Giant Steps: The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Bantam Books, 1983) is a best-selling book http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952330,00.html?iid=digg_share by one of the most dominant big men in the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

. Written with former Crawdaddy

Crawdaddy!

Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...

magazine editor Peter Knobler

Peter Knobler

Peter Knobler is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on several national best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of Crawdaddy magazine from 1972 to 1979.- Writing :...

, it covers most of the high and low points of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...

 long, illustrious career; his conversion to Islam; his social growth, and his feelings about American racial politics. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121593/index.htm The title Giant Steps pays tribute to the 1960 album of the same name by jazz legend John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

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