March 11, 2006
Beneath the Underdog
I just finished Charles Mingus’ autobiography, Beneath the Underdog. The book is written in a strange 3rd person point of view, referring to Mingus as “my boy”. A lot of it is similar to a sort of stream of consciousness rambling, with Mingus talking mostly about God and sex. Reminds me of Prince, lol. Anyway, it’s a very graphic book, and if you don’t want to hear about Mingus’ time spent as a pimp, don’t read it. However, what I did get out of it was a poignant look at what it was like to be a successful black man in the 60’s. I don’t think any history book I’ve ever read conveyed the kind of confusion and despair I got from reading Mingus’ book.
