Basketball legend to share his insights about American life

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - basketball legend and all-time leading scorer, devout Muslim, and insightful commentator of American life - is coming to Naperville to celebrate his new book, "Writings on the Wall."

Abdul-Jabbar will speak and sign books at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville. Tickets are required and available exclusively at kareemandersons.brownpapertickets.com.

Since retiring from professional basketball, the Hall of Famer has become an observer of culture and society, a New York Times best-selling author, and a regular contributor to The Washington Post, TIME magazine and TIME.com.

Abdul-Jabbar now brings his keen insight to the fore in "Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White." In this incisive work of nonfiction, Abdul-Jabbar uses his blend of erudition, street smarts and authentic experience in essays on the country's seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide.

Drawing his own experiences as an athlete, an African-American, and a Muslim, the book is not just a collection of expositions; Abdul-Jabbar also offers assessments of and solutions to problems such as racism in sports.

Timed for publication as the nation debates whom to send to the White House, "Writings on the Wall" presents a combination of plain talk on issues, life lessons, and personal stories. In the words of The Washington Post, Abdul-Jabbar "has become a vital, dynamic and unorthodox cultural voice."