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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...
The Savion Sequence
The Savion Sequence Connie Bradley Book Review This review is of the 2011 version of The Savion Sequence My interest was recently piqued by a trailer which appeared on the AALBC.com discussion b...
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 ...
Nina
Nina Kam Williams http://aalbc.com/reviews/images/nina-2016-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Saldana Successfully Channels Simone in Controversial Biopic Nina In Theaters: April Mar 22, 2016 Limite...
Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep Kam Williams killer27.jpg Film Review Killer of Sheep Click to order via Amazon Unrated Black & White Running time: 81 minutes Studio: New Yorker Video/Miles...
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 ...
Supremacy
Supremacy Kam Williams supremacy.jpg Film Review Supremacy In Theaters: Jan 30, 2015 LimitedOn DVD: Apr 21, 2015Rating: UnratedGenre: DramaDirected By: Deon TaylorRuntime: 1 hr. 46 min. Distributor:...
Good Hair
Good Hair Kam Williams images/img1C.jpg Film Review Chris Rock’s Lighthearted Look at Sisters’ ‘Dos Arrives on DVD Good Hair Click to order from Amazon Rated PG-1...
Hairspray
Hairspray Kam Williams hairsp27.jpg Film Review Hairspray Click to order via Amazon Rated PG for teen smoking, mild epithets andsuggestive content. Running time: 107 minutes Studio: New Li...
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...
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...
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer Vanessa Vanzie Book Review A combination of fun, friends and awesome adventures make for a summer vacation that you never want to end. The Legendary Alston boys are no exc...
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....
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...
All You Need to Know about the Music Business
All You Need to Know about the Music Business Kam Williams Book Review ’In the music business, the key to success lies in knowing how to protect yourself. To do that, you need...
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story
Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story Robert Fleming Book Review Jazz is dead! If you believe that mess, you must not listen to radio or read any of the mainstream media. Howeve...
Too Beautiful To Die
Too Beautiful To Die Thumper Book Review It had been a long while since I read a suspense/mystery novel’too long. I had a stroke of good fortune when the most recent mystery book I read was To...
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...
Sovereign Evolution
Sovereign Evolution Kam Williams Book Review ’African-Americans could benefit from a 21st Century approach to freedom and equality, using sovereign principles as its interp...
The King of No: A Financial Firefighter
The King of No: A Financial Firefighter Robert Fleming Book Review Following 38 years in the investment business, Loyall Wilson assembles some of his financial know-how in this slender book, accumula...
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...
In Trembling Boldness: Wisdom for Today from Ancient Jesus People
In Trembling Boldness: Wisdom for Today from Ancient Jesus People Denolyn Carroll Book Review The book In Trembling Boldness: Wisdom for Today from Ancient Jesus People brings us newly discovered wri...
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business Shaundale Rénā Book Review I was surprised by Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Suc...
The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires
The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires Kam Williams Book Review “In spite of Black America’s advances… with more successful, educated and accomplished entrepren...
Louise Thompson Patterson, A Life of Struggle and Justice by Keith Gilyard
Louise Thompson Patterson, A Life of Struggle and Justice by Keith Gilyard Brenda M. Greene Book Review To study her story is to witness the courage, sacrifice, vision and discipline of someone who s...
White Gold
White Gold Carol Taylor Book Review This sweeping historical novel follows aspiring railroad engineer, William Roberson, from his Jamaican homeland in 1897 at 16, to Panama, to help build the Pan...
If You Can See It
If You Can See It Kam Williams Book Review “People want to know how a youngster from poverty, who failed his way through public school, got caught up in the 80’s crack epidemic, got i...
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 Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power
The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power Kam Williams Book Review “This study introduces readers to key figures across a spectrum of black Republican...
Osama Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden Kam Williams Book Review ’In the Western media, and especially the United States, the demonization of Osama bin Laden has been complete. Almost without exception, he is ...
Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome
Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome Kam Williams Book Review ’When African-Americans accept the deprecating accounts and images portrayed by the media, literature, music and the arts as a true ...
Black Chess
Black Chess Denolyn Carroll Book Review “Life’s a chess game…There are infinite possibilities and multiple universes, depending on the choices you make,” asserts Celeste, the ...
Burial Ground
Burial Ground Eryka Parker Book Review I recently spent time diving into the pages of Burial Ground, a collection of poetry by Glenda R. Taylor. The ethereal cover and enticing description sucked me ...
The Sun Knows Her Name
The Sun Knows Her Name Shanida Carter Book Review “May we all remember what we were born from, and what still moves through us.” Spoiler alert: Courtney Thornton’s debut novel, The Sun Knows Her N...
The Hurricane
The Hurricane Michael Dequina images/the16.37.jpg Film Review Rubin "Hurricane" Carter’s 1962 knockout punch against Florentino Fernandez came in the first round...
Rush
Rush Kam Williams rush.jpg Film Review High-Octane Formula 1 Drama Recounts Death-Defying Racing Rivalry Rush In Theaters: Sep 27, 2013 Wide Rated R for profanity, nudity, sexuality, smoking, d...
Hustle & Flow
Hustle & Flow Michael Dequina hustle62.jpg Film Review Hustle & Flow Directed by Craig Brewer Written by Craig Brewer Rated R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence....
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 ...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
Glorious
Glorious Thumper Book Review Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden Buy This Book AmazonBarnesandNobleIndieBoundPowells 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!Publication Date: Ma
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 ...
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention Kam Williams Book Review “Every February, your history teachers taught you about nine African-Americans: Martin Luther Kin...
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...
Rock the Boat: How to Use Conflict to Heal and Deepen Your Relationship
Rock the Boat: How to Use Conflict to Heal and Deepen Your Relationship Kam Williams Book Review “This book is about the reality of relationships. It offers no comforting fantasies, false pro...
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...
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...
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...
Split Indecision
Split Indecision Jayne Cubbage Book Review Before reading Split Indecision by Pierre Bateau, be sure to sit back and fasten your seatbelt because this book is going to take you on a wild ride. Bate...
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...
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&...
Temptation
Temptation Linda Dominique Grosvenor Book Review Temptation is a refreshing literary effort by first time novelist Victoria Christopher Murray. This book has crossed the line into mainstream fiction,...
Come by Here
Come by Here Thumper Book Review I found a pearl when I happened upon the remarkable author Clarence Major. I discovered Clarence Major by way of an anthology, titled After Hours edited by Robert ...
Every Tongue Got To Confess
Every Tongue Got To Confess Thumper Book Review I’m about to write words that I never thought that I would write. I never believed that I would ever be in the position of reviewing the newest, ...
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...
High Waters
High Waters Thumper Book Review High Waters, a novel by Suzon Tropez, is a novel that I am unsure as to what the storyline or the point of the novel is. I think it is a novel about an older black ...
Relationships
Relationships Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Leonard Jenkins II’s first book, Relationships (Volume I): Lessons Before Dying, is a tale of love (finding it, losing it, keeping it) set against an ...
Married Men
Married Men Thumper Book Review Savvy, smart Kyle runs a booming African American beauty supply business, but his main job is hiding his wife from Talk about a Calgon-take-me-away book!! Married...
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...
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...
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks Neoma Nwasike Book Review Gwendolyn Brooks was a very influential African American poet who became the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize award (Poetry). In the ch...
Yesterday Will Make You Cry
Yesterday Will Make You Cry Thumper Book Review Yesterday Will Make You Cry is the first novel by Chester Himes. This is the complete, unabridged version of Cast The First Stone. This novel is about ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The Gardins of Edin
The Gardins of Edin Richard Murray Book Review “What if I’m not too old to have a happy childhood now?” is a poignant line from the character Ruth in The Gardins of Edin by Rosey Le...
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...
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...
Red Light Special
Red Light Special Thumper Book Review Yeah, yeah, surprised that I am reviewing, no less read, Red Light Special by Risqu’. Well, I am too. don't let the surprise be about the sub...
What A Woman’s Gotta Do
What A Woman’s Gotta Do Thumper Book Review Now this was a fascinating book. What A Woman’s Gotta Do is a fascinating book that successfully weaved together the spiritual, science, and my...
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...
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...
It’s A Thin Line
It’s A Thin Line Thumper Book Review It’s A Thin Line may be the title to Kimberla Lawson Roby’s latest novel, but it also describes the condition of my last nerve that this book jumped ...
Paradise Interrupted (Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries)
Paradise Interrupted (Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries) Thumper Book Review I want to state my bias up front. I look forward to this time of the year when a new “Carole Ann Gibson” installment...
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...
19 Years Old & 19 Men Later: A Memoir
19 Years Old & 19 Men Later: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review “I wrote this book as a guide for young women so that they won’t make the same mistakes I’ve made… I really...