Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence

Geoffrey Canada

Aug 2021 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Bill Quinn

About this audiobook

A candid and riveting memoir from the founder of Harlem Children's Zone, taking readers through his Canada in which violence stalked every street corner.
 
Long before the avalanche of praise for his work—from Oprah Winfrey, from President Bill Clinton, from President Barack Obama—long before he became known for his talk show appearances, Members Project spots, and documentaries like Waiting for “Superman”, Geoffrey Canada was a small boy growing up scared on the mean streets of the South Bronx. His childhood world was one where “sidewalk boys” learned the codes of the block and were ranked through the rituals of fist, stick, and knife. Then the streets changed, and the stakes got even higher. 

About the author

From 1990 to 2014, Geoffrey Canada served as the president and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, a nonprofit, community-based organization deemed “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time” by the New York Times Magazine. Jonathan Kozol called him, “One of the few authentic heroes of New York and one of the best friends children have, or ever will have, in our nation,” and Oprah Winfrey simply refers to him as “an angel from God.”