As Long as It Takes: Meeting the Challenge

by William Pinkney

Book Overview

Captain William Bill Pinkney tells us the story that as a young boy growing up in the part of Chicago called Bronzeville, he was made aware of a depressing statistic: Before I would turn 21, the chances were that I would be on drugs, in jail, or dead from crimes of violence. That was because I was a black male, educated in the public school system, raised partially on welfare, and brought up by a divorced woman. Pinkney beat the odds because my mother...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593730462
• ISBN13: 9781593730468
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Bunker Hill Publishing Co
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

A Passionate and Thoroughly Enjoyable Read

I received this book for Christmas, and I half expected it to be filled with nautical terms and jargon about the sea. Instead, the book turned out to be a marvelous read about survival in life and following your dreams. I feel as if I know Bill Pinkney, as I watched him grow from an impoverished life on the Southside of Chicago, through his days in the Navy (with Bill Cosby), to his antics as a calypso dancer, make-up artist, and eventually a big shot at Revlon, to being the first African-American to solo-circumnavigate the globe via the five capes. Pinkney later went on to become the Master of the replica slave ship Amistad. But Pinkney is not simply a lone adventurer. His amazing journey was done in conjunction with schools in Boston and Chicago, which followed his every move via computers and equipment in the classroom. It is a beautifully written story of joy, compassion, and the inspiration to never quit.