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Memoir: Delaware County Prison
Memoir: Delaware County Prison Thumper Book Review Memoir: Delaware County Prison by Reginald L. Hall is a non-fiction account of the eight months Hall, an openly gay man, spent in prison for credit...
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...
Never Say Never
Never Say Never Idrissa Uqdah Book Review In this drama -filled novel, Victoria Christopher Murray gives her readers a shocking story that is edgy Christian fiction, at it’s best. Miriam has ...
I Always Knew: A Memoir
I Always Knew: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This country rarely acknowledges the celebrated triple threats of the arts in our community. Consider Barbara Chase-Riboud, the noted African-Americ...
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...
Think Like a Man Too
Think Like a Man Too Kam Williams think-like-a-man-too.jpg Film Review Think Like a Man Too In Theaters: Jun 20, 2014 Wide Rated PG-13 for profanity, drug use, crude humor, sexual references and ...
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "D.C. Unmasked & Undressed is a memoir. The story of my life includes events, characters and insights related to my miserable child...
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...
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...
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review Her name is Avalon Soulette Brown, a God-sent woman who happens to be an accomplished nurse from Newark, New Jersey, and still lives ...
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton Kam Williams Book Review “While Toni Braxton may appear to be living a charmed life, hers is in fact a tumultuous story: a tale of personal triumph...
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...
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...
Panorama: The Missing Chapter: From the Memoir Views from the Cockpit
Panorama: The Missing Chapter: From the Memoir Views from the Cockpit Robert Fleming Book Review With Panorama – The Missing Chapter From The Memoir Views From The Cockpit: The Journey Of A Son...
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review The main theme of identity takes center stage in Colnese M. Herndon’s emotional riveting memoir, Blend In Or Fade Out, as the writer in...
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...
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, author of two previous acclaimed novels, Where The Line Bleeds and Salvage The Bones, closely examines...
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Paint a picture of a little brown girl who walks in fear and sadness. Her dark story is told in Stacey Patton’s memoir, Tha...
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted Rondall Brasher Book Review Before I begin this review I would like to "kick", not "thank" Thumper for handing me a stack of books, and putting a...
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...
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "As a young man, my father had been shot by a white policeman, but never spoke about the incident after leaving Alabama and moving north. H...
Seven Sisters And A Brother
Seven Sisters And A Brother Denolyn Carroll Book Review History has recorded many instances of struggles for varied rights by a people haunted by the legacies of slavery. Yet, too often some such o...
Seventh Child
Seventh Child Thumper Book Review Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X is a memoir told by his nephew, Rodnell P. Collins and his mother, Ella Little Collins. Seventh Child is a nice, factual,...
Gangsta Lean
Gangsta Lean Linda Watkins Book Review Too Clean! Debut novel, Gangsta Lean, penned by Rochan Morgan is one of the few chronologically tight stories written by a new author this year. It is so ti...
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...
The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones
The Culinary Art Portfolio of Josephine E. Jones Carol Taylor Book Review The Culinary Art Portfolio is neither a cookbook nor a how-to-book. It’s a portfolio, with ready- to-frame prints of th...
Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy
Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy Karen Brown Book Review I had just recently attended the 2024 International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance in Memphis, Tenness...
Triangular Road: A Memoir
Triangular Road: A Memoir Thumper Book Review I don't know how I came to be aware of Paule Marshall’s new book, Triangular Road: a Memoir. Maybe it was the same still small voic...
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...
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...
Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt
Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt Walter Benefield Book Review Marvin Sprague says that her mother’s favorite quilts to make were what she called ’Crazy Quilts.’ She defines these qui...
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir Brenda M. Greene Book Review Jaquira Diaz, in her memoir Ordinary Girls, crafts a story that illustrates the intersection of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and poverty on the li...
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...
Echoes of Cabrini-Green: Letters to my Mother
Echoes of Cabrini-Green: Letters to my Mother Eryka Parker Book Review In Echoes of Cabrini-Green, Rudolph Elliot Willis writes letters to his late mother, narrating the events of his childhood leadi...
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 ...
Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roads, Radiance, and Rebirth
Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roads, Radiance, and Rebirth Ahmad Wright Book Review It is not often that a living person’s résumé reads as a memoir, however, Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roa...
Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010)
Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010) Kam Williams images/why%20did%20I%20get%20married%202.jpg Film Review Why Did I Get Married Too (2010) Click to Order via Amazon Rated PG-13 for m...
Jokes My Father Never Taught Me
Jokes My Father Never Taught Me Kam Williams Book Review "It was Thanksgiving. Dad had a lot of friends and family there, including’ a couple of girls stashed in the bedroom’ Fin...
The Pursuit of Porsha
The Pursuit of Porsha Robert Fleming Book Review Those people who follow television and podcasts will recognize Porsha Williams, one of the stars of the popular reality show, The Real Housewives of...
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...
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...
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too!
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too! Kelly Starling Lyons Book Review Drawing inspiration from her own children, author Kia Morgan Smith has written a fun picture book about the trials and triumphs of ...
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...
Bitch Is the New Black: A Memoir
Bitch Is the New Black: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "I’m such a badass. I am literally the baddest bitch on the planet. If there was a bitch contest between me and every other he...
Forever
Forever RAWSISTAZ Book Review The title of McCann’s new book, Forever, made me wonder what really lasts forever, does life, love or even death? And why do we exert so much energy trying to make...
Riot and Remembrance
Riot and Remembrance Thumper Book Review Although some say that times and attitudes are changing, I’m rather skeptical. Only now am I aware of events, individuals that I should have been introd...
Harlem Godfather
Harlem Godfather Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Bumpy’s Widow Tells Her Story Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth ’Bumpy’ Johnson has been a long time coming on the h...
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 ...
Who’s Afraid Of Post-Blackness?
Who’s Afraid Of Post-Blackness? Kam Williams Book Review ’We’re in a post-Black era when our identity options are limitless. And there’s no going back… Post-Black means we ...
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,...
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...
Something Like Beautiful
Something Like Beautiful Robert Fleming Book Review In many ways, the award-winning poet and journalist asha bandele’s second memoir, Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother&rsquo...
Never Back Down
Never Back Down Kam Williams never_24.jpg Film Review New Karate Kid in Town Learns to ’Never Back Down’ Never Back Down Rated PG-13 for mature themes, intense violence, pro...
Never Die Alone
Never Die Alone Troy Johnson never_19.jpg Film Review The following is not a review, but informational material for the movie NEVER DIE ALONE Order Movie-Original Pos...
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 ...
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love
Neglected but Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love Carol Taylor Book Review Born in 1987, Jonathan Anthony Burkett has lived a young life that reads like fiction: vicious be...
The Audacity of Hope
The Audacity of Hope Kam Williams Book Review ’There’s a school of thought that sees the Founding Fathers only as hypocrites and the Constitution only as a betrayal of the grand ideal...
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir Kam Williams Book Review ’We have joined the rest of the country in protesting in order to get Trayvon Martin’s killer charged....
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...
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 ...
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet Miriam Decosta-Willis Book Review Rudolph Lewis In his lyrical Mockingbirds at Jerusalem: A Poetic Memoir, poet, editor, and former professor and l...
Eat, Pray, Love
Eat, Pray, Love Kam Williams images/eat_pray_lovel.jpg Film Review Divorcee Embarks on Spiritual Sojourn in Pat Adaptation of Best-Selling Memoir Eat, Pray, Love Click to order via Amaz...
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, ...
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 ...
Samson
Samson Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Man's Strength Is Determined By His Faith Christian author Jacquelin Thomas has crafted a new novel with a contemporary twist on the love story of the Bibl...
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...
Success through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple
Success through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple Kam Williams Book Review “Why should you meditate? The answer is simple: to be happy. Which is the only reason you’re here. That might ...
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire
Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire Kam Williams Book Review “In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal an...
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 Billion Dollar BET
The Billion Dollar BET Rondall Brasher Book Review Brett Pulley goes all in with The Million Dollar BET, Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of Black Entertainment Television. He has woven a tale of...
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...
Dark Corner
Dark Corner Thumper Book Review I love vampire tales with a passion. I’m always on the look out for new, well written, vampire adventures. I was anxious to read Brandon Massey’s latest ...
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 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...
Tower Heist
Tower Heist Kam Williams towerheist.jpg Film Review Victims Turn Tables on Con Man in Murphy-Stiller Buddy Comedy Tower Heist Rated PG-13 for profanity and sexuality. Running time: 104 Minute...
Blacktrospective 2006
Blacktrospective 2006 Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/akeela46sm.jpg Film Review Blacktrospective 2006 ’ Annual Look Back at the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema by Kam Williams How d...
Money: What Financial "Experts" Will Never Tell You
Money: What Financial "Experts" Will Never Tell You Shannon Simpson Book Review When I moved to Washington, D.C. in 2007, I was in for a rude awakening. I looked at my income compared to...
Black Power Inc.
Black Power Inc. Rondall Brasher Book Review I would like to initiate my review of Cora Daniels’ Black Power Inc. by eluding to a quote attributed to Malcolm X, too Black’too strong. T...
The Lady
The Lady Linda Dominique Grosvenor Book Review T.D. Jakes has a way of knowing what women want, and need. With the well received "Woman Thou Art Loosed," and the follow up "Daddy Love ...
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama Amanda Robinson Book Review Being a Black woman in America right now comes with a great deal of scrutiny. We are praised for our diversity, yet simultaneously cast aside fo...
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...
Love
Love Thumper Book Review For those of you who don’t know me or have not read any of my reviews, I have a tendency of getting extremely excited over republished books written by African Amer...
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...
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...
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...
Looking for Sweet Love
Looking for Sweet Love Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Can a sista get some love? That’s the question addressed in R.L. Byrd’s new book "Looking for Sweet Love." The story takes place in...
Lookin’ For Luv
Lookin’ For Luv Thumper Book Review I gotta be honest with y’all, I wasn’t expecting too much from this book when I picked it up. I wanted to read it because the author Carl Weber somet...
Trading Dreams at Midnight
Trading Dreams at Midnight Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Mothers and Daughters: A Family of Women For more than twenty years, Neena has been searching for her absent, mentally ill mother, F...
Never As Good As the First Time
Never As Good As the First Time Emanuel Carpenter Book Review What happens when a good, Christian housewife finds herself divorced and having to fend for herself and her children? Perhaps s...
Once Is Never Enough
Once Is Never Enough Idrissa Uqdah Book Review If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right The old rythmn and blues tune, If Loving You Is Wrong, I don't Want To Be Right aptly desc...
Secrets, Lies & Family Ties
Secrets, Lies & Family Ties Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Author Sylvia Hubbard has written a wonderful sensual tale of intrigue and family drama in her latest release, Secrets, Lies & Family Tie...
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...
The Conversation
The Conversation Kam Williams Book Review ’One of the things I’ve heard a lot from young brothers and sisters during my recent travels is ’I want a woman like Mich...
Growing Up In The Nation’s Capital: We Made It, But It Took An Entire Village
Growing Up In The Nation’s Capital: We Made It, But It Took An Entire Village Carol Taylor Book Review “I am a native Washingtonian, but I did not ‘live’ where most people want t...
Alice In Dreamland
Alice In Dreamland Onlinebookclub.org Book Review Imagine a world where the majority of the population in the United States of America treacherously abandons their country. This is the story depicted...
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance Connie Bradley Book Review Definitions of Miss Anne: A coded term for any white woman. A derisive name for a white woman. An emanc...
Read Until You Understand
Read Until You Understand Robert Fleming Book Review With a solid array of books to her credit, Farah Jasmine Griffin has possibly written one of the artistic highlights in the national book marketpl...
Genesis Begins Again
Genesis Begins Again Shafika Burke Book Review Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams is a powerful, poignant, and ultimately empowering middle-grade novel that highlights issues sure to interest...
The Dow Twins' Legacy: 50 Years of Disco Reflections
The Dow Twins' Legacy: 50 Years of Disco Reflections Michael A. Gonzales Book Review Coming of age in the disco era 1970s, even as a kid, I knew about the cool clubs where people dressed fly and boog...