc... you will find that their beliefs, structures and practices could be traced, as many of them do, back to the courts of the Pharoh's. Make no mistake, they have perverted most of the original meaning, but the origin is still found in Egypt. Concerning his statement that every scholar of history has stated and never denied that greece was influenced by Egypt is itself ludicrous. To this day, so called "scholars" are dening that fact, and by the way, isn't it funny how you find not one scholar in greece worthy of mentioning until after the travels and conquests of Alexander the Great in particular in Egypt, then all of a sudden here comes all of these incredible scholars and books and of course the library of Alexandria containing all of this wisdom. Why where these things not founded in greece prior to this time period if the greeks where really so scholarly?
As far as the ridiculous comment: not only did the greek plagiarize them, but that miracolously, this plagiarism caused the egyptians to instantly forget all of the plagiarized material and not make any new records of it! You must remember that unlike Afrika which has historically had a respect and thirst for the both the obtaining, recording and sharing of knowledge, europeans (see rome) have always had just as much a thirst for destroying and rewriting any and all records that didn't line up with their propaganda which is exactly what happened to the records of ancient Egypt.
It is clear that "classics lover" has had a hard time as most do when confronted with something that completely destroys the long held myths that they have been taught. If you are a true student who will take the time to study all the facts, then you will see that Dr. James did his homework when he put this book together and begin to appreciate the wonderful and rich tradition that is ancient Egypt, a glorious Afrikan Empire.
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