Pinnacle: The Lost Paradise of Rasta

by Bill Howell, Hélène Lee Narrated by Jaime Lincoln Smith

Overview

A fascinating first-person origin story of the Rastafari ideology, culture, and philosophy, capturing a crucial and little-known chapter in Jamaican history

IN 1932, A JAMAICAN MAN NAMED LEONARD PERCIVAL HOWELL began leading nonviolent protests in Kingston, Jamaica, against British colonial rule. While history books rightly credit Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. with popularizing nonviolent protest strategies in later years, little is known about Leonard Howell and his vision of self-reliance?poor people working together to build a society of their own. When Howell first started preaching on street corners in Kingston, he was immediately perceived as seditious, and he became a target for police harassment. Howell soon founded an organization called the Ethiopian Salvation Society. His idea was to add a religious element to Marcus Garvey's message of African independence. Although Christian values were part of his belief system, he decided to make a break from the Christian interpretation of the Bible and extend the idea of divinity to a living man, Emperor Haile Selassie I, who had been crowned king of Ethiopia in 1930.

Jamaican journalists coined a name for the group: the Ras Tafarites, or Rastas. Howell was arrested several times and was eventually found guilty of sedition and sentenced to prison for two years of hard labor. In 1940, Howell and his growing group of followers moved to an old estate in the parish of St. Catherine. They named their land Pinnacle, and for the next sixteen years built a self-reliant community that would ultimately give birth to the Rastafari movement.

In 1942, Leonard Howell's wife Tenneth gave birth to their second child, whom they named Bill. In Pinnacle: The Lost Paradise of Rasta, Bill Blade Howell offers his firsthand account of this utopian community that suffered near-constant persecution from Jamaican authorities. Howell also dispels many misguided notions about the origins of Rastafari culture, including allegations of sexism and homophobia. Pinnacle was built on egalitarian principles and steered clear of all religious dogma.

Pinnacle: The Lost Paradise of Rasta provides a crucial and highly informed new perspective on the Rastafari subculture that Bob Marley would later help to spread across the globe. The volume includes original documents related to Pinnacle.

Editorial Reviews

Bobby Sullivan

"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."

Colin Channer

"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? "

Jake Homiak

"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."

Olive Senior

"Pinnacle: The Lost Paradise of Rasta forces us to quickly turn the page to find out what happened next. For the story of Leonard P. Howell and Pinnacle is still one of Jamaica's greatest mysteries, shrouded in misinformation, silence, or confusion. This insider's version gains its power from the author's measured voice that speaks with love and longing of the child who saw Pinnacle as Paradise before its destruction, but also as someone now capable of sharing a mature assessment of Pinnacle's history and the Rasta movement over the years. 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.’"

Doctor Dread

"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!"

—Bobby Sullivan

"“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.”"

—Doctor Dread

"“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!”"

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192268179
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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