Rating: 
Summary: Call Him Coach
Review: After being frustrated in his attempts at beginning a coaching career at either the collegiate or professional level, circumstances led the NBA's all-time leading scorer to an Apache reservation in Arizona where he became the assistant coach of the boys high school basketball team. In addition to relating the chronology of that season, Kareem also provides a fair amount of history while he's at it, and offers more of himself than he typically did during interviews throughout his playing career. As might be expected, Kareem gained as much from his year on the reservation as his players did.
Rating: 
Summary: Kareem continues with the colonization of Native Culture
Review: Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes about his "sojourn" to the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona where he serves as an assistant coach for one season of high school basketball after failing to gain a coaching position within the professional or college leagues. Critical to the theme and understanding of this book is the question, for what purpose did he go? Jabbar reasons his visit to the Apache reservation on the belief that he is somehow connected with them via the fact that he is part Cherokee and part Carib, universalizing all native cultures. He makes a hazy connection between this and Colon Powell's call for American's to do more volunteer work as motivation to visit the Apache reservation. Whatever his motivations, it is not convincing that he went to the reservation to learn about the Apache culture or that he appreciates its people. In fact, he stayed in a condominium off the reservation and, I am told, left the reservation the very minute the last game was played, not even stopping to sign autographs. Jabbar is justly critical of Hollywood's representations of Native Americans on screen, and finds the treatment of the Apache particularly vehement, as Hollywood "...almost always portrayed (them) as blood thirsty savages." Yet, Jabbar goes on to describe Apache teenagers as looking older for their age, and says they "conveyed some of the old pride and fierceness of the nineteenth-century Apache braves." Jabbar seems to have a difficult time seeing these teens, as just teens; rather each is a window to the ancient warrior he romanticizes throughout his book. His academic attempts to explain modern day Apache basketball style (which uses little communication and lots of running) is weak at best, and insulting at worse. He says that they learned to be silent "...in order to ambush people or escape from their enemies, in order to stalk food while hunting, their ancestors had mastered the art of science." He attributes their quick gun-and-run game to the fact that they used to run a hundred miles a day, often running faster on foot then Calvary soldiers could on horse back. Jabbar flatly fails to recognize the significance of Apache style basketball and its importance to Apache culture. Rather he frustrates in the fact that they resist his style of play, subsequently failing to realize that he, like the colonialists he criticizes, has little respect for Apache culture. He says, "I was encountering an entirely new culture, a new way of doing things, which was very different from what I had been taught." And how does he view this new culture? Something that needs to be changed, "There was a great challenge in front of me-much larger than I'd even begun to comprehend." While the specific story of his coaching experience was illustrated with some interesting detail, he diverts much from the subject to take shots at NBA players who had slighted him in the past, glorifies his accomplishment inappropriately, and continually tries to justify his methodologies over the Apache beliefs in terms of what he had been taught and did as a pro player. In such, much of what occurred was horrendous: he had a physical confrontation with an athlete, he continually contests their culture against their will, and fictionalizes it as well. For example, Jabbar speaks of Apache "war cries" coming form the stands. War cries that coaches in the area assure me do not exist. In another scene he portrays himself as a caring coach who consoles the members of an opposite team, something that coach tells me never happened. Jabbar's actions as a coach, or understanding of teens leave much to be desired. The book, as a whole has little to offer academically. It is often infuriating, as it is frequently disrespectful of the people and their culture. While Jabbar expresses empathy for the Apache, and highlights their poverty and disparity, he makes no mention of where the profits form the book will go.
Rating: 
Summary: A Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn With the White Mount
Review: I think this is a book you must read. In reading this book you will be able to visualize what life is like on the rez. You'll get to know the players and read about the a season with the Alchesay Falcons. I guess hearing about my reservation from the eyes of someone else was a good feeling. This book proves how unique the Apache people of the White Mountain Apache Reservation really are. Read this book and fine out what life and basketball are like on the reservation.
Rating: 
Summary: A decent read
Review: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has proven to be not only a great athlete, but a very intelligent and thoughtful writer. His book "Black Profiles In Courage" is outstanding. This book, while not in the same genre as "Black Profiles...", doesn't quite meet up to expectations, even though in its own right, it is a good read. The story of Abdul-Jabbar going to the White Mountain Apache reservation to be an assistant high school basketball coach was truly one of the more compelling sports stories of the last several years. It was only fitting that with all the media attention that followed, he should write an account from his perspective. However, in the attempt to document his experience, I think Abdul-Jabbar got caught in a literary crossroads of sorts. It seemed to me that he couldn't quite decide whether this was to be a social-historical book about the Apache as a whole, or a work about the sport end of it. In places, he managed to weave the two perspectives well, because some of his coaching experiences did indeed warrant historical perspective. However, in other places, the historical and social background seemed more of a disjointed distraction from the central theme of the book. While the specific theme of his coaching experience made for a good read, it seemed that he could have fleshed it out some more. I would have liked to see more description of his work with the big men he kept referring to as vital pieces of the team. I would have also liked to have seen some more of what he contributed to the team as far as philosophies and coaching. Instead, he only highlighted about a half-dozen games, and kept repeating some of the same things over and over. Granted, coaching is a repetitive activity, and many things could have been repeated in a more detailed work. But, what we got seemed to be more like another story by a reporter who had only seen a handful of games rather than an assistant coach who had been with the team the whole season. This is a good read, adequate for addressing some of his experiences on the reservation. However, I don't think it warrants more than three stars because more could have been done with the book. I would hope that at some point, Abdul-Jabbar would write a deeper social-historical book on the Apache people, because it seems that was his ultimate motive here.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, thoughtful book
Review: Kareem tries to impart the difficulties of introducing a western cultural ideal to a group of young men that are trying to keep their own cultural ideals intact while at the same time competing within the majority culture. This book reflects Kareem's own difficulties in aculturation, and his conflicts in trying to impart his basketball culture on another group. This is a thoughtful though imperfect work, less about basketball than about the difficulties of blending different people in the world today.
Rating:
Summary: Kareem - Were you really changed?
Review: Read this in about 10 hours. As a high school women's coach, who also came up with "old school basketball" the trials and tribulations that Mr. Jabbar share during his soujourn are remarkable and true to light. I enjoyed reading this book and was glad to see that the his frustrations and joys are the same as for most high school coaches!
Rating:
Summary: An Honest Look at the Man and his Passions
Review: The honesty with which Kareem Abdul-Jabar's "A Season On The Reservation" is written is quite refreshing. In this age of spin control, especially when it comes to athletes and other public figures, it's nice to see a high-profile individual such as Mr. Abdul-Jabar share his insights and interactions with no noticeable smoke or mirrors. He begins his journey to an Apache reservation with hopes of uncovering some history (Mr. Abdul-Jabar has a fascination with Native-American history) and of sharing his wealth of basketball knowledge with the resident high school basketball squad. There are many bumps in the road, though, and "A Season On The Reservation" speaks eloquently about the cultural differences Mr. Abdul-Jabar encounters when dealing with the Native-American basketball players. They are not comfortable being singled out for criticism and they are not necesarily open to learning techniques that may make them better players. Over the course of the book, however, they learn from Mr. Abdul-Jabar and he, in turn, learns from them. One scene in particular, a confrontation with a player named Tony, is amazingly honest. "A Season On The Reservation" paints Mr. Abul-Jabar as a fellow human being, not a sculpture standing on a pedestal. The history lessons in the book, often drawing a parallel between Native Americans and African Americans, get a bit cumbersome occassionally, but "A Season On The Reservation" is well worth the cover price thank to its honest approach.
Rating:
Summary: An Honest Look at the Man and his Passions
Review: The honesty with which Kareem Abdul-Jabar's "A Season On The Reservation" is written is quite refreshing. In this age of spin control, especially when it comes to athletes and other public figures, it's nice to see a high-profile individual such as Mr. Abdul-Jabar share his insights and interactions with no noticeable smoke or mirrors. He begins his journey to an Apache reservation with hopes of uncovering some history (Mr. Abdul-Jabar has a fascination with Native-American history) and of sharing his wealth of basketball knowledge with the resident high school basketball squad. There are many bumps in the road, though, and "A Season On The Reservation" speaks eloquently about the cultural differences Mr. Abdul-Jabar encounters when dealing with the Native-American basketball players. They are not comfortable being singled out for criticism and they are not necesarily open to learning techniques that may make them better players. Over the course of the book, however, they learn from Mr. Abdul-Jabar and he, in turn, learns from them. One scene in particular, a confrontation with a player named Tony, is amazingly honest. "A Season On The Reservation" paints Mr. Abul-Jabar as a fellow human being, not a sculpture standing on a pedestal. The history lessons in the book, often drawing a parallel between Native Americans and African Americans, get a bit cumbersome occassionally, but "A Season On The Reservation" is well worth the cover price thank to its honest approach.
Rating:
Summary: This book was terrible
Review: The one adjective the I believe most appropriate for this book is condecending...as Mr. Abdul-Jabbar shifts between random thoughts or facts about Native Americans to flat basketball game descriptions... In absolute terms, for a great view on Native Americans, I am sure there are better books...and I must say that for a better view on basketball, heck, read Dennis Rodman. RR
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Story
Review: This book is a record of Abdul-Jabbar's first season as a basketball coach. When Abdul-Jabbar's mother died, he became quite distraught and didn't know what to do with himself. One of his friends at the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona invited him to come to the reservation to try out coaching by working with the high school basketball team on the reservation for a season. Abdul-Jabbar found the invitation attractive for a number of reasons, and decided to give it a go. Once on the reservation, he had to learn not only how to coach rather than play basketball, but he also found himself trying to lead teenagers who weren't always looking for his directions, all while operating in an unfamiliar culture.
After reading the first chapter of the book, I stopped to re-examine the title and cover page to find out who the ghost writer was. After all, most books by sports figures are "told to" rather than written, especially books whose prose flows as well as this one. I was surprised to find that this volume had no ghost writer listed at all. As I read further along in the book, the reason became clear-unlike many other sports figures, Abdul-Jabbar has a number of academic interests and writes quite well. In reading this book, one finds that Abdul-Jabbar is a thinker, a person who brings his analytical skills to problems and new situations. He tries hard to get kids to appreciate the mental aspects of playing basketball. He is quick to pick up on the cultural characteristics that make the Apache kids react differently than other kids in mainstream America. He is occasionally carried away with emotion at games, but afterwards analyzes his inappropriate actions and chalks them up to lessons learned about coaching. Abdul-Jabbar explains how he happened to make a connection with the reservation, describes the kids on the team and the other coaches, and recounts hoop-by-hoop stories of several key games. In a few places, the tale bogs down a little in detail, but overall, it's well written and very enjoyable to read.
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