The first Rasta : Leonard Howell and the rise of Rastafarianism /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Lee, Hélène.
Uniform title:Premier Rasta. English
Edition:[1st English language ed.].
Imprint:Chicago, Ill. : Lawrence Hill Books, ©2003.
Description:1 online resource (xiv, 306 pages) : illustrations
Language:English
Subject:
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11148432
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Davis, Stephen, 1947-
ISBN:9781613745632
161374563X
9781613745649
1613745648
1556524668
9781556524660
9781556525582
1556525583
Digital file characteristics:data file
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Print version record.
Summary:Going far beyond the standard imagery of Rasta?ganja, reggae, and dreadlocks?this cultural history offers an uncensored vision of a movement with complex roots and the exceptional journey of a man who taught an enslaved people how to be proud and impose their culture on the world. In the 1920s Leonard Percival Howell and the First Rastas had a revelation concerning the divinity of Haile Selassie, king of Ethiopia, that established the vision for the most popular mystical movement of the 20th century, Rastafarianism. Although jailed, ridiculed, and treated as insane, Howell, also known as the Gong, established a Rasta community of 4,500 members, the first agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana. In the late 1950s the community was dispersed, disseminating Rasta teachings throughout the ghettos of the island. A young singer named Bob Marley adopted Howell's message, and through Marley's visions, reggae made its explosion in the music world.
Other form:Print version: Lee, Hélène. Premier Rasta. English. First Rasta. [1st English language ed.]. Chicago, Ill. : Lawrence Hill Books, ©2003 1556524668