Books by Mary Lefkowitz

Classics professor Mary Lefkowitz recounts the very public 1990s controversy involving her criticism of Martin Bernal's BLACK ATHENA, a work whose arguments about the sources of ideas attributed to revered philosophers such as Aristotle struck the rather staid, at the time, classics community as heresy, or bad history, or both. Lefkowitz and Bernal engaged in several interesting back-and-forth exchanges, in books and articles, arguing both fact and interpretation. The debate around them became heated and included charges of racism directed against Lefkowitz herself as well as the position she supposedly represented. Now that the dust has settled, Professor Lefkowitz reviews those culture wars, and the events and issues involved.

Was Socrates black? How about Cleopatra? Was Greece colonized by Egypt? As absurd as these claims seem, they, and other "truths" are being taught to college students across the country. In "Not Out of Africa", Lefkowitz debunks the claims made by the Afrocentric movement, presenting a fascinating and scholarly look at these myths and explaining why they have propagated despite an overwhelming lack of real evidence. Illustrations.