AALBC.com's Best
Selling Books
| Fiction | Nonfiction |
| #1
ISBN: 1569473455 "Rozelle Quinn is so fair-skinned that she can pass for white. Her ten children are mostly light, too. Everyone in the small Georgia town in which she lives knows that they have different fathers. She favors her light children, but it is Tangy Mae, the darkest of them all, who is the brightest and the only one desperate to get an education. Even in rural Pakersfield they have heard of the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, though they are in no hurry to comply with it." "Rozelle wants thirteen-year-old Tangy Mae to take over her jobs: days, doing house cleaning for whites; nights, servicing men, white and black, at the "Farmhouse." And Rozelle is not a woman whose commands can lightly be ignored. She is a creature of moods, possessive of all her children, desperate for their love, demanding of utter loyalty and obedience, harshly repressive of any signs of independence. They are the only thing in her life that she can control." The Darkest Child shows us a world misshapen by years of oppression in which family is powerful yet offers little kindness or comfort. It shows us a world in which attitudes of prejudice have been adopted by its victim, and the resulting struggle of those who are darker complected is a struggle not only against outsiders, but against the closest of kin. |
#1
Publisher: Africa
World Press Woodson's 205-page monograph, The Mis-education of tbe Negro, reflects his profound concern for setting the record straight. His thesis, as outlined in his Preface, could well apply today: "The so-called modern education, with all its defects, however, does others so much more good than it does the Negro, because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who have enslaved and oppressed weaker people." He was concerned with the way African American identity had been warped by racist approaches to history and education; he foresaw the ways that such a warped history would be internalized by black students who would never know of the achievements of their forebears, only of their humiliations and sufferings. In the book's eighteen chapters, Woodson presents a systematic critique of the education system and offers a plan for change that would create a system that informs black students about their own history and addresses their unique challenges. The current proliferation of African American studies programs, Afrocentric schools, and multicultural curricula all bear Woodson's stamp. Still, Mis-education remains a biting indictment of a public school system whose promise of education of the masses has still been left sadly unfulfilled. �description from Sacred Fire |
| #2
ISBN: 075820468X "The Honey Well is an amazing book! Being drawn into the story was as easy as falling out of bed. The sweet, poignant, painful and spicy story flowed effortlessly. The novel is the perfect illustration of the depth of Mallette’s talent and skill. I can not WAIT to see what Mallette has up her sleeve for her next book." Read the rest of this AALBC.com review |
#2
ISBN: 0933121288 A chronology of the Bible (first published in 1972) is perhaps his most popular work. Originally prepared at the request of a group of Harlem-based ministers, Chronology documents the African origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Dr. Ben traces significant influences, developments, and people that have shaped and provided the foundation for the holy books used in these religions.
About the Author |
| #3
by Wahida Clark
ISBN: 0974805114 |
#3
by Jill Nelson ISBN: 014023716X When Jill Nelson became the first black woman to write for The Washington Post's prestigious Sunday magazine in 1986, she thought she had entered journalism heaven. Instead, she discovered that life at The Post meant walking "the thin line between Uncle Tomming and Mau-Mauing" - between holding onto her job and preserving her soul. As Nelson recounts her harrowing four years at The Post - along with her odyssey from a middle-class childhood to near poverty, divorce and single motherhood, flame-out love affairs, and a nervous breakdown - she gives us a scalding expose of the racial, sexual, and corporate politics of one of our most respected newspapers. Volunteer Slavery is a funny, fiercely candid book that names names and takes no prisoners. |
| #4
by Teri Woods ISBN: 0967224942 Teri Woods, author of the successful True To The Game Starting from rags to riches, Dutch rise was of his accord. Vowing never to be locked away in prison again he took his rightful place on top with his team in respected positions to initiate murder, mayhem, muscle, matter, as well as mentality! Bernard James Jr. A.K.A. Dutch wore the crown of the most terrifying force in the streets. Yet, he was "R-E-S-P-E-C-T-E-D" The balance between being loved and feared |
#4
by Cheikh Anta Diop, Mercer Cook (Editor) Format: Textbook Paperback, 1st
ed., 336pp. Edited and translated by Mercer Cook.Laymen and scholars alike will welcome the publication of this one-volume translation of the major sections of C. A. Diop's two books, Nations negres et culture and Anteriorite des civilizations negres, which have profoundly influenced thinking about Africa around the world. It was largely because of these works that, at the World Festival of the Arts held in Dakar in 1966, Dr. Diop shared with the late W. E. B. DuBois an award as the writer who had exerted the greatest influence on Negro thought in the 20th century. |
| #5
ISBN: 074348620X The best-selling author of B-More Careful, Shannon Holmes, delivers Bad Girlz, another wild adventure into the streets. The setting this time is the Badlands, one of the toughest and poorest communities in Philadelphia. Bad Girlz takes you into the mysterious and often dangerous lives of young women who turn to the streets and strip clubs as a means of survival. These are girls who, along the way, suffer bad breaks and find themselves ripe for exploitation by men and women who pretend to be their saviors. Tender and Goldie were taken under wing by Kat, a veteran stripper, who enjoyed the life and the risks she had to take to stay in the mix of the sex trade. Both of these young and beautiful girls had ended up in dire straits and in need of Kat's help in different ways, but ultimately for the same reasons: They lacked the love and support that most of us expect to get at home and in our communities. Where they live, illegal money is often the only money to be made, and the difference between the law and the outlaw is tough to discern. |
#5
ISBN:
0883780305 The Destruction of Black Civilization took Chancellor Williams sixteen years of research and field study to compile. The book, which was to serve as a reinterpretation of the history of the African race, was intended to be "a general rebellion against the subtle message from even the most 'liberal' white authors (and their Negro disciples): 'You belong to a race of nobodies. You have no worthwhile history to point to with pride.'" The book was written at a time when many black students, educators, and scholars were starting to piece together the connection between the way their history was taught and the way they were perceived by others and by themselves. They began to question assumptions made about their history and took it upon themselves to create a new body of historical research. The book is premised on the question: "If the Blacks were among the very first builders of civilization and their land the birthplace of civilization, what has happened to them that has left them since then, at the bottom of world society, precisely what happened? The Caucasian answer is simple and well-known: The Blacks have always been at the bottom." Williams instead contends that many elements�nature, imperialism, and stolen legacies� have aided in the destruction of the black civilization. �description from Sacred Fire |
| #6
by K. Elliott ISBN: 0971769702 After five years in prison, drug dealer Jamal Stewart is becoming reacquainted with the perils of the streets. His rehabilitation, if any can only be seen through the eyes of his new love�Dream Nelson, a middle school teacher. With a criminal record, finding employment becomes a job in itself for Jamal. His best friend Dawg pushes him to contact an old cocaine connection. Dream attempts to keep him from the life of crime that eventually reels her in as well. Living in a world filled with unprotected sex, violence, payoffs, disloyalty and drug dealing, Jamal becomes the focus of a manhunt. Vowing to never return to prison, he decides he will hold court in the streets. He soon learns how some things can be caught� without a chase. This multi-plotted suspense novel will bring reality far too close to home. |
#6
ISBN: 0913543675 This unique look at health care interprets scriptures of the Bible and adapts and applies the wisdom found there to modern ways of life. These scriptures teach that the prevention of diseases is not in the hands of doctors, but rather in what individuals eat and how they live. Health-minded Americans will learn how to avoid the disease-causing preservatives, growth hormones, and pesticides of the meat and dairy industries that pollute the once-fresh foods that the public consumes. Also included is an in-depth discussion of Satan's influence on the advertising industry and how it is linked to drug, cigarette, and alcohol addictions among the American people. |
| #7
ISBN: 087067997X The acclaimed novel Never Die Alone was penned in 1974 by the late African American cult writer Donald Goines shortly before his death, and was adapted for the screen by James Gibson. One of the most widely acclaimed black authors of his generation, Goines wrote his first two books while incarcerated, and followed those with an astonishing 16 novels written from the time he was released from prison in 1970 until he was shot to death in 1974. Goines sold more than 5 million books in his brief career and has, in the past decade, been re-discovered by legions of hip-hop fans. He has been called the greatest black American urban novelist since Chester Himes and the French magazine L�Express called him �a flashing talent straight from the street of the lost.� |
#7
by Kevin Powell ISBN: 0609810448 In three mind-jolting essays by one of the most passionate and eloquent voices of his generation, Who's Gonna Take the Weight? by Kevin Powell leads us to the heart of the searing issues facing us today, from manhood, violence, and gender oppression to celebrity culture and hip-hop. Using compelling personal stories as the connecting thread, he examines what this nation has become since the monumental upheavals of the 1960s and where it might be headed if we're not careful. |
| #8
by Wahida Clark ISBN: 0972277110 Thugs and the Women Who Love Them is the first book from Wahida Clark, an inmate in a United States Federal prison. Clark brings us into a world of sex, crime and brutality, all the more real because she lived in it. Ms Clark has completed her second book, Every Thug Needs A Lady. |
#8
by Raymond A. Winbush, ISBN: 0380792753 According to the recent statistics from the U.S.
Department of Justice, black males die at a rate fifteen times higher than
that of white males because of homicidal violence. The Department estimates
that 28 percent of black males will enter state or federal prisons during
their lifetime. In response to these devastating statistics, psychologist,
educator, and father Raymond Winbush has created The Warrior Method -- a
program designed for parents and teachers to help black boys become strong,
self-reliant men. Filled with thoughtful reflections on the author's own
experiences, the book looks at a male's life through the prism of the four
seasons: spring -- conception to four years old; summer -- ages five through
twelve; autumn -- ages thirteen through twenty-one; and winter -- age
twenty-two and beyond. |
| #9
ISBN: 1888451483 "A Phat Death (or, the Last Days of Noir Soul) is the latest Nina Halligan novel by Norman Kelley. I have been a fan of Nina Halligan and her creator since I read the first Nina Halligan novel, Black Heat, several years ago. My admiration remains intact with A Phat Death. In Nina's latest adventure, she gets married and finds herself smack dab in the middle of the murder investigation of a popular rapper. A Phat Death is extraordinary. I loved everything about it. Norman Kelley's Nina Halligan series continues to be one of the best written, unheard of mystery/suspense series in print today." Read the rest of an AALBC.com Review |
#9
by bell hooks ISBN: 0415969263 Black men are cool. But most books about black men miss the mark, making the same points-difficult childhood, white racism, poverty-they describe without meaningful explanation. bell hooks' brilliant new book We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity goes where everyone else has been unwilling to go. Without casting blame, hooks tells hard truths: black men are feared, admired, made the objects of sexual fantasy, envied, but rarely loved. Black men are hated, and hooks tells us why. In these critical essays, hooks examines what black males fear most (maternal sadism, loss, emasculation) and probes the depths of their longing for intimacy, for fathers, for meaningful relationships. Highlighting the value of a feminist approach to understanding black masculinity, hooks looks at the way patriarchal thought and action undermine black male self-esteem. With compassion and generosity, bell hooks contends that black men become loving individuals only as they accept full accountability for shaping their destiny. Taking as her starting point powerful writing on black masculinity from the sixties and seventies, bell hooks looks seriously at the problems black males face - both the ones not of their own making and the ones they create for themselves. In ten clear and provocative chapters, hooks offers a thorough examination of issues ranging from the trauma of childhood abandonment, parenting and black male violence, to work, education, sexuality, self-esteem, and spiritual recovery. We Real Cool offers a redemptive vision of black men and masculinity, one that is complex and multi-layered. This is the book that everyone seeking to understand black male identity must read. |
| #10
by Kola Boof ISBN: 0971201900 Read an AALBC.com Review (AALBC.com #1 Best Selling Book for 2002) "The redeeming sin being courage�. In the book of the women�they are dark and light, wide and shapely, thin as reeds�their hair eats the sun and their eyes swallow the moon�these are Black Women�the daughters of the earth's first garden. The mothers of God. These are the stories that remind us where we came from and why we came’stories that make us laugh’make us mad as hell’make us want to cry’make us want to get up and eat. These are our reflections. Our love and dreams, our sexual longing and prayers. Our goodness. Our deep eternal beauty. |
#10
by Olivia St. Claire
ISBN: 0517595338 A frankly erotic, playfully sexy, and intelligently written guide to a dazzling array of artful, exotic, and commonsense techniques guaranteed to raise the temperature of any relationship. The inviting layout, the numbered tips, and the guidelines for safe sex make it easy and fun for couples to embark upon an amorous adventure--whenever or wherever the spirit moves them. |
The
Darkest Child: A Novel
The
MIS-Education of the Negro
The
Honey Well 
A
Chronology of the Bible : Challenge to the Standard Version
Every
Thug Needs A Lady
Dutch:
The First of a Trilogy 
Bad
Girlz: A Novel
Entangled
Satan,
I'm Taking Back My Health!
Never
Die Alone
Who's
Gonna Take the Weight?: Manhood, Race, and Power in America
Thugs
and the Women Who Love Them
The
Warrior Method: A Parents' Guide to Rearing Healthy Black Boys
A
Phat Death (or, the Last Days of Noir Soul)
We
Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
Long
Train to the redeeming SIN Stories about AFRICAN women
203
Ways to Drive a Man Wild in Bed
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