05/06/2024
Howell debuts with an erratic portrait of his father, Rasta movement founder Leonard Percival Howell (1898–1981), and the Rastafarian community he led near Kingston, Jamaica, from 1940 until it was disbanded in the late ’50s. Howell frames his childhood in the Pinnacle compound as idyllic, and the residents there as good citizens, claiming that the friction between Howell’s followers and other Jamaicans stemmed largely from harassment by colonial authorities who sought to undercut Howell’s influence. Interwoven with the story of the commune is valuable background on Rastafarianism’s origins in Marcus Garvey’s movement for African independence, from which it broke in the early 1930s when Howell designated Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I as “the Living God.” Unfortunately, the author’s alternately defensive and worshipful attitude toward his father yields some questionable conclusions, as when Howell writes of his father’s many romantic relationships, “one could argue Dada loved women too much to respect them, but he was a man of his times.... He was a Victorian gentleman and a lion all in one.” This falls short. (Aug.)
"An incredibly fascinating read. For anyone interested in Rastafari and its origins, this is a must-read, as told by the only person who could possibly tell it—because he lived it!"
"Pinnacle: The Lost Paradise of Rasta transformed my understanding of Rastafari, a faith and culture I have known all my life. My first thought on completing it was, Finally, an intimate, insider’s recollection and interrogation of one of the world’s great mysteries—where did Rasta come from and who or what is the source of this magnificent power, this tender but insistent force that continues to reach with open arms from Jamaica to bring unity across languages, religions, and borders, revolutionizing while one-loving the world? "
"Part historical text and part personal memoir, Bill Howell’s gripping account of life growing up in Pinnacle underscores the value of land in the creation of the Rastafari ethos of freedom and independence in colonial Jamaica. Supported by previously unpublished colonial records, his book documents the relentless campaign of harassment and extortion by authorities directed against his father, Leonard Howell, and his followers, as well as the remarkable collective solidarity and resilience demonstrated by community members in the face of these trials. This is a must-read for both specialists and general audiences interested in the origins and history of what is today a global spiritual movement."
"Pinnacle is an invaluable contribution to the reclamation of a Jamaican history seen through the eyes of those who, like Bill Howell, can assert, ‘I was there.’"
"Finally—the unwritten history appears! Replete with visual images of documents and old photographs, Bill Howell’s personal recreation of the historical time line is vivid and engaging. More than eighty years ago, his father’s moment of (self)realization and then the emerging movement of Rastafari changed life as we know it, and in ways we’re only now beginning to fully overstand."
"“An incredibly fascinating read. For anyone interested in Rastafari and its origins, this is a must-read, as told by the only person who could possibly tell it—because he lived it!”"
"“Finally—the unwritten history appears! Replete with visual images of documents and old photographs, Bill Howell’s personal recreation of the historical time line is vivid and engaging. More than eighty years ago, his father’s moment of (self)realization and then the emerging movement of Rastafari changed life as we know it, and in ways we’re are only now beginning to fully overstand.”"
2024-04-30
A son of one of the founders of the Rastafarian movement tells the inside story of the utopian village his father founded and the colonial forces that ultimately destroyed it.
Born and raised at Pinnacle, Howell had the unique opportunity to witness the events surrounding this first-ever Rasta community’s rise and fall. Working alongside his father’s biographer, Lee, the author offers insights into Leonard Howell (1898-1981), the man who founded the commune, and the troubled history of Pinnacle itself. Toward the end of World War I, Leonard left Jamaica to fight for England. Then he split time between Panama and New York City, where he met Black intellectuals like Marcus Garvey, who inspired him to create a pro-African belief system that extended divinity to Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. Upon returning to Jamaica in the 1930s, Leonard earned a reputation among members of the Jamaican establishment as a radical who “advised poor people to start working together to build their own society.” Preaching “peace and love,” Leonard, who was at different times jailed and thrown into a psychiatric hospital for his beliefs, founded Pinnacle as a refuge for those who followed his beliefs. Built on the grounds of an old colonial estate, Pinnacle was a place where “everybody lived comfortably.” Fruit and fish were plentiful, and drumming and singing were a part of everyday life. However, peace was elusive. Fearing Leonard’s growing influence on the poor and dispossessed, procolonial Jamaican government forces did everything in their power—from invalidating his purchase of Pinnacle lands to subjecting him and Pinnacle to periodic police harassment—to lay waste to a thriving Rasta community. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs, this loving tribute will appeal to historians of Jamaica and the Caribbean, as well as anyone with an interest in the origins of Rastafarian culture.
An instructive and enlightening book.
