The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
by Sidney Poitier
List Price:
Our Price: $1.90
You Save: $13.09 (87%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Sidney PoitierEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-01-26
ISBN: 0061357901
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Book Reviews of The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: A view of the man behind the "star"
Summary: 3 Stars
With a career on stage and in film that has spanned more than five decades, actor Sidney Poitier has gained recognition for his work. Through his "Spiritual Autobiography," we learn something of the man behind the "star," from where he came, how he moved forward, and his views on life after having lived more than seventy years of it.
Poitier begins his narrative by giving background, taking us back to his early childhood on Cat Island in the Bahamas. We're introduced to his parents, the values that they instilled in him, and the adventures of a young boy that helped to shape the worldview of a man who improbably became a Hollywood star. Life on Cat Island was uncomplicated and a boy could roam his territory without much concern.
The next major phase in his life came when economic necessity prompted his father to take the family to Nassau. The innocence of Cat Island would become a memory. Innocence would recede further still when he moved to Miami as a teenager to live with his brother. Poitier describes the harsh reality of belonging to a race not widely welcomed and even persecuted. The irony that this would take place in a land that considers itself founded by a document that proclaimed "all men are created equal" was not lost on Poitier, nor can it be lost on the reader.
Another major shift comes when Poitier strikes out on his own, moving to New York. Harlem, he imagined, would make a much easier place to build a life. Giving a glimpse into a difficult existence there, Poitier gives us a view into his earliest work as an actor and how he supported himself when the income from acting proved insufficient to eke out an existence. From this point on, Poitier discusses his career, often making references to his well-known work to make his points.
He concludes by looking reflectively upon his life and his work, assessing himself against the standards of his parents and the impact that he has been able to make on issues that he found personally important.
Poitier's story is an interesting one. In many respects, it is the American dream: where you wind up is a reflection of how you've worked, rather than from where you came. I especially appreciated his perspective, though, as he describes many of the challenges that he faced, challenges that he likely would not have had to confront were he the member of another ethnic group. Fortunately, he does correctly recognize that virtually every identifiable group that has come to this country has had to win over the group already here. In the earliest group, it was European settlers "winning over" the natives by force. When they became the natives, they then discriminated against the Irish, Catholics, Jews, etc., etc., etc.
Shaped by the experiences of his lifetime, Poitier has some strong opinions that include the notion that it's too early to stop apologizing for the history of mistreatment of black Americans. While no liberty-loving person can justify the scourage of slavery or the attitudes of people who seek to limit the living space of others, I must point out that this is a tricky business. Using this same logic, some have tried to extract an apology out of me as if I bear some culpability. Well, it was my ancestors, some will claim, without bothering to trace back my family's history and to learn that most of my ancestors have only recently come to this country and those that haven't were too far north and subscribers to belief systems that would not permit them to be involved in any such madness. That said, Poitier's remarks are fortunately within a context that helps us to understand exactly "where he's coming from." Poitier and I might well have different ideas regarding the most important properties of a just society, but much of that likely comes from our differences in experience. The fact is that in my lifetime, racism is more readily recognized as an evil because it was addressed so prominently by people in his lifetime. Lack of agreement on every detail of every opinion will not prevent me from holding him in esteem for the successes that he has achieved.
I was less than delighted with the presentation of the story, however. His style is simply too conversational. Questions used in speech like "you know?" and "you follow?" serve the purpose of coaxing an acknowledgment out of the listener, keeping the listener engaged. It doesn't work in print; it's completely superfluous and creates a tone of excessive informality. The excessively informal tone is further driven by the gratuitous use of strong language. The F-bomb simply loses its effect when used excessively and once that has taken place, it's just an extra word that wastes space.
The Measure of a Man proved a worthwhile read and I'm happy to have been given fuller exposure to the life and ideals of someone whose work I admire.
Summary of The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set."
?Sidney Poitier
In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure?as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.
Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.
Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.
Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits?his own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.
Sidney Poitier wrote The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography because he "felt called to write about certain values, such as integrity and commitment, faith and forgiveness, about the virtues of simplicity, about the difference between 'amusing ourselves to death' and finding meaningful pleasures--even joy." Yet Poitier's book does not speak from on high; its tone is conversational and endearingly self-critical. He begins the first chapter by recounting an evening spent channel-surfing and wondering, as most of us do at one time or another, "What am I doing with my time?" The spiritual reflections in The Measure of a Man are nonsectarian; Poitier's faith is clearly influenced by his experience in Christian churches, but he is not, strictly, Christian. Though idiosyncratic, his faith is disciplined and rigorous, informed by leaders as diverse as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Poitier's love--for himself, his family, and the world--infuses his recollections of his early life on Cat Island in the Bahamas and his memories of his stage and film career (including his Oscar-winning role in Lilies of the Field). Poitier has been rich and poor; he has been popular and despised; and his extremely varied experiences have made him a wise man, as he demonstrates with statements like this one: "[W]hat we do is stay within the context of what's practical, what's real, what dreams can be fashioned into reality, what values can send us to bed comfortably and make us courageous enough to face our end with character."
Actors & Actresses Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Actors & Actresses Books
Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoirby Claire Bloom
Little Brown & Co (T); Published: 1996-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
Ginger Rogers: A Bio-Bibliography (Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts)by Jocelyn Faris
Greenwood; Published: 1994-03-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $72.00
Price in other shops:
But We Need the Eggs: The Magic of Woody Allenby Diane Jacobs
St Martins Pr; Published: 1982-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $98.81
Astaire and Rogers (Film and Culture Series)by Edward Gallafent
Columbia University Press; Published: 2004-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.22
Price in other shops:
The Good, the Bad, and Me: In My Anecdotageby Eli Wallach
Mariner Books; Published: 2006-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.42
Price in other shops:
On The Couchby Lorraine Bracco
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-06-06; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorceby Alec Baldwin
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-09-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
There and Back Again: An Actor's Taleby Sean Astin, Joe Layden
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2005-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Pieces of My Heart Low Price CDby Robert J. Wagner
HarperAudio; Published: 2009-09-15; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Assby Karen Duffy
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2001-11-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.25
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Stepsby Richard Rohr
St. Anthony Messenger Press; Published: 2011-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.56
Price in other shops:
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)by Sidney Poitier
HarperSanFrancisco; Published: 2007-01-26; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.22
Price in other shops:
Say You're One of Them (Oprah's Book Club)by Uwem Akpan
Back Bay Books; Published: 2009-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.34
Price in other shops:
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (40th Anniversary Edition)Sony; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
The Heritage of World Civilizations: Volume 1 (9th Edition)by Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven M Ozment, Frank M. Turner
Prentice Hall; Published: 2011-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $85.00
Price in other shops:
No Act of Love is Ever Wasted: The Spirituality of Caring for Persons with Dementiaby Richard L. Morgan, Jane Marie Thibault
Upper Room; Published: 2009-09-01; Perfect Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.58
Price in other shops:
The BOOK OF JOBby Stephen Mitchell
Harper Perennial; Published: 1992-06-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops:
The God That Failedby Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Richard Wright, André Gide, Louis Fischer, Stephen Spender
Columbia University Press; Published: 2001-09-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.82
Price in other shops:
Letters to a Young Brother: Manifest Your Destinyby Hill Harper
Gotham; Published: 2007-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughterby Sidney Poitier
HarperOne; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.33
Price in other shops: