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Soul Poems for My Sistas
Soul Poems for My Sistas Felicia Pride Book Review Poetry is one literary form that far too many attempt with the misguided notion that it is easy to write. Between the length or the ability...
A Person of Interest
A Person of Interest Thumper Book Review I have begun looking forward to reading novels written by Ernest Hills. I became a fan of his work after reading two of his previous novels; ...
The New Brownies’ Book
The New Brownies’ Book Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review In the November 1910 premier issue of The Crisis, the official journal of the NAACP, historian, scholar, civil rights activist, sociologist, an...
The Pride
The Pride Kam Williams kimber9.jpg Film Review Philly Role Model’s Inspirational Life Story Turned into Formulaic Hollywood Bio-Pic Pride Film Review by Kam Williams Rated PG for mature th...
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...
Powder Necklace
Powder Necklace Thumper Book Review I was trying not to like Powder Necklace, the debut novel by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond. I had had my fill of the black girl coming-of-age story. A few years ago, ...
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir Troy Johnson Book Review This Review Appears in the Fall 2007 Issue of Harlem World Magazine Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, of...
Saving Our Daughters
Saving Our Daughters Kam Williams Book Review ’Where do we begin with this delicate subject of color and racism within a race — I call it intra-racial profil...
We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America Eryka Parker Book Review We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America by Michael I...
Why I Sued the Bible Publishers
Why I Sued the Bible Publishers Robert Fleming Book Review If there was ever a book title that yelled its intentions, this is it. The book’s author, Bradley Fowler, one of the faithful of Presb...
Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation
Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation Kam Williams Book Review “There is this strange notion that because I am black I should agree with all blac...
Why Do Black People Love Fried Chicken?
Why Do Black People Love Fried Chicken? Kam Williams Book Review "The primary purpose of this book is to provide information about black folks… Please read with the understanding that neit...
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...
Black Boys, I See You
Black Boys, I See You Kirkus Book Review STARRED REVIEW Written from a place of love and deeply attuned to the emotional needs of Black boys. A kid lit giant extends a mighty message of love. ...
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...
Enough
Enough Kam Williams Book Review "Reparations sends a message to Americans of every other race that blacks are wards of the state because they are a broken people. Social ills in the black com...
Daddy Interrupted
Daddy Interrupted Thumper Book Review Van Whitfield has made me a happy man with his new novel, Dad Interrupted because Shawn Wayne is back in the house! I am crazy about Shawn Wayne. I am not a bi...
Glorious
Glorious Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Bernice McFadden’s long awaited release, is pure poetry. This novel sings to you through the eyes of Easter Bartlett who runs away as a young girl when ...
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...
If My Hair Had a Voice
If My Hair Had a Voice Lisa Y? Wilson Book Review When another comb loses the battle with Kimya’s natural coils, feeling shame she apologizes and asks, “Can’t we just straighten it?...
Virginia Hamilton: Speeches
Virginia Hamilton: Speeches Kam Williams Book Review ’In the 35 years between the publication of her first book and her death in 2002, Virginia Hamilton earned a place of honor in the p...
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...
Sulwe
Sulwe Shafika Burke Book Review Do our young black girls have enough willpower to face whatever life throws at them? Do they look at themselves and see beauty, or the lack of? Have we successfully co...
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...
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...
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments Robert Fleming Book Review Recently, I received a letter from lit legend Gayl Jones, saying that she wasn’t writing anymore. Discovered by iconic editor...
What Mother Never Told Me
What Mother Never Told Me Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Family's Secret Sins "Every Family has it's secrets…" says national best selling author, Donna Hill in her latest n...
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...
With Billie
With Billie Robert Fleming Book Review Sometimes an author gets a good idea but it takes time, endurance, and determination to complete ...
The Undefeated
The Undefeated Vanessa Vanzie Book Review ℐf you have been searching for a book that will fill a child with the greatest sense of self-worth just for being who they are, then look no further. Ta...
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...
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 ...
We Refuse to Be Silent
We Refuse to Be Silent Robert Fleming Book Review Back in 2014, after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, journalist and writer Angela P. Dodson got the idea then for her recently publi...
My Divine Natural Hair
My Divine Natural Hair Eryka Parker Book Review “The One who created us crowned us first. Shining atop our heads is a divine diadem with all the lightness of air, radiance of honor, and the wei...
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...
The Power of Presence
The Power of Presence Tony Lindsay Book Review The Power of Presence is a training manual for those looking to improve life, but not merely the life of an individual but those that depend on an indiv...
Glorious
Glorious Thumper Book Review Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden Buy This Book AmazonBarnesandNobleIndieBoundPowells 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!Publication Date: Ma
i see through eyes
i see through eyes Kalamu ya Salaam Book Review Eric Payne is not ready to publish a book a poetry’but, on the other hand, the 21st century is a new time. If a person believes they are a poet a...
A Man Most Worthy
A Man Most Worthy Thumper Book Review Imagine the man who has every material possession his heart ever desires. One day, after all of his battles have been fought, and the dragons have been slain, ...
Dona Julia
Dona Julia Rondall Brasher Book Review Do’a Julia and Other Selected Poems" by Alberto O. Cappas is written with tremendous amount of pride. It is a book that comes from the heart of a man...
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...
Blind Light
Blind Light Carol Taylor Book Review In 2001, visionary social justice advocate, Glenda R. Taylor was struck with a potentially devastating illness that took most of her sight. Instead of retreating ...
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well Robert Fleming Book Review While When Frogs Grow Feet’s blurb links its juicy contents to Henry Miller’s classic wanton tale, Tro...
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...
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...
Boys into Men
Boys into Men Paige Turner Book Review BOYS INTO MEN: RAISING OUR AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGE SONS By Paige Turner An old Parliament Funkadelic album was entitled America Eats Its Young. While this se...
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention Robert Fleming Book Review Dr. Manning Marable, a professor of history at Columbia University and author of fifteen books, knew how important and controversial ...
Place of Cool Waters
Place of Cool Waters Michael A. Gonzales Book Review As a book critic, I rarely know what to expect when handed a project to review. There are veteran writers who drop projects that make me question ...
The Black Sleuth
The Black Sleuth Thumper Book Review Suggested Title: Tale of Early Black Detective Prescribes Strong Medicine Or Forgotten Black Writer Doses Up Strong Medicine Northeastern University Press, in its...
Going Natural: How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair
Going Natural: How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair Kam Williams Book Review "Five years ago… I knew nothing about my natural hair. It was that mess that grew out of my head… which...
Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL
Terminus: Tales of the Black Fantastic from the ATL Amanda Robinson Book Review Atlanta is one of the most popular cities in this country. This metropolis is one of the few epicenters dripping Black ...
Chasing Me to My Grave
Chasing Me to My Grave Robert Fleming Book Review This enthralling memoir is one of the most heralded books about the life, imagination, and cultural influences of an African American man who goes to...
Kevin and His Dad
Kevin and His Dad Kam Williams Book Review ’What could be better for a young boy than to spend a whole day with his father! With mom away on a Saturday, that’s exa...
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...
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...
Marriage 101
Marriage 101 Kam Williams Book Review ’Most of us have heard what the acronym BIBLE stands for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The Bible gives us everything we need ...
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...
Salmon Croquettes
Salmon Croquettes Tony Lindsay Book Review Salmon Croquettes is a debut novel rich in prose. The book is loaded with purposeful dialogue and heartwarming descriptive scenes. The novel’s authent...
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...
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 ...
African American History for Dummies
African American History for Dummies Kam Williams Book Review ’African-American history, to be clear, is so much more than a handful of extraordinary individuals or practices like slaver...
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...
Chike and the River
Chike and the River Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Chike was now 11 years-old, and he had never left his village. Then one day his mother told him that he would be going to ...
The Olympian: An American Triumph
The Olympian: An American Triumph Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What must it have been like to be the first African-American Olympic gold medalist? Would the feat have instilled pride in a nation w...
Sweet Tea and Cornbread: Inspiring
Sweet Tea and Cornbread: Inspiring Kam Williams Book Review “Let’s face it, ladies, as black women we have issues when it comes to food and exercise… If you’re like me, you...
Culture Worrier: Selected Columns 1984—2014: Reflections on Race
Culture Worrier: Selected Columns 1984—2014: Reflections on Race Kam Williams Book Review “These pages represent some of the valuable lessons I’ve learned about people and media over t...
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 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...
Brown Boys Rule
Brown Boys Rule Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review While listening to a recent meditation session on the app Happier—one of my favorites—I was reminded of the importance of embracing wo...
The Queen of Harlem
The Queen of Harlem Brian Egeston Book Review He has managed to fool us all! Because his previous work gave the impression that his was the authentic voice of the next generation of Black male southe...
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire Kam Williams Book Review ’Arguably, Drusilla Dunjee Houston was one of the most important African-American women writers of the 20th Centu...
Come on People
Come on People Kam Williams Book Review "For the last three and a half years, I have been holding community call-outs in cities around the country… This book will cover selec...
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 ...
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...
The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Arc of Truth: The Thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. Robert Fleming Book Review From the start of his singular journey to confronting cultural bigotry and moral chaos, Dr. Martin Luther King stoo...
Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons A Dialogue with America’s Young Leaders
Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons A Dialogue with America’s Young Leaders Kam Williams Book Review “This collection of letters [offer] a rare glimpse into the dialogue between our nation&rsquo...
Oh God!
Oh God! Paige Turner Book Review Sexuality is an extremely powerful force and a very real and large component of everyone’s existence. Yet black churches, like most religions through the ages, ...
Don’t Drop the MIC
Don’t Drop the MIC Denolyn Carroll Book Review In Don’t Drop the Mic, renowned pastor, orator, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Bishop T. D. Jakes puts a new spin on the notion of the b...
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...
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters Kam Williams Book Review In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaki...
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 Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership
The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership Robert Fleming Book Review With this defiant publication, The Black Clergy’s Misguided Worship Leadership, Dr. Christopher C. Bell, Jr....
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll Robert Fleming Book Review It’s a shame that nothing substantial has been written about that sacred Black entertainment network of the ...
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones Chris Hayden Book Review If It Ain’t Speculative and It Ain’t Fiction Need Black Folks Read Speculative Fiction? It distresses me when I can grant only q...
Brooklyn’s Finest
Brooklyn’s Finest Kam Williams images/img23.jpg Film Review Flawed NYPD Officers Featured as "Brooklyn’s Finest" Brooklyn's Finest Rated R for nudity, graphic sexuality, pe...
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Kam Williams Book Review “This book is an attempt to reclaim, as much as possible, the Jesus of history, the Jesus of Christianity… whos...
A Hand to Guide Me
A Hand to Guide Me Kam Williams Book Review "Every individual you are about to meet in these pages has remained humble, and that’s been my mantra for as long as I can remember’ a...
Street Judge
Street Judge Thumper Book Review In his fiction debut Judge Greg Mathis, star of the syndicated Judge Mathis TV show, releases Street Judge, a mystery/thriller with a message. Although I ha...
Looking for Happy
Looking for Happy Judy Allen Dodson Book Review “Some days, Happy is Hard to Find” as we set out on a quest in this heartfelt and hopeful picture book, Looking For Happy, which follows a ...
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 ...
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So
Unburdened by Conscience: A Black People’s Collective Account of America’s Antebellum So Kam Williams Book Review "While pursuing my Bachelor of Arts degree in college, I took a lot of history cour...
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life Kam Williams Book Review "Amazingly, many people of faith and members of the reading public have not heard of Gardner Taylor or his accomplishments. Publication ...
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...
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets
The New Paradigm for Financial Markets Kam Williams Book Review ’We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s&rsquo...
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...
The Life of Olaudah Equiano
The Life of Olaudah Equiano Thumper Book Review In a continuing effort to broaden my horizon and go outside of my comfort zone, I decided to read The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano, eve...
The Myth of Race/The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays
The Myth of Race/The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays Kam Williams Book Review “From today’s perspective in a media-soaked world all too familiar with the genomic footprints of huma...
The Wake Up Call
The Wake Up Call Robert Fleming Book Review With a focus on the young at heart, personal finance expert Ash Exantus aka Ash Cash employs the themes of master rapper-businessman Jay Z’s classic ...
The Drift
The Drift Thumper Book Review Without getting a chance to miss him after the publication of his magnificent Conversation With The Mann, John Ridley delivers a second, equally splendid, novel, The D...
U.S. v. Bush
U.S. v. Bush Kam Williams Book Review ’After analyzing the evidence in light of the applicable law, I’ve determined that we already have more than enough information to allow a re...