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The Known World
The Known World Thumper Book Review As is becoming an unbreakable and pleasurable yearly excursion, I attended the 2003 Book Expo America (BEA) in Los Angeles. I love the BEA. The convention is all...
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...
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World Robert Fleming Book Review Unfortunately, there were efforts to demean the late Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family whe...
Dear Revolutionaries: A Field Guide for a World beyond the Church
Dear Revolutionaries: A Field Guide for a World beyond the Church Robert Fleming Book Review In this modern age of random death and mayhem, there are powerful voices shouting for the church to retake...
Nicki Minaj: The Woman Who Stole the World An Unauthorized Biography
Nicki Minaj: The Woman Who Stole the World An Unauthorized Biography Kam Williams Book Review “This is the story of Onika Tanya Maraj, born on December 8, 1982 in St. James, a suburb of Trini...
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me Kam Williams Book Review “In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about american history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for h...
The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World
The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World Robert Fleming Book Review It’s always beneficial to understand how learned minds, from abroad, view our current world wit...
Consumed…
Consumed… Jacqueline Jones LaMon Book Review AALBC.com review by Jacqueline Jones LaMon I firmly believe that there are no coincidences in this life, that we are presented with that which is f...
The Face That Changed It All
The Face That Changed It All Kam Williams Book Review “Beverly Johnson made history in 1974… [as] the first African-American woman… whose face appeared on the cover of the world...
New England White
New England White Kam Williams Book Review ’I like writing [about] this world for the same reason that others like reading [about] it: the black upper class is a continuing fascination, an...
Charcoal Joe
Charcoal Joe Tony Lindsay Book Review What was refreshingly abundant in Walter Mosley’s Charcoal Joe was Black male characters. From strong Black men to Black men seeking guidance, the reader w...
21 Nights by Prince
21 Nights by Prince Thumper Book Review My number one is Aretha Franklin. Aretha Franklin is my favorite artist of all times. When I was 13 years old, her album, I Never Loved a Man, save...
The World According to Fannie Davis
The World According to Fannie Davis Tony Lindsay Book Review The World According to Fannie Davis is the story of a Black woman who became a numbers’ banker, which was a miraculous accomplishmen...
Standing in the Need of Prayer
Standing in the Need of Prayer Rondall Brasher Book Review Standing in the Need of Prayer is a book dedicated the diverse and powerful subject of Black prayer. The photographs and other anthropologi...
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey Troy Johnson Book Review Hip-Hop Culture’s first OFFICIAL luxury, large format coffee table book will inspire, entertain and educate all generations of readers wit...
The Gods of the Bacteria: The World Before Darwin
The Gods of the Bacteria: The World Before Darwin Robert Fleming Book Review Dr. Billy Earley, a veteran practitioner and graduate from the Charles Drew School of Medicine and Science, brings his e...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
Blacktop Wasteland
Blacktop Wasteland W. Paul Coates Book Review Black Top Wastland a Conversation With S A Cosby and Paul CoatesAug 30, 2020 06:00 p.m. Eastern Time Register S. A. Cosby has written a winning book ...
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman Robert Fleming Book Review This was a labor of love. Over seven years ago, it was the mission of Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, a Harvard-tr...
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "In this book, I will not detail every pathological condition that ever existed in African-American...
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne Thumper Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it is pictures or ...
Just Too Good to Be True
Just Too Good to Be True Thumper Book Review I never thought the moon would rise or the sun would set on the day that I would be writing a review on any E. Lynn Harris book. I use to be a fan of ...
Fifth Born
Fifth Born Thumper Book Review My copy of Fifth Born, the debut novel by Zelda Lockhart, came by way of this year’s Book Expo America convention (BEA). I met Ms. Lockhart and her son at The B...
The Hood Health Handbook
The Hood Health Handbook Kam Williams Book Review "In all my world travels, never have I picked up a book with the kind of love, concern and information that I’ve seen put into this book&hell...
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates Thumper Book Review In an effort to expand my reading to non-fiction titles, as well as the fact that the book is small in size, I read The Beauti...
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...
What Next
What Next Paige Turner Book Review During these times of turmoil between the United States and Iraq the creative community is using the full extent of its powers to offer solutions. Walter Mosley, ...
The Global Obama: Crossroads of Leadership in the 21st Century
The Global Obama: Crossroads of Leadership in the 21st Century Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama [has] garnered higher approval ratings in most parts of the world than in the United S...
Praedamus Let Us Prey Selling Heaven: It’s All An Illusion
Praedamus Let Us Prey Selling Heaven: It’s All An Illusion Kam Williams Book Review “Religion plays an important part in most people’s lives… Many of us have absolute and often b...
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film Kam Williams Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it...
The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America
The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America Kam Williams Book Review “How is it that a Jewish prophet from the Roman era ran so explosively into the American obsession...
I Wish I Had A Red Dress
I Wish I Had A Red Dress Thumper Book Review I’m going to be upfront. The review will be short and sour. I Wish I Had A Red Dress, Pearl Cleage’s new novel, we return to Idlewood, Michiga...
Jelani’s Key
Jelani’s Key Mel Hopkins Book Review Pain into Promise An immeasurable loss leads to a journey of cultural enlightenment, friendship, and self-discovery for 11-year-old protagonists Jelani and Bak...
Digital Coup: The Conspiracy to Thwart Global Democracy
Digital Coup: The Conspiracy to Thwart Global Democracy Shanida Carter Book Review “Democracy around the globe is facing its greatest threat since World War II,” writes author Darin Johnson, who beli...
Wimbey’s Corner
Wimbey’s Corner Emanuel Carpenter Book Review At first glance, one might think that Wimbey’s Corner is a story about a big and black country bumpkin’ named Wayne Hunter who moves from a...
The Bridge
The Bridge Thumper Book Review The Bridge, the second novel by Solomon Jones, should blow open the doors that his debut novel, Pipe Dreams did not. I am getting excited simply remembering the book ...
True Love
True Love Kam Williams Book Review “This is a story of love. It started when love was lost and I felt as if my world had fallen apart. What followed was a transformative journey, through t...
The Right Mistake
The Right Mistake Thumper Book Review I don't need to ask, what did I do to deserve such good fortune? I stay good. It’s my natural state of being. *LOL* Although I did not ask i...
Who Does She Think She Is
Who Does She Think She Is Thumper Book Review Demons and condemned souls must be having snowball fights in Hell because I not only read another Benilde Little book; I actually liked it. I know, I kn...
Mrs. Black
Mrs. Black Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Angelia Vernon Menchan who also has written under the name, acVernon Menchan has just released an new novel that takes us further into the world of the...
Sinking Saints
Sinking Saints Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Author Etta Harbin outlines the ten most important reasons that the 21st century church is on the brink of self-destruction while offering real solution...
The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom
The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom Kam Williams Book Review "What I hope to do with this book is reach out to anyone who wants to get a leg up on their own careers&...
The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin Neoma Nwasike Book Review Have you ever felt like an outsider, or like you just did not belong? In this big world, with so many different faces, it can sometimes feel overwhelming a...
Leading Inclusion
Leading Inclusion Robert Fleming Book Review In this book packed with practical business concepts and strategies, Gena Cox, an acclaimed organizational psychologist and executive coach, takes on seve...
Psalms of My People
Psalms of My People April R. Silver Book Review In the book Psalms of My People, author Lenny Duncan opens this work by stating: “I start this book in perhaps the most hopeless place I have eve...
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy Ralph Ellison Book Review Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma is not an easy book for an American Negro to review. Not because he mig...
Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World
Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World Kam Williams images/paul_mooney.jpg Film Review Paul Mooney Concert Flick Shot at Strip Club Paul Mooney: It’s The End of the World Very Good (3 star...
The Weird World of Blowfly
The Weird World of Blowfly Kam Williams blowfly.jpg Film Review Godfather of Rap Belatedly Gets His Due in Jaw-Dropping Bio-Pic The Weird World of Blowfly [2011] Click to order...
The Book of Night Women
The Book of Night Women Thumper Book Review I have been awaiting the arrival of The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, literally, for years. I read and loved his debut novel, John Crow&r...
Inner-City Interludes
Inner-City Interludes Jayne Cubbage Book Review Inner-City Interludes by Hoezee probably won’t go down in history as a literary classic. Perhaps as an ode to the ’hood’ and...
Book of Letters
Book of Letters Robert Fleming Book Review Mary J. Taylor’s Book Of Letters is just that, a book of letters from the Old School of storytelling. The series of sepia cultural flashbacks moves th...
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...
Mimi’s Village and How Basic Health Care Transformed It
Mimi’s Village and How Basic Health Care Transformed It Kam Williams Book Review “Mimi’s fictional village is like thousands of real villages in the developing world, where health care...
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...
A Feast of Peonies
A Feast of Peonies Thumper Book Review Within the first four pages of A Feast of Peonies, the 165-page debut novel by Obi; I was both intrigued, and mesmerized. This electrifying novel centers on a...
Beyond Glory
Beyond Glory Thumper Book Review Warning! I’ve been cleaning up my library again-meaning I’m about to review an old book. I have two walls full of bookshelves, whose...
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...
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...
Will
Will Robert Fleming Book Review There are millions of success stories in America. This is one of them. Film superstar Will Smith’s memoir, Will, is almost a fantasy comprised of Yankee success,...
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...
The Mermaid Princesses
The Mermaid Princesses Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Meet these three charming princess sisters, Anaya, Shante, and Kianna. They invite us into their underwater world with their bright and bold perso...
Searching for Agabus: Embracing Authenticity and Finding Your Way to You
Searching for Agabus: Embracing Authenticity and Finding Your Way to You Robert Fleming Book Review What is “an authentic self?” Michael Walrond, a well-known keynote speaker and the past...
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou Kam Williams Book Review “‘Words mean more than what is set down on paper,’ Maya Angelou wrote in her groundbreaking m...
Identity: Your Passport to Success
Identity: Your Passport to Success Kam Williams Book Review “The core idea of the book is this: Your happiness and success in life flow from becoming clear about who you are and establishing ...
The God Who Begat a Jackal
The God Who Begat a Jackal Thumper Book Review The great author of American letters, Albert Murray, wrote in his recently published book From The Briarpatch, ’The goal of the serious storytelle...
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...
Just Wanna Testify
Just Wanna Testify Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Vamping The Vamps… Just Wanna Testify by the mega-talented author, Pearl Cleage was met with mixed reviews when it was first released. Many of...
Tavis Smiley Books
Tavis Smiley Books Lynne d. Johnson Book Review Tavis Smiley, syndicated radio and BET talk-show host, is committed to making the world a better place. This is his mission. His first book, Doing What...
Little White Lies By Cole Riley
Little White Lies By Cole Riley Michelle Paynter Book Review Little White Lies is more than a pathetically sad and heartbreaking story of Melvin, a young, aspiring Black high school athlete, who wr...
Motion Sickness
Motion Sickness RAWSISTAZ Book Review Terry O’Neal shares her collection of poetry in her first book entitled Motion Sickness. It is a compilation of poems that range in topics including ...
Bittersweet
Bittersweet Thumper Book Review Bittersweet, the debut novel by Freddie Lee Johnson, lll, proves the old adage that you can’t always judge a book by its cover. As I picked up Bittersweet from t...
My Mother’s Mother by Maryse Conde
My Mother’s Mother by Maryse Conde Thumper Book Review One of my favorite authors in the whole wide world is back with a new novel that I loved, loved, loved! Maryse Condé's latest novel...
How We Fight for Our Lives
How We Fight for Our Lives Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review As a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer/Art/Mentorship, Saeed Jones is a poet and the author of...
Black Food
Black Food Robert Fleming Book Review Black food, aka Soul food, is celebrated all over the world for its delicious ingredients, tangy flavors, homegrown recipes, and traditional richness. This book,...
The Love Ethic
The Love Ethic Robert Fleming Book Review Inspired by their work with African American couples at their Chicago organization, the acclaimed Twinlineal Institute, Kamau and Akilah Butler, bo...
Threesome
Threesome Tiffany M. Davis Book Review I must say, this book was not what I expected. The title brings to mind images of a steamy m’nage a trois, either male/female/male or the more commonly po...
Daughter
Daughter Jayne Cubbage Book Review The novel, Daughter is a wonderfully crafted book and a smashing follow up to Asha Bandele’s first book, The Prisoner’s Wife. In this suspenseful a...
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent Thumper Book Review There is a great chance that my review of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickso...
And On The Eighth Day She Rested
And On The Eighth Day She Rested Thumper Book Review Lately, I have been in one of my lazy reading moods. I wanted a book that would go easy on my ol’ noggin. As you all know, my normal readi...
Nappy Hair
Nappy Hair Troy Johnson Book Review One nap of her hair is the only perfect circle in nature. —from Nappy Hair I recently purchased Nappy Hair and have read it to my daughters. I must say c...
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...
Palmares
Palmares Robert Fleming Book Review No less than the esteemed late novelist Toni Morrison, the chief editorial gatekeeper of Random House, was stunned by the narrative power of Gayl Jones’ firs...
Men We Cherish
Men We Cherish Thumper Book Review African-American Women Praise The Men In Their Lives, Edited by Brooke Stephens is an anthology. A book filled with laughter, heartache, inspiration, comfort, heart...
Too Beautiful For Words
Too Beautiful For Words Thumper Book Review Too Beautiful For Words, the debut novel by Monique W. Morris, is a small little miracle of a book. In a novel that is steeped in reality, under the grimme...
The Blackbird Papers
The Blackbird Papers Thumper Book Review It never fails that every year there is one book in which the book’s good publicity reaches me before the book does. This year one of the books is Ian ...
The Meaning of Michelle
The Meaning of Michelle Kam Williams Book Review “Michelle Obama is unlike any other First Lady in American History. From her first moment on the public stage, she has challenged traditional Am...
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 ...
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn Robert Fleming Book Review So many African-American newspapers and publications have vanished from view, but their impact remains on the...
The Other Side of Losing
The Other Side of Losing Kam Williams Book Review ’The Curse of the Goat’ Real Cubs fans don't talk about it much, no more than once or twice a season. Usually it’s ...
My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir
My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "His father, Syl Whitaker, was the charismatic grandson of slaves… His mother, Jeanne Theis, was a shy, World War II refugee from ...
Devil‘s Wake
Devil‘s Wake Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Something is turning the world into zombies. Perhaps it’s a virus or maybe even the latest flu vaccine. Whatever the cause, prevention is simple. Do...
Forty Million Dollar Slaves
Forty Million Dollar Slaves Kam Williams Book Review "The Belt carries young black athletes out of black America and introduces them to a world with very few African-Americans, a world o...
Kwanzaa: From Holiday to Everyday
Kwanzaa: From Holiday to Everyday Kam Williams Book Review ’One of the reasons Kwanzaa has been widely embraced is that it speaks directly to the need many feel for a self-determi...
Real Men Cook
Real Men Cook Kam Williams Book Review "Increasingly, African-American men in particular are often portrayed as criminals, drug addicts, absentee fathers, and jailbirds. Seldom are they...
A Distant Shore
A Distant Shore Linda Watkins Book Review Caryl Phillips may have out done himself with his newest novel, A Distant Shore. It is in my opinion one of the most accomplished works I have read this ye...
A House Is Not a Home
A House Is Not a Home Thumper Book Review The song says it’s hard to say goodbye’humph, not when the guests have overstayed their welcome it Ain't. At that time, saying goodbye is th...
Dakota Grand: A Novel
Dakota Grand: A Novel Brian Egeston Book Review There are codes within creeds and creeds within cliques. Perhaps this is the most subliminal, if not unintentional, message in Kenji Jasper’s lat...
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Sing, Unburied, Sing Tony Lindsay Book Review What Jesmyn Ward offers the reader in Sing, Unburied, Sing is an example of family. Ward creates a family that sees ghosts, a family that talks to animal...
Watch Us Rise
Watch Us Rise Vanessa Vanzie Book Review Oh, to go back in time when life was simpler and filled with of fun, friends and family. Reminiscing on all the highs of your first crush and lows of your fir...
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...