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The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker Thumper Book Review The World Has Changed: Conversation with Alice Walker edited by Rudolph Byrd is a type of book that I had not seen befor...
The Black Rose
The Black Rose Paige Turner Book Review Journalist and novelist Tananarive Due is fast establishing herself as a professional writer who can master any genre she deigns to approach. With her previ...
Descending from the Clouds
Descending from the Clouds Kam Williams Book Review "When we finally got the order to go on D-Day, we moved to our planes, loaded our bundles in the belly racks, and saddled up. I was loaded ...
No One Left Alone
No One Left Alone Eryka Parker Book Review The inspirational book No One Left Alone opens with the author sharing how members of the Boston community came together and, united, dealt with their grief...
The Honey Well
The Honey Well Thumper Book Review I had never made a wish like this before. Believe me; I don't harbor any gender bending, transsexual fantasies. But, after reading Gloria Mallette’s lat...
Harlem Redux
Harlem Redux Thumper Book Review Persia Walker busts on the literary scene burnin’ rubber and smokin’ with her debut novel, Harlem Redux, a multi-faceted fictional tapestry. Harlem Redux...
Transitioning to Real Life
Transitioning to Real Life Jamie Walker Book Review It isn't easy transitioning from college to the real world, but in Transitioning to Real Life: A Common Sense Guide for the African American ...
Likeness of Being
Likeness of Being Jamie Walker Book Review In Likeness of Being: A Poetic Look at Friends and Strangers, poet Nathan M. Richardson offers readers an invitation to his soulful, Southern roots. Full ...
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually Robert Fleming Book Review Like many successful self-help books, Sincerely Speaking Spiritually, celebrates verses of faith and inspiration in the Holy Word. Its author...
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire Robert Fleming Book Review Nobody will find the controversial writer, Alice Walker neutral, because of her fierce, unorthodox views. As an award-winning novelist, essayi...
The Color Purple
The Color Purple Angeli R. Rasbury Book Review Alice Walker once told an interviewer, "The black woman is one of America’s greatest heroes… . She has been oppressed beyond recogni...
Gabriel’s Story
Gabriel’s Story Thumper Book Review Right now I’m scanning my slightly used memory attempting to determine the last time a debut novel moved me as much as Gabriel’s Story, the debu...
The Water Dancer
The Water Dancer Tony Lindsay Book Review To mix magical realism with historical fiction is a bold task. To discuss the topic of family pride from the perspective of the offspring of a slave and a ma...
Never As Good As the First Time
Never As Good As the First Time Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What happens when a good, Christian housewife finds herself divorced and having to fend for herself and her children? Perhaps s...
Breaking Free
Breaking Free Kam Williams Book Review ’For most of my life, from childhood onward, I had a form of mental illness that enabled me to be simultaneously a fierce competitor&...
Pariah
Pariah Kam Williams pariah1.jpg Film Review Latent Lesbian Summons Courage in Out-of-the-Closet Drama Pariah [2011] Written & Directed By: Dee Rees Rated R for profanity and sexuality. Run...
Peeples
Peeples Kam Williams peeples-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Peeples (2013) In Theaters: May 10, 2013 Wide Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and drug use) Running time: 95 minutes Comedy Dire...
Beyond the Gates
Beyond the Gates Kam Williams beyond7.jpg Film Review Genocide in Rwanda Revisited by Paternalistic Bio-Pic Beyond the Gates THEATRICAL RELEASE: Mar 9, 2007 Limited MPAA RATING R, for strong violen...
I.O.U.S.A. (One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.)
I.O.U.S.A. (One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt.) Kam Williams iousa.8.jpg Film Review DVD Explains Financial Crisis in Layman’s Terms I.O.U.S.A. (One Nation. Under...
The Future Has a Past
The Future Has a Past Thumper Book Review The Future Has A Past is the latest short story collection by author J. California Cooper. In case you don’t know, I adore J. California Cooper! I&rs...
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam Kam Williams Book Review "The story I must tell in order to be transformed is the story of my coming out — out of Islam, out of my parents’ hous...
I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to "The Blind Side" and Beyond
I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to "The Blind Side" and Beyond Kam Williams Book Review "I didn’t write this book just to revisit The Blind Side… I want to help sepa...
The Loving Story
The Loving Story Kam Williams the-loving-story.jpg Film Review Civil Rights Documentary Recounts Landmark Supreme Court Decision on Interracial Marriage The Loving Story (2012) In Theaters: Dec 10...
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Shannon Simpson Book Review Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson During Black History Month, one of my Facebook friends was posting pictures of influe...
Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story
Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story Troy Johnson books-place.jpg Film Review Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story Click to rent or buy th...
Animated Objects
Animated Objects Patricia Mckinney Book Review I was very impressed with Animated Objects by Linda Addison. It was written by a person who truly loves and enjoys the horror and fantasy ...
One Blood
One Blood Alvin Romer Book Review No matter the genre, a good story should grab and not turn you loose until you’ve consumed all the elements of great narrative and expository writing. ...
Decoded
Decoded Kam Williams Book Review "My life after childhood has two main stories: the story of the hustler and the story of the rapper, and the two overlap as much as they diverge. I was on the str...
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an an American Cuisine
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an an American Cuisine Kam Williams Book Review From frontier cabins to plantation houses to the White House, from steamboat galleys and Pullman kitchens to pub...
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Connie Bradley Book Review I finally finished the 620-page The Warmth of Other Suns by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Isabel W...
Grandpa! Tell Us a Story
Grandpa! Tell Us a Story Emanuel Carpenter Book Review He began taking the shells out of the gun and sighting down the barrel, and pulled the trigger listening to the c...
Once Is Never Enough
Once Is Never Enough Idrissa Uqdah Book Review If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right The old rythmn and blues tune, If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right aptly desc...
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer Kam Williams Book Review "I’m going to tell you a story you’ve never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it. It t...
God Don’t Like Ugly
God Don’t Like Ugly Thumper Book Review "I was hoping when I started God don't Like Ugly that it wasn't the typical girl-coming-of-age story. Alongside you-go-girl books, girl-coming-of...
Holly
Holly Thumper Book Review French is brilliant. French’s follow up to the equally magnificent Billy. One of the few books that I have to disagree with it’s publishers’ summary of t...
From the Streets to the Sheets
From the Streets to the Sheets Thumper Book Review My favorite urban erotic literature author Noire brings a short story anthology to the stage with Noire presents From the Streets to...
Ida Mae
Ida Mae Thumper Book Review There are times when I love this job. The times that I hate to lay a book down for any reason. The times when the counting of pages mean that the story is coming to an end...
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Amanda Robinson Book Review In the midst of arguably a time of the greatest push for the advocacy of LGBT acceptance, Jackie Hi...
Momma: Gone
Momma: Gone Tony Lindsay Book Review Nina Foxx’s personal story Momma: Gone is full of literary surprises. The reader’s expectations and predictions that are garnered from the story-line ...
Snapshot
Snapshot Tony Lindsay Book Review In Snapshot, Camryn King demonstrates the power of a page turning thriller. Through King’s beautifully descriptive screens, narrative pace, believable dialog, ...
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice Carol Taylor Book Review Much more than a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer traces not only Nkechi Taifa’s personal life, and her decad...
There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!
There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Let’s take trip to the library with Mrs. Baker and her third-grade class. As we all know the library is a space filled with boo...
Sunshine on the Crooked Road
Sunshine on the Crooked Road Eryka Parker Book Review Sunshine on the Crooked Road is a sensational novel that resonated with me. There’s even a mention of Martha’s Vineyard, where I happ...
By Love Possessed: Stories
By Love Possessed: Stories Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What’s it like to be in love on the island of Jamaica? Is it all about long walks on the beach, listening to Reggae music, and kissi...
The Other Wes Moore: One Name
The Other Wes Moore: One Name Kam Williams Book Review "This is the story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free and has experi...
Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror
Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror Thumper Book Review The short story collection Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror, the fiction debut of Robert Fleming, is nothing short of brilliant. Last year Flem...
The Story of Lovers Rock
The Story of Lovers Rock Kam Williams loversrock1.jpg Film Review Nostalgic Documentary Celebrates Influential Black Brit Music Genre The Story of Lovers Rock [2011] Unrated Running t...
Get On Up: The James Brown Story
Get On Up: The James Brown Story Kam Williams get-on-up-movie-poster-2.jpg Film Review Chadwick Channels James Brown in Nostalgic Jukebox Musical Get on Up: The James Brown Story In Theaters: Au...
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March Kam Williams Book Review “Jailed nine times before her 15th birthday, Lynda Blackmon Lowery refused to give u...
The Lion’s Brood
The Lion’s Brood Thumper Book Review I am weak when it comes to reading books on subjects off the normally beaten path of bestselling African-American novels. My ears perked up when I received a re...
Pimp: The Story of My Life
Pimp: The Story of My Life Thumper Book Review Hello All. Now, my friend Gwen hipped me to Iceberg Slim. First, with his book, Mama Black Widow and now Pimp. I didn’t know what to expect, bu...
Never Say Never
Never Say Never Idrissa Uqdah Book Review In this drama -filled novel, Victoria Christopher Murray gives her readers a shocking story that is edgy Christian fiction, at it’s best. Miriam has ...
The Man from Essence: Creating a Magazine for Black Women
The Man from Essence: Creating a Magazine for Black Women Kam Williams Book Review “I know what they say about me—that I am too quiet and low-key, unassuming, even clueless. Not the one...
Water Street
Water Street Thumper Book Review Recently, I had the pleasure of reading the short story collection, Water Street, written by Crystal E Wilkinson. I loved it. The short stories are slices of the l...
The Skull Cage Key
The Skull Cage Key Thumper Book Review The Skull Cage Key, the science fiction debut thriller by Michel Marriott; takes place in 2041 Harlem, centering on the murders of rich, white people....
Ancient
Ancient Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Imagine fodder for an African-themed Twilight Zone movie or perhaps an idea for a late night movie on the Sci-Fi Channel on the Dark Continent. When reading ...
Down Home with the Neelys
Down Home with the Neelys Kam Williams Book Review ’Hey, everyone, first of all, I want to thank you for reading our book and watching our show. We had no idea what we were g...
Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story…and Why It Matters Today
Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story…and Why It Matters Today Kam Williams Book Review “Hotel Rwanda was promoted as a story about the ‘quiet heroism of one man, Pa...
Second Chance: The Martha Marie Preston Story
Second Chance: The Martha Marie Preston Story Kam Williams Book Review "I had finally run out of options… There I was. Locked in a tiny jail cell, staring into space and wondering how my lif...
6 Days in January
6 Days in January Thumper Book Review I am breaking with tradition on my review of 6 Days in January by William Frederick Cooper, because I loathe this book so much, I can't hold my disgust wi...
Deja;Vu: Behind the Veil
Deja;Vu: Behind the Veil Thumper Book Review A few minutes ago, I finished the novel D’j’ Vu: Behind the Veil ll by Suzetta Perkins. D’j’ Vu is the sequel to P...
Shackling Water
Shackling Water Thumper Book Review I awoke and discovered myself in the middle of an improvisational jazz solo of great intensity, dexterity, color and depth. I knew not the melody, the song, the st...
The Next Big Story
The Next Big Story Kam Williams Book Review "I began life as the child of a mixed-race marriage growing up in a white suburb, treated sometimes as a creature of bad circumstance… Bad things h...
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” Amanda Robinson Book Review American history is saturated with the flagrant oppression of African people and their descendants. We have recently been pr...
Flipflopi
Flipflopi Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Have you ever wondered where all the trash in the ocean goes? Or, how plastics in the ocean are cleaned up and recycled? Well, this is the book for you. Fli...
On The Edge of a Leaf
On The Edge of a Leaf Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review In his latest children’s picture book, At the Edge of a Leaf, author and poet Vincent L. Johnson draws from his love of gardening, nature,...
The Wanderers
The Wanderers Eryka Parker Book Review The Wanderers by Mphuthumi Ntabeni is political fiction that straddles the line between novel and essay collection, weaving together themes of exile, faith, and...
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss Robert Fleming Book Review A complete reading of this debut novel by Leon E. Pettiway, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and an ordained Buddhi...
Living Water
Living Water Paige Turner Book Review The Woman at the Well is a well-known bible story that almost begs for deeper examination. Her conversation with Jesus, and His promise of "living wa...
The Justus Girls
The Justus Girls Thumper Book Review I should let go of my preconceived notions that I am beginning to grow tired of the girl-coming-of-age story or the sista-girlfriend relationship tales. It seems ...
American Tapestry: The Story of the Black
American Tapestry: The Story of the Black Kam Williams Book Review “On November 4, 2008, Michelle Obama stood before a crowd of thousands of roaring, singing and weeping supporters in Chi...
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton Kam Williams Book Review “While Toni Braxton may appear to be living a charmed life, hers is in fact a tumultuous story: a tale of personal triumph...
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire Kam Williams Book Review “In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal an...
Get Down: Stories
Get Down: Stories Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Asali Solomon’s collection of short stories, Get Down is a short story reader’s delight. The stories are so real and many are set in Solomon&r...
I Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang
I Dreamt I Was in Heaven - The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang Alvin Romer Book Review Quick! Can you tell me if you knew that there was a multi-racial teenaged gang terrorizing the west? Only once i...
Story/Time: The Life of an Idea
Story/Time: The Life of an Idea Kam Williams Book Review “In this ceaselessly questioning book, acclaimed African-American dancer, choreographer and director Bill T. Jones reflects on his art...
The Ancestors
The Ancestors Thumper Book Review The Ancestors is an anthology featuring stories by authors L.A. Banks, Tananarive Due and Brandon Massey. I am always happy to come across science fiction ...
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Kam Williams gifted2.jpg Film Review Bio-Pic about Brilliant Black Brain Surgeon Set to Air on TNT Cuba Gooding Jr. (L) and Dr. Ben Carson ...
Raisins in Milk
Raisins in Milk Brenda M. Greene Book Review Raisins in Milk by David Covin is a coming of age story focused on a young girl, Ruth-Ann Weathering, who is subjected to the staunch racism and stark rea...
Severed: A Novel
Severed: A Novel Mel Hopkins Book Review Severed, a Novel | A Black Woman’s Burden Someone is a few digits short of a hand in Nakadee, Louisiana. What’s worse, someone may be t...
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era Troy Johnson Book Review I grew up in New York City’s East Harlem during the 60s and 70s. Virtually all my peers were Bl...
For the Sake of Soul
For the Sake of Soul Robert Fleming Book Review Sometimes short fiction can be a daunting task for the writer, especially when he decides to confront the challenges of plot, characterization, dialogu...
The Summer of my Fifteenth Year
The Summer of my Fifteenth Year Robert Fleming Book Review There are so many gems to be discovered in independent publishing. Every now and then, you come across the book that makes your mind sit up ...
Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters
Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters Carol Taylor Book Review Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters is an epistolary love story of a 1930s courtship between Mary Brooks and Luther ...
Mixed Me!
Mixed Me! Kam Williams Book Review Mom and Dad say I’m a blend of dark and light:“We mixed you perfectly, and got you just right.” Mike has awesome hair. He has LOTS of energy!...
African Venus
African Venus Troy Johnson Book Review The sculpture, on the cover of Sheryl K. Carkhum-Lord’s novel was created by artist by Charles Henri Joseph Cordier in 1851. Dubbed, by the artist, &ldquo...
Nine Lives of a Black Panther: A Story of Survival
Nine Lives of a Black Panther: A Story of Survival Kam Williams Book Review nine-lives-of-a-black-panther.html
Whippins
Whippins Thumper Book Review It’s times like these that I wish I were an editor. Whippins, Switches & Peach Cobbler, the first by Brian Egeston, is a novel that doesn’t quite make up ...
Sassy
Sassy Thumper Book Review Gloria Mallette is one of my favorite authors. I became a major fan after I read one her earlier novel, Shades of Jade. Over the years she remained o...
The Seduction of Mr. Bradley
The Seduction of Mr. Bradley Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The Seduction of Mr. Bradley by Chicago author Minnie E. Miller tells a very different kind of love story, a love story complicated by prefere...
The Roux in the Gumbo
The Roux in the Gumbo Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Black Family’s Odyssey in America Kim Robinson has written a remarkable account of her family’s history gathered from stories she was ...
I am Barack Obama
I am Barack Obama Kam Williams Book Review "This book tells a story of how a child can change the world. It creates a space where children can experience the extraordinary life of P...
Who Would Have Thunk It! The First Adventures of the Fraser Foster Kids
Who Would Have Thunk It! The First Adventures of the Fraser Foster Kids Kam Williams Book Review “Our story began a very long time ago when we were little kids with no place to live. Our moth...
This Side of Glory
This Side of Glory Thumper Book Review This Side Of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole On my continuing quest in read...
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Paint a picture of a little brown girl who walks in fear and sadness. Her dark story is told in Stacey Patton’s memoir, Tha...
The Speech: The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream
The Speech: The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream Kam Williams Book Review “A great speech is both timely and timeless. First and foremost, it must touch and move its immediate ...
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review Award winning authors, Pynk and Carol Taylor have written two original tales for Insignificant Others. Fans will love both sto...
Before I Forget
Before I Forget Thumper Book Review *giggling* I’m going to love writing this review. A little while ago, I read and finished a wonderful debut novel, Before I Forget by Leonard Pitt...
Diary of a Lost Girl (2)
Diary of a Lost Girl (2) Chris Stevenson Book Review “There are more pyramids in the Sudan than there are in Egypt, that’s a statistical fact… and today there are still 2-3 milli...
Brown’s Possession
Brown’s Possession Idrissa Uqdah Book Review To say that the books in acVernon Menchan’s trilogy; Black’s Trilogy are about a complicated love story is like saying water is wet. C...