Former NBA superstar Abdul-Jabbar continues to pursue his inner historian (Brothers in Arms, A Season on the Reservation, etc.), using his childhood in the late 1940s to bring an engaging personal perspective to this cultural examination. Abdul-Jabbar does a fine job celebrating the already well-celebrated legacies of musicians like Bessie Smith and writers like Langston Hughes; what sets this book apart is Abdul-Jabbar's vantage from the waning edge of Harlem's cultural revolution, at a time when "white America ... was looking around for some other in vogue ethnic group" to excite theirrepressed urges. In a "call-and-response" format, Abdul-Jabbar alternates between straightforward history lessons and his personal take on them; thus, a chapter on "Master Intellects and Creative Giants" is followed by "How Harlem Writers Influenced My Life." Basketball fans will most enjoy Abdul-Jabbar's chronicle of Harlem's basketball team, the New York Renaissance Big Five, which in 1939 became the first black team to win a world professional title in any sport, paving the way for the integration of the ABL (forerunner to the NBA). Contrary to popular belief, the "Harlem Rens," as they were locally known, were the first all-black professional team, not the Harlem Globetrotters.