From sir, with love:
The Measure of a Man

Book by Sidney Poitier
255 pp, 2000 Harper, San Francisco paperback
Available at Kinokuniya and leading book stores, 540 baht

Reviewers are expected to critique new books and reprints of older ones, not those which have been on the shelves for years. Yet here I am with the recently arrived The Measure of a Man, published in 2000. The author was 76 then and is still with us.

Sidney Poitier, the first black actor to win an Oscar, rose to fame in the 1950s, his career peaking in the '60s. Of his later movies, one was more forgettable than the next. Still, his Lifetime Achievement Award was well deserved.

At 255 pages, this paperback is a book of memoirs rather than a full-fledged autobiography. Poitier describes his childhood in the Bahamas (poor but happy), dwells on racism in the States which he entered at 15 (feeling superior to whites), mentions his hits (Lilies of the Field was made on a budget of $240,000 (7.8 million baht)), glosses over his marriages (two).

His parents grew tomatoes on Cat Island. There was no electricity, running water, indoor plumbing. No telephone, television, cars. Recreation was walking on the beaches. He learned to swim by his mother's tossing him into the sea and not helping while he floundered.

Schooled in Nassau from age 10, Sidney became aware of class distinction on two levels - well-to-do and poor whites, prosperous and poor blacks. It was even more pronounced when he arrived in Miami. As his family name is French, he reckons that his ancestry is Haitian rather than African.

Forced to ride in the back of buses, called a dog when he was uppity, given only menial jobs, he went to the Big Apple but it was hardly better. Kitchen help or delivery boy, take your pick. Only Harlem allowed him residence, rooftops when he couldn't afford the rent.

Joining the army fed, clothed and sheltered him, but Sidney wasn't one for taking orders. Throwing a chair at an officer got him booted out. Applying to an acting school on a whim, offering to be its janitor in lieu of fees, he was taken on.

Slowly, parts came his way. The critics were impressed, an agent signed him up. Name restaurants refused to serve him even when his films were hits and directors lined up for his services. Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L Jackson had yet to put in appearances.

It was held against him that he wasn't a Civil Rights activist after Martin Luther King entered the scene, but he notes that he was busy prizing open the doors of Hollywood for his fellows. In any event, his primary concern has been to nurture his six daughters.

The latter part of The Measure of a Man lives up to the title. Combining morality, philosophy and metaphysics, Sidney Poitier asks the age-old questions about man's place in the scheme of things, God's purpose in creating the cosmos, how can we improve ourselves.

He concludes that that the very core of man is his dignity. Slavery took everything away from him but this. Because of it, there is hope for the human race.

critique a report that says what is good and bad about something reprints books that are printed again recently not long ago in time peaking reaching the highest level or value of something forgettable not important or good enough to be remembered well deserved describes something that you earn or are given because of your behavior or qualities full-fledged having finished developing, studying, or establishing yourself dwells keeps thinking or talking about something, especially something bad or unpleasant superior the feeling that you are better than someone else glosses gives a short explanation of something plumbing the water pipes in a building

recreation activities that you do for enjoyment when you are not working tossing throwing floundered made wild movements with your arms or body, especially because you were trying not to sink class distinction the difference in privileges and status between groups in a society prosperous successful, usually by earning a lot of money reckons thinks that something is probably true ancestry your relatives who lived a long time ago, or the origin of your family uppity describes a person who behaves in an unpleasant way because they think that they are more important than they really are menial jobs work that is boring, and not well paid or respected residence a place to stay or live sheltered provided housing

booted out thrown out; kicked out on a whim when you suddenly want to do something without having a reason in lieu of instead of something refused said that you will not do or accept something prizing removing or opening something by pressing a tool against a fixed point fellows informal members of a group of people primary more important than anything else; main nurture to take care of, feed and protect someone or something, especially young children or plants, and help them to develop metaphysics the part of philosophy that is about understanding existence and knowledge core center dignity calm, serious and controlled behavior that makes people respect you