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Renegade
Renegade Kam Williams Book Review ’This is the making of a president, witnessed from a front-row seat, as it unfolded from its first day to its last. With the help of more tha...
Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix
Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix Robert Fleming Book Review If you take a trip to the once-scenic Gulf Coast, you will see there is more to be done in the restoration and rejuvenation...
Social Crisis and Social Demoralization
Social Crisis and Social Demoralization Kam Williams Book Review ’American race relations are closely tied up with social status. Race relations’ reflect the economic and social force...
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...
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...
Brave at Heart
Brave at Heart Kirkus Book Review “A professor emeritus reimagines Western notions of race, crime, and justice in this volume of essays. Not only has America failed to adequately say ‘...
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings Thumper Book Review It has not been said for a long time. I’m glad to be able to say, James Baldwin has a new book out! The new collection of es...
The Social Network
The Social Network Kam Williams images/69349_gal.jpg Film Review Damning Bio-Pic Recounts Rise of Ruthless Facebook Founder The Social Network Click to Buy via Amazon.com Rate...
Summer Snow
Summer Snow Thumper Book Review Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the South, is a collection of essays by Trudier Harris, based on her memories, observations and opinions that came ...
They Tell Me of a Home
They Tell Me of a Home Thumper Book Review I was in the mood for a Southern gothic novel. For those of you who may not know, a Southern gothic novel is one that takes place in the S...
Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave
Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave Shaundale Rénā Book Review In writing Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave, author Tiffany G. Townsend, PhD, add...
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome Kam Williams Book Review "I can honestly say I have a passion for language… I enjoy writi...
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes
Andrew Billingsley Scholar and Institution Builder: Essays and Tributes Robert Fleming Book Review What makes a scholar great? The easy answer is the prolonged effort of an individual to provide a la...
Everything But The Burden
Everything But The Burden Rondall Brasher Book Review "Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward ourresearch." —El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) This quo...
Race
Race Kam Williams Book Review “This collection of original essays investigates one of the least-explored topics in the philosophy of film and the philosophy of race: the nexus of our ideas ...
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist Lynne d. Johnson Book Review Hip-hop has intrinsically woven itself into the fabric of Americana. The culture, music, icons, and p...
Oreo
Oreo Thumper Book Review I’m thinking, pondering, you might say, that possibly the sign of a good book isn’t the fact that it is in print. Maybe, the sign of a good book should be wheth...
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...
Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey
Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey Thumper Book Review Man, I must have been knocked out for a long ass time. I had to take a leave of absence for three years because I had to go bac...
Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid
Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid Troy Johnson Book Review Lizzie & McKenzie’s Fabulous Adventures: Mayhem in Madrid is the first book in a series of chapter books t...
Long Fall
Long Fall Thumper Book Review I started Walter Mosley’s The Long Fall with a bit of left over anger and some anticipation. I’m not going to lie, I did not ever think that I would feel...
Thoughts from a Unicorn: 100% Black. 100 Jewish. 0% Safe
Thoughts from a Unicorn: 100% Black. 100 Jewish. 0% Safe Kam Williams Book Review “Born to an African-American Orthodox Jewish family, MaNisshtana has spent his life being Black, being Jewish,...
Going Home
Going Home Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Home Is Where The Heart Is Evelyn Palfrey is an author who writes romance novels. The unique thing about her books is that she writes romance for the "...
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story
Buddy Guy: When I Left Home — My Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I Left Home, the memoir of legendary blue guitarist Buddy Guy, with support from noted writer David Ritz, traces the musician ...
Going Home In Chains: Stories
Going Home In Chains: Stories Robert Fleming Book Review Glenville Lovell, one of the foremost Caribbean writers, has written several novels, including the acclaimed Fire in the Canes, Too Beautifu...
Home
Home Connie Bradley Book Review I just recently completed Toni Morrison’s latest book Home, a novel I have been looking forward to reading because its advance notices promoted it as being set i...
Words to Our Now: Imagination & Dissent
Words to Our Now: Imagination & Dissent Kam Williams Book Review ’The word ’faggot’ itself is to me as nasty a form of violence as the perennial spit-nastiness in that classic Ame...
Digging
Digging Robert Fleming Book Review The literary legacy of award-winning writer and poet Amiri Baraka continues to thrive as he releases another new book, Digging: The Afro-American Soul Of ...
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays
Lost in Language & Sound: Or How I Found My Way to the Arts: Essays Alvin Romer Book Review Poetry and prose if presented and mixed well with a demonstrative esthetic can work wonders for anyone try...
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 Lawyer as Leader: How to Plant People and Grow Justice
The Lawyer as Leader: How to Plant People and Grow Justice Kam Williams Book Review “The social challenges of our time are enormous. About one in seven U.S. residents live in poverty, and t...
No Place for Race: Why We Need to Address Economic and Social Factors That Are Crushing Us Every Day
No Place for Race: Why We Need to Address Economic and Social Factors That Are Crushing Us Every Day Kam Williams Book Review “Law enforcement isn’t about the white man out to get the bla...
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...
A2: A Scholarly Poetical Science Discourse
A2: A Scholarly Poetical Science Discourse Ahmad Wright Book Review Afrocentric themes find themselves cast through an academic lens of creativity, analysis, and cultural criticism in this revised, s...
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...
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...
Peony’s Daughters
Peony’s Daughters Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Mother With Crosses To Bear Although not categorized as Christian Fiction, Peony’s Daughters by Leceila Turnage is a very spiritual read w...
Known to Evil
Known to Evil Thumper Book Review Walter Mosley is back with the second installment of his new, magnificent Lenoid McGill Mystery series, Known to Evil. Believe it or not, I got my hands on Known...
Sympathy For The Devil
Sympathy For The Devil Thumper Book Review I wasn’t expecting such an excellent, non-stop reading novel when I embarked on Christopher Chamber’s debut novel, Sympathy For The Devil. I wa...
Material Witness: The Drew Smith Series
Material Witness: The Drew Smith Series Robert Fleming Book Review In this third installment of Norwood Holland’s acclaimed Drew Smith Series, Material Witness, there are a few wrinkles in both...
Dive
Dive Thumper Book Review Dive serves as a heavy, textured and elaborately engraved calling card to an awesome, beautiful, new voice on the horizon. Dive is the debut novel by Lisa Teasley. Dive, ...
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk
Reconsidering The Souls of Black Folk Thumper Book Review To commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois — of one of the most significant books ever publis...
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir
In The House Of The Interpreter: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This stunning second memoir by noted Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, In The House Of The Interpreter, cover...
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 ...
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...
Where Wild Peaches Grow
Where Wild Peaches Grow Eryka Parker Book Review When heartbreak and familial betrayal send Nona “Peaches” Davenport running from her home of Natchez, Mississippi as a teenager, neither s...
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Kam Williams nicole20.jpg Film Review Egotistical Talk-Show Host Humbled at Crass Family Reunion The Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Click to or...
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...
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded Kam Williams Book Review ’Many white-led social justice non-profits proclaim, in everything from their mission statements to their funding proposals, that...
Ashamed to Die: Silence
Ashamed to Die: Silence Kam Williams Book Review "HIV/AIDS remains a significant public health and social justice crisis in the United States, and the South in particular is heavily burdenedï...
Unfinished Business: Black Women
Unfinished Business: Black Women Kam Williams Book Review “This book explores the Black Church as a black religious site that can offer not only hope and cultural flourishing for poor black w...
Black Gotham: A Family History of African-Americans in 19th Century New York City
Black Gotham: A Family History of African-Americans in 19th Century New York City Kam Williams Book Review "This book is… not exactly a family memoir, but neither is it traditional social hi...
The Black Chicago Renaissance
The Black Chicago Renaissance Kam Williams Book Review “Beginning in the 1930s and lasting into the 1950s, black Chicago experienced a cultural renaissance that rivaled and, some argued, exce...
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...
My Sisters’ Voices
My Sisters’ Voices Linda Watkins Book Review "And special thanks go to all those individuals who follow me in stores, call me derogatory and offensive names, and keep me from doing and achieving...
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...
Blues In The Wind
Blues In The Wind Thumper Book Review Whitney LeBlanc makes his literary debut with an impressive, multidimensional, highly entertaining family drama, written in the glory of the blues. I threw ope...
Love Don’t Come Easy
Love Don’t Come Easy Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Boy looks for girl. Boy finds girl. Boy loses girl. Boy looks for another girl. J.T. Smith puts a fresh spin on an old formula in his highly enterta...
Corridors of Genius
Corridors of Genius Robert Fleming Book Review So many conflicting words have been written about the King of Pop, Michael Joseph Jackson, (1958-2009). Glenda R. Taylor’s Corridors of Genius tak...
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...
The Race Myth
The Race Myth Kam Williams Book Review “The traditional concept of race as a biological fact is a myth. I am going to show you that nearly everything you think you know about race is a socia...
2016: Obama’s America
2016: Obama’s America Dinesh Sharma 2016-obamas-america.jpg Film Review 2016: Obama’s America (2012) In Theaters: Jul 13, 2012 Limited PG, 1 hr. 29 min. Documentary, Special Interest D...
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease
The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease Kam Williams Book Review "This book tells the story of how race gets written into the definition of mental illness… The book a...
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...
He Talk Like a White Boy
He Talk Like a White Boy Kam Williams Book Review "I have grown tired of hearing people badmouth America. I love my country and claim it as my own because I believe America is good. And...
In My Father’s House
In My Father’s House Thumper Book Review In My Father’s House is the first installment to a new series the late E. Lynn Harris was working on at the time of his death. I don’t know if t...
A Fortune for Your Disaster
A Fortune for Your Disaster Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review A Fortune for Your Disaster is a powerful, resonant poetry collection about forgiveness and grappling with physical and emotional viol...
When It All Falls Down
When It All Falls Down Ahmad Wright Book Review Remember when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem in 2016? When HBO’s Insecure, created and produced by Issa Rae in 2016, was must-...
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...
The Simpsons
The Simpsons Kam Williams the_si5.jpg Film Review Bart and Company Brought Belatedly to Big Screen The Simpsons Rated PG-13 for double entendres, animated nudity and crude humor....
The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics
The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama’s triumph in the presidential election of 2008… contains ...
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3 Robert Fleming Book Review Some years ago, Zane shocked the square world in the black literary community with her series of raunchy, raw erotic tales delivered onl...
God Ain’t Blind
God Ain’t Blind Idrissa Uqdah Book Review God Is Getting Tired And So Am I I think you have to really love the books and the characters in the God Don't Like Ugly series to still be reading th...
A Phat Death
A Phat Death Thumper Book Review 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 t...
Minion
Minion Thumper Book Review Somebody, somewhere, is either trying to run game on me, or thinks I done fell and bumped my damn head by passing this "book" to me! Minion: A Vampire Huntress ...
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...
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Pray the Devil Back to Hell Kam Williams images/pray_t16.jpg Film Review PBS Series Documentary from Liberia Features 2011 Nobel Peace Prize-Winner Pray the Devil Back to Hell premieres ...
African American Lives 2
African American Lives 2 Kam Williams africa11.jpg Film Review Black Luminaries Find Roots in 4-Part PBS Series African American Lives 2 Click to order via Amazon Format: Color, D...
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 ...
Satisfy My Soul
Satisfy My Soul Thumper Book Review Colin Channer’s sophomore novel, Satisfy My Soul, is extraordinary! It is certainly a novel that deserves to have its praises sung by folks more knowledgeabl...
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...
The Black Dancing Body
The Black Dancing Body Rondall Brasher Book Review This book actually came to my attention last month on the home page of African American Literature Book Club. Troy had it in the revolving new titl...
Men in Black 3
Men in Black 3 Kam Williams mib2-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Alien-Fighting Franchise Revived for Time-Travel Finale Men in Black III In Theaters: May 25, 2012 Wide Rated PG-13 for violence and su...
Star Trek (2009 #11)
Star Trek (2009 #11) Kam Williams star_t5.jpg Film Review Flagging Sci-Fi Franchise Resuscitated by Eye-Popping Prequel Star Trek ...
Bestselling DVDs for 2013
Bestselling DVDs for 2013 Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/zanes-sex-chronicles.jpg Film Review Best-selling DVDs for 2013 #1 • Zane's Sex Chronicles Season 1 Click to Buy Via Amaz...
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is Kam Williams keyshi1.jpg Film Review BET’s #1 Rated Reality Series Released on DVD Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is’ (...
Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat
Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat Julianne Malveaux Book Review I don’t often write about comedians, but the recent passing of my friend Dick Gregory reminded me of the very important role t...
black misery
black misery Troy Johnson Book Review Misery is when you heardon the radio that the neighborhoodyou live in is a slum butyou always thought it was home” black misery is a pictur...
Alas
Alas Kam Williams Book Review “I project an outward appearance of success, confidence and strength. I am a successful author, a single mom… and a very vocal child and foster care advoc...
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...
Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems
Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems Rudolph Lewis Book Review June 2005, almost a decade ago, was the time I last visited New Orleans. It was still almost the Big Easy I knew in the mid-1980s. Seve...
Color Me Butterfly
Color Me Butterfly Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Domestic Abuse: A Generational Curse?This book spans a 60 year period in the lives of a family of strong African American women who survived domestic a...
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home
A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home Kam Williams Book Review “Black families and neighborhoods have been disproportionately victimized by bankers’ p...
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...
Getting Our Breath Back
Getting Our Breath Back Linda Watkins Book Review Getting Our Breath Back, the debut novel, by author Shawne Johnson, is not your ordinary read. Passionate words float with a hypnotic, poetic rhythm ...
Allah Is Not Obliged
Allah Is Not Obliged Thumper Book Review ’The full, final and completely complete title of my bullshit story is: Allah is not obliged to be fair about all the things he does here on...
All I Need to Get By
All I Need to Get By Thumper Book Review I have just finished reading All I Need to Get By, the debut novel by Sophfronia Scott. I am taking a moment to pause and collect my thoughts in order to ...
Leaving
Leaving Thumper Book Review Leaving, the debut novel by Richard Dry, is an epic tale that spans three generations of a black family, from the 1950s to circa 2000. Leaving is an epic not only in siz...
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...
Uptown: A Novel
Uptown: A Novel Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Sometimes Going Home Is Difficult Uptownby the writing duo, Deberry and Grant is a fast-paced novel set in modern-day Harlem about a prominent middle cl...