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Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern Kam Williams Book Review “From his humble beginnings in Sumter, South Carolina to his prominence on the Washington, D.C. political scene as the third...
Black Like Us
Black Like Us Thumper Book Review Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual African American Fiction, the latest anthology of gay/lesbian AA literature, is, in a word, splendid. Showcas...
Bamboozled by Jesus
Bamboozled by Jesus Carol Taylor Book Review Part self-help, part comedic memoir, part inspirational and motivational how-to, Yvonne Orji’s Bamboozled by Jesus is heartfelt and relatable advice...
Sap Rising
Sap Rising Thumper Book Review There’s music in the trees. Whether the trees are standing still under the blue cloudless sky, or in its embarrassed nakedness under gray heavens with biting wint...
My View from the Summit (VFS)
My View from the Summit (VFS) Carol Taylor Book Review My View From The Summit is Nicole Thomas’s “inspiring personal memoir” reflecting on her experiences and life lessons on m...
Free and Other Stories
Free and Other Stories Thumper Book Review My Dear Ms. Anika Nailah, I know, normally, that book reviews are not generally written in letterform, from the reviewer to the author. Since I have been kn...
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...
Held
Held Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Who Heals Author Leslie Haskin has written a follow-up to her best seller, Between Heaven and Ground Zero, an account of her experiences...
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...
Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope
Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope Kam Williams Book Review ’I will never forget the unabashed affection the president-elect displayed [Election Night] as, with the whole worl...
Hope on a Tightrope
Hope on a Tightrope Kam Williams Book Review ’We are now in one of the most truly prophetic moments in the history of America. The poor and very poor are sleeping with self-de...
Scratching for Daylight
Scratching for Daylight Alvin Romer Book Review Human nature when confronted with blind awareness tend to panic and hope for the brighter side of darkness. We are gluttons for punishment if and w...
Breastlessness
Breastlessness Jayne Cubbage Book Review Breastlessness by Nicole Bryant is both memoir and breast cancer resource guide. In the first half of the book, Bryant shares her own experience with the di...
Mojo: Conjure Stories
Mojo: Conjure Stories Thumper Book Review Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by author Nalo Hopkinson is an excellent anthology of short stories that include the occult, folktales and voodoo. The ...
Forever Sentimental
Forever Sentimental Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Ohio Poet, Kenyatta is a man of many words. His book Forever Sentimental-AGAPE LOVE is Volume Three in the Forever Sentimental book s...
Akeelah and the Bee
Akeelah and the Bee Kam Williams akeela46.jpg Film Review At-Risk Adolescent Spells Her Way Straight in Inspirational Melodrama Akeelah and the Bee Rated PG for some profanity. Running ...
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...
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories Thumper Book Review Got to Be Real is a thrilling collection of four original love stories, told by fellas who get pulses racing from Los Angeles to New ...
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...
Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure
Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure Kam Williams Book Review "If they’re being honest, most people who have ever succeeded in any human endeavor will tell you they learn...
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt
The Northern Stories of Charles Chesnutt Paige Turner Book Review Today’s image-obsessed pop stars pride themselves on continually unveiling new identities. But truth be told, they are l...
The Monkeybars of Life
The Monkeybars of Life Robert Fleming Book Review Ted Pittman’s debut novel, The Monkeybars Of Life, salutes the dual notions of endurance and survival. Pittman’s ...
Business Unusual
Business Unusual Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Being About the Lord’s Business Every so often, a self-published book beats the odds and grabs the attention of enough readers to draw an offe...
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow Thumper Book Review I Know Who Holds Tomorrow is the first book that I’ve read written by Francis Ray. I hesitated to pick it up because it shares its title with an o...
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 ...
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time!
I Missed the Bus, But I Arrived On Time! Robert Fleming Book Review Our reading community gets tired of memoirs celebrating guns, drugs, loose morals, and general mayhem. Willis L. Drake’s reco...
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing Thumper Book Review The year, 2002, I decided to take Black History Month literally by reading books that expanded my scope of being black in America. I decided to read Last Man Sta...
Black Silk
Black Silk Thumper Book Review Black Silk: A Collection of African American Erotica is an anthology that cheers the sexual, sensual side of African-Americans in literature told through short stories ...
You Made Me Love You
You Made Me Love You Robert Fleming Book Review Like Ishmael Reed, Clarence Major, and other legendary African-American male writers of their generation, John Edgar Wideman, at eighty, is nearing the...
Southside With You
Southside With You Kam Williams southside_with_you.jpg Film Review Inspirational Biopic Revisits Barack and Michelle’s Very First Date Southside With You In Theaters: August 26, 2016 Wide ...
Seven Full Days
Seven Full Days Robert Fleming Book Review Ferris Shelton’s debut novel, Seven Full Days, is a cautionary tale of white racism, corporate burnout, and powerful identity issues. He crafts a blac...
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...
Strongholds
Strongholds Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The second book in the Blessed Trinity trilogy by best selling Christian fiction author, Vanessa Davis Griggs is a story full of the challenges that c...
The Best Man
The Best Man Michael Dequina thebestman.jpg Film Review Read the 2025 novel based adapted from the film. THE BEST MAN Buy or Rent from Amazon In Theaters: Oct 22, 1999 Wide On DVD: Feb...
Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn Harris
Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn Harris Thumper Book Review Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn Harris is an anthology aptly described by its title. The authors, Te...
Evil Never Sleeps
Evil Never Sleeps Andre Seewood Book Review If the short story is a lost art, then you wouldn’t know it from reading Robert Fleming’s latest collection of story stories, Evil Never Slee...
My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte
My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte Robert Fleming Book Review My Song: A Memoir is the story of a blessed life, that of Harry Belafonte, the mythic musician, actor, humanitarian, and social activ...
Street Journeys
Street Journeys Kam Williams street-jouneys-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Street Journeys (2011) Director: Tracy Christian Kenya, 2011, Duration 58 min., English & Swahili In the he...
Dark Dreams
Dark Dreams Thumper Book Review Author Brandon Massey (Thunderland, Dark Corner) has compiled a magnificent anthology designed to scare and terrify. Although African-American literature ha...
I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir
I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review Blessed with a candor, boldness, and business savvy rarely seen in books of this type, former CEO of Black Entertainment Television network Debra L...
Sapphire’s Grave
Sapphire’s Grave Thumper Book Review While many of us have long since grown tired of the slave narratives, slave stories, or stories that are rooted in our past, my fascination with these stories ...
Better Than Alright: Finding Peace
Better Than Alright: Finding Peace Kam Williams Book Review “I can’t believe someone found my journey interesting enough to want to put it in a book…Being on display as an artist...
Sugar of the Crop
Sugar of the Crop Kam Williams Book Review Everyone I interviewed for this book is now dead” Before I started the search, the one person I knew who was a granddaughter of a ...
Help Me to Find My People: The African-American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
Help Me to Find My People: The African-American Search for Family Lost in Slavery Kam Williams Book Review “This is a book about slavery and family and loss and longing… It is about th...
25 Things That Really Matter In Life
25 Things That Really Matter In Life Kam Williams Book Review ’25 Things That Really Matter in Life is designed to get you started living a better life within the next fifteen minute...
One Foot in Love
One Foot in Love Thumper Book Review Bil Wright, author of Sunday You Learn to Box, has returned with his wonderful sophomore effort, One Foot in Love. I loved Wright’s debut novel and was an...
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World Kam Williams Book Review “Inspiration allows 30 exceptional people to tell their unique stories. Each of these women takes us on her li...
Extraordinary
Extraordinary Kam Williams Book Review "John and Angelena Rice were extraordinary, ordinary people. They were middle-class folks who loved God, family, and their country. I don’t think th...
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey Kam Williams Book Review “Music and religion were the twin forces that shaped John Coltrane’s early years. Both of his grandfathers were Me...
The Courage to Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear
The Courage to Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear Kam Williams Book Review “In the summer of 2010, Shirley Sherrod was catapulted into a media storm that blew apart her life…...
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth Kam Williams Book Review “Why read? Reading isn’t just for sissies, or nerds or geeks. Research...
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 Portable Promise Land
The Portable Promise Land Thumper Book Review I heard about The Portable Promised Land, the short story collection written by Toure’, before its publication. Usually, I don’t pay any mi...
True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself
True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself Kam Williams Book Review "Writing my first book was an adventure [which] comes from my heart with love… This is not an autobiography. It&rs...
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom Kam Williams Book Review "This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adversities I fa...
Merritt Magic
Merritt Magic Robert Fleming Book Review Melinda Merritt’s nonfiction book, Merritt Magic, is a publication that defies category. In these pages, the reader will discover a reflective, mythical...
God’s Will and Other Lies: Stories
God’s Will and Other Lies: Stories Camille-Yvette Welsch Book Review “[T]here was so much hurt and pain and fear and sorrow … that I needed more than one kind of song to sing,” says...
To the Mountaintop: My Journey through the Civil Rights Movement
To the Mountaintop: My Journey through the Civil Rights Movement Kam Williams Book Review “On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded onto the cold, hard grounds of the nation’s cap...
Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens
Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens Carol Taylor Book Review Dear Badass Black Girl, You are a true warrior who inherited the strength, courage, wisdom, love, and di...
Things Never Said
Things Never Said Kam Williams things-never-said.jpg Film Review Battered Wife Finds Strength in Poetry in Female Empowerment Flick Things Never Said In Theaters: Sep 6, 2013 Limited Rated R for s...
I’m Telling
I’m Telling Thumper Book Review For those who are curious as to whether Karen E. Quinones Miller successfully evades the mythical writers’ "sophomore slump" with her latest novel, I&...
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 Felix Women Series
The Felix Women Series Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Acceptance Not Required: Felix Women IV Click to order via Amazon Print Length: 58 pages (October 10, 2014) This author, Angelia Vernon M...
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
A Day Late and a Dollar Short Paige Turner Book Review The publishing world and the legions of Terry McMillan fans can now officially exhale. McMillan’s long awaited "serious" nov...
Witnessing and Testifying
Witnessing and Testifying Paige Turner Book Review At the dawn of this new millennium when the "bimbo-ization" of American women is in full flower it is instructive to look back to times wh...
The Secrets of Newberry
The Secrets of Newberry Thumper Book Review J. D. Mason is a gift that keeps on giving, in a good way. Mason is one of my favorite authors, so much so that I will read anything that has her name ...
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...
The Salt Roads
The Salt Roads Linda Watkins Book Review Award winning author Nalo Hopkinson’s The Salt Roads is a multilayered fantasy full of various meanings, Haitian voodoo, mythology, slavery and Europe...
Jesus Boy
Jesus Boy Thumper Book Review I have a question for you: have you ever heard of anything; a food dish, a recipe, a car or a book, that by the description alone, you knew, KNEW it was going ...
The Imperfect Marriage: Help for Those Who Think It’s Over
The Imperfect Marriage: Help for Those Who Think It’s Over Kam Williams Book Review “Marriage is a battlefield. Trust us, we know. Our marriage has suffered through—and survived—a...
Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients To Happily Living & Loving Together
Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients To Happily Living & Loving Together Kam Williams Book Review “Jamillah and David Lamb are the dynamic couple behind the successful Off-Broadway play...
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina
Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina Kam Williams Book Review “Blacks in the segregationist United States of America of the 30s and 40s fought back with inherent toug...
For Every One
For Every One Vanessa Vanzie Book Review The title of the book, For Everyone, by Jason Reynolds states exactly who the book is for; that means it is written for you and for me. The timely message was...
Letters to a Young Sister
Letters to a Young Sister Kam Williams Book Review ’In Letters to a Young Sister, Hill has covered all the important issues. As a woman, I can't agree more with how import...
I Hate Muscular Dystrophy: Loving a Child with a Life-Altering Disease
I Hate Muscular Dystrophy: Loving a Child with a Life-Altering Disease Kam Williams Book Review "This is a personal story of a family’s ability to love and support each other through the...
Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna
Telling It Like It Is: The Remarkable Life Experiences of My Aunt Edna Carol Taylor Book Review Telling It Like It Is, is equal parts historical biography, personal recollections, family memories, an...
When Minorities Lead in America: A Black Theologian’s Political Journey
When Minorities Lead in America: A Black Theologian’s Political Journey Alexis E. Jackson Book Review A worthwhile read, When Minorities Lead in America by Dr. Herman J. Fountain Jr. is one man&rsquo...
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...
Verses: The Harmony, Discourse and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness
Verses: The Harmony, Discourse and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review Verses (The Harmony, Discourse, and Undivided Pursuit of Wholeness) by Jewel Caston-Mendoza chro...
The No Excuse Guide to Success: No Matter What Your Boss—or Life—Throws at You
The No Excuse Guide to Success: No Matter What Your Boss—or Life—Throws at You Kam Williams Book Review “Life is not what you’ve been taught; it’s what you believe. It’s not ...
Long Train…
Long Train… Jacqueline Jones LaMon Book Review One of the magical qualities of reading is that we are transported from who we are and all that we know to be true into other realms. We are intr...
The Lace Wig Bible: How to Style
The Lace Wig Bible: How to Style Kam Williams Book Review “You cannot be a top hair stylist today without working with some types of wigs or hair extensions… I have been blessed to hav...
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...
Jungle Nights & Soda Fountain Rags
Jungle Nights & Soda Fountain Rags Kalamu ya Salaam Book Review Brian Gilmore is a cut above. His 30-part poem on Duke Ellington is deep and deft. Each section can stand alone, but taken as a whole ...
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America Eryka Parker Book Review As a Black woman born and raised in the United States, I have always been aware of how blessed I am to ...
El Cantante
El Cantante Kam Williams jennif9.jpg Film Review J-Lo Back in Bittersweet Bio-Pic about Seventies Salsa Singer El Cantante Rated R for sexuality, drug use and pervasive profan...
The Five-Year Engagement
The Five-Year Engagement Kam Williams 5yearengagement.jpg Film Review Wedding Delays Strain Relationship in Raunchy Romantic Comedy The Five-Year Engagement [2012] In Theaters: Apr 27, 201...
Harlem Aria
Harlem Aria Kam Williams images/img33.jpg Film Review Opera Serves as Fulcrum for Unfunny, Unlikely-Buddy Comedy Harlem Aria Rated R for crude and profane language. Running time: 100 Minut...
Iron Lady
Iron Lady Kam Williams theironlady_movieposter.jpg Film Review Streep Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance Impersonating Brit PM The Iron Lady Rated PG-13 for violent images and brief nudity. R...
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child Kam Williams images/4-JMB.jpg Film Review Bio-Pic Recounts Brash Artist’s Meteoric Rise and Untimely Demise Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Chil...
The Lurking Place
The Lurking Place Robert Fleming Book Review Veteran writer Clarence Major’s literary career continues full speed. His latest novel, The Lurking Place, rates among his best, using an experience...
Wake Up Everybody
Wake Up Everybody Paige Turner Book Review I play the street life cuz there’s no place I can go Street Life - it’s the only life I know Street Life - there’s a thousand parts to pla...
12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today
12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today Kam Williams Book Review "This book of stories by black men living in America can serve as a primer to help all Americans understan...
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...
Baby Momma Drama
Baby Momma Drama Thumper Book Review Carl Weber’s new book is loaded with the type of drama I love, — unfiltered, full strength, wig snatching, "yo-momma’s-a-ho!" drama. ...
In The Words Of Nelson Mandela
In The Words Of Nelson Mandela Robert Fleming Book Review One of the greatest assignments of my career as a newspaper reporter was covering South African leader, Nelson Mandela, who had just been r...
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Linda Watkins Book Review Short story collections that are strong and rich throughout are rare finds. Most contain one or two good stories accompanied by mediocre ones....
Watercolored Pearls
Watercolored Pearls Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The latest offering by, Christian fiction author, Stacy Hawkins Adams is about three female friends whose stories were captured in Adam’s first ...
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race
Zion and Zara Stories: The Big Bike Race Amanda Robinson Book Review Good children’s books are hard to come by. Many of them lack morals for children to learn from or educational content to gro...
Poetic Perceptions
Poetic Perceptions Robert Fleming Book Review Some African-American critics yearn for a return to the fire and passion of the revolutionary fervor of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, but there are ...