Rating: 
Summary: Good writing by an awful person.
Review: As an African American, I really hate to do this but it must be said. McCall's novel, MMWTH, is well-written but his actions in the novel are about EVIL, not racism or blackness as he claims.Nearly all of the book is Nathan describing the terrible thoughts, words and deeds he directed at Black men (fights, attempted murder), Black women (gang-rape, promiscuity), his own Black children (illegitimacy, denial), and the Black community at large (robbery, burglary, shoplifting a store so badly that it closed). While the book is well-written and hard-hitting, it is about juvenile deliquency and petty criminal behavior. McCall didn't get "super-Black" until he was caught robbing a (presumably White-managed) McDonald's. Oh, but now he is oh-so Black, loves Black people, and White racism is the cause of his psychopathic behavior. On McCall's writing ability ALONE will I give this book 3 stars. As for the themes he claims to present (racism, Blackness, etc), he gets no star.
Rating: 
Summary: tour de force
Review: very very powerful and i can relate to it.i feel all races should read this book.this book details the african american male experience in america really well.the ways of looking at yourself.the theme for me in the book is loving yourself knowing who you are.it's tough being a black man in america but even tougher without your own idenity.i felt Mr. Mccall was putting his blood line on the line in this book.yes,self-hatred and loathing are found in this book as is all kinds of abuse and what have you but the book is purely a reflection of a time and the scene around a person.living in a world that tells you that you don't matter and that your skin is your sin.but in the end you have to believe in yourself or you will succomb to the hatred and maddness.i highly reccomend this book for anyone PERIOD.
Rating: 
Summary: Rename the book!
Review: McCall should have given his novel a more appropriate title. Instead of "A Young Black Man in America" it should read "A Petty Criminal in America." That's really all this book is about. I believe the "black" part got thrown in the title (and only minimally throughout the book) as a marketing technique to guarantee profits from Black readers. I resent this book being classified with African American literature. It should be in the True Crimes section of any bookstore. Basically, McCall writes about his misadventures as an adolescent thief and rapist. He then grows into a full-blown adult robber, liar and ultimately a convict. I won't even go into McCall's baby-breeding, child-deserter pattern. (Liz's mom had the right attitude towards Nathan during Liz's pregnancy. Go, girl!) The rape issues are well-covered by previous reviews. Even though I am Black, the opening chapter of McCall and his hoodlum buddies nearly killing an innocent white kid was nothing more than an attention-getter scene for the book, aside from a terribly violent act. What's also awful is that McCall still can't provide the reader with an excuse for his thuggery. That's because most immature and irresponsible people blame others. McCall came from a very decent background therefore he can't blame his parents. AT an early age, he simply CHOSE to be a criminal! Another thing! Why was this guy featured on a Barbara Walters interview? Why is he continually on BET as some sort of representative of Black America? His only contribution is his pair of books, both titled after Marvin Gaye songs. Black authors, please let your "blackness" be your virtue and strength, not your weakness or excuse!
Rating:
Summary: A hypocrit, child deserter, and a coward
Review: How can Nathan McCall expect any sympathy from any person when he describes raping young women, young black women, and expresses absolutely no remorse? When he fathers children out of wedlock, and blames it on the women? When he cheats on women and tries to blame it on society. You're mad at the world Nathan, but it's everyone's fault but your own. Even beating a white kid half to death because he happened to ride a bike through your neighborhood is SOCIETY's fault. Oh please, break out the violins and give this guy a tissue to cry on. If you want to read a book that really covers this topic, read the classic Manchild in the Promised Land.
Rating: 
Summary: A well-written book about BM hypocrisy!!
Review: I am an African American female. I have very mixed feelings about this novel. What was GOOD -- explaining the criminal mind while engaging in a crime, high school rivalries, prison life, post-prison life. What was SAD -- McCall's anger/hatred/violence directed at black women, the girls he gang-raped in high school, the one he planned to kill after sex in a car, his crazed criticism of his wife, his illegitimate children (again blaming their mother alone as if he himself never heard of a condom). Also, SAD -- McCall had no problem committing crimes against black people in his own community yet he admitted that he would dare not challenge a White police officer's authority on the street! Also, this lying, raping, stealing excuse of a Black man gets caught by America's justice system and now he cries "racism" the way his female victims tried to cry "rape." Like them, no one hears McCall's cry. Next, McCall lies to get a job and is upset over getting caught! He steals and is upset over being watched by others! DUHH! -- MCCALL, YOU ARE MISSING A FEW FRIES FROM YOUR HAPPY MEAL!! The worst part of this novel is that McCall grew up in a decent home with a father/stepfather. Yet McCall criticized everyone: his stepfather working for white people, Blacks who travelled, white people (yet he confessed having sex with a white woman was some kind of Black male rite of passage). This is a well-written book by a very disturbed criminal who happens to be a black male. (The book's subtitle is a complete misnomer!!) The only time McCall claims "Blackness" was when he got himself in trouble and needed a way out.
Rating: 
Summary: Anguished journey through life.
Review: I am an African-American female and I read this book at the urging of a friend. The only thing I wanted to do when I finished it was put my arms around Mr. Call and let him know to not be so afraid. I wanted to say to him, "It's gonna be alright." The book brings to mind "Man Child In the Promised Land" (Claude Brown), in that it chronicles Mr. Call's life from early youth to present day. It seems as he struggles to find his place in the world, he goes through hurt, disappointment, does some jail time, struggles to improve himself and eventually finds a job as a writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution (kudos to them for hiring an former offender). It's almost a proverb: "If you do jail time, you'll end up a more productive memeber of the society." (Why is it that more than a few African American men must do jail time before producing, other than offspring, in this society ?). Unlike "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (Alex Haley)or Manchild, there was little humor, and very few incidences joy. He mentions relationships with women (one must be specific these days) that are blanketed in fear and poor communication. There is the sense that all his cards are never on the table ---in any situation,--though he really would like to be comfortable with putting them there. The book is eloquent. It truly makes you want to holler (before you finish it) because it pulls you into his pain. It's no picnic being an African American male in this society. His book sites the reasons this is so for those African American brothers in his socio-economic strata. Read it so you can feel it.
Rating:
Summary: Makes Me Wanna Holler Makes Me Wanna Holler
Review: This book has some merits, but I find that McCall's relative lack of remorse for participating in gang-bangs and for showing very little evidence of how brutal, how victimizing and how humiliating rape is for women of any race, borders on being unforgivable. McCall seems at times to be downright misogynistic. I've been raped and I don't think that issues of identity can be hierarchized as they are in this text, wherein race trumps gender, every time. What is worse, the perniciousness of racism, or the perniciousness of misogyny and violence against women? We are all multiply complex human beings. Neither gender or race strike me as favorable categories by which to categorize or to conceptualize others. McCall seems to lack the ability to give his victims the respect or attention they deserve. This book made ME wanna holler, and not just because of the undeniably difficult life that black men and women have unjustly faced in America. I personally view McCall as an unrepentant rapist. Admittedly, my own victimization in this respect might, indeed, probably does bias my assessment. However, as I implied above, -- none of this book's merits, and it does have some, can erase my reaction or assuage my utter horror at his lack of sensitivity towards women, generally and towards those whom he victimized, specifically. I had to read this book for a class I was taking and I am not happy with the school for making a mandate of that sort. We also read "Bastard Out of Carolina," by Dorothy Allison, a book that far better and far more clearly depicts the attrocious nature of the indignities persons are subjected to at the hands of others. McCall is, I learned recently, now teaching at my alma mater, which prompted me to add this review to the current "menage." Allison's insights concerning the trauma of victimization and the horrors of which human beings are capable of inflicting on one another offers a superior perspective, not only because her insights are more accessible to the reader, but because she writes with compassion. This is a conclusion that was shared by our entire class, including our fine instructor, whom I miss, wherever she is. Would that they had hired her instead of McCall. Compassion is precisely what "Makes Me Wanna Holler" lacks. Perhaps McCall could learn a thing or two by reading Allison's work. Meanwhile, until I hear that McCall adds "empathy" to his impressive resume, I'll pass on reading any more of his work.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read For Whites or Blacks
Review: This book, in addition to being a very interesting and compelling story, has enormous educational value for all people. I would imagine it would be a helpful thing to read for many (often minority) youths who feel disenfranchised. It is also a useful read for solidly middle class white people who often make uneducated judgements towards black people. The book is a great take on racism in America, the brutality of prison, and the way that self-doubt and despair can destroy people.
Rating:
Summary: One Glaring Problem
Review: Let me be perfectly clear before I even begin. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think that it makes a telling social statement. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but be put off by Nathan McCall's hypocrisy toward black women. Throughout the book he bemoans the shabby, even cruel treatment he and his friends have netted out toward black women over the years. However, right up to the very end of the book he continues to boast of fathering children out of wedlock and of failing to provide adequate child support. I agree wholeheartedly with McCall's assesment of institutional racism and the drastic need to improve living and social conditions in the inner cities. However, if he's not going to take full and complete responsibility for the children he helps create, he needs to learn how to use a condom.
Rating:
Summary: What an eye-opener! 'Holler' helped me understand ...
Review: I found the descriptions of the subtle indignities as endured by his father while gardening for others to be every bit as effective as the more intense scenes. The male/male and black/white tension described in the Atlanta newsroom was palpable. Mr. McCall helped me understand how little I understood.
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