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Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? Kam Williams Book Review “A book you can’t put down, but for all the wrong reasons.” “On May 17, 2004, ...
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington Robert Fleming Book Review As the author of over a dozen novels including the bestselling Little Girl Lost series, Keith Lee Johnson has created his ...
Cosby: His Life and Times
Cosby: His Life and Times Kam Williams Book Review “[Bill] Cosby grew up in a Philadelphia housing project, the son of an alcoholic, largely absent father and a loving but overworked mother&...
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 ...
Cosbyology
Cosbyology Akilah Monifa Book Review Many people regard Bill Cosby as the penultimate father figure of the 80s, replacing Robert Young of "Father Knows Best." Cosby is probably best known...
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...
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...
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...
The “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” Interview
The “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” Interview Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/the-butler.jpg Film Review Two-Time Oscar-Nominee Talks about His Latest Offering Photo by Pascal Le Segretain – © 2...
Sugar of the Crop
Sugar of the Crop Kam Williams Book Review Everyone I interviewed for this book is now dead” Before I started the search, the one person I knew who was a granddaughter of a ...
America The Black Point of View
America The Black Point of View Kam Williams Book Review “I come from a place that is so invisible that you can hardly see me. Yet, I am despised, hated and feared more than anyone or anythin...
Dolemite Is My Name
Dolemite Is My Name C. Liegh McInnis https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Dolemite_is_My_Name.jpg Film Review Rating: R (for some sexuality, full nudity and brief language) Genre: Drama Directed By: C...
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era Troy Johnson Book Review I grew up in New York City’s East Harlem during the 60s and 70s. Virtually all my peers were Bl...
Getting It Wrong
Getting It Wrong Kam Williams Book Review "The latest twist in the history of stereotyping is that the black middle and upper classes are now the loudest voices. Bill Cosby and other...
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...
The Ecstatic
The Ecstatic Thumper Book Review In a landmark volume on cultural stereotypes, Yuval Taylor (Faking It) and Jake Austen, the editor of Roctober Magazine, detail the history of the significance of...
Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop
Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop Robert Fleming Book Review In a landmark volume on cultural stereotypes, Yuval Taylor (Faking It) and Jake Austen, the editor of Roctober M...
Why We Laugh
Why We Laugh Kam Williams images/whywelaugh.jpg Film Review Reverential Documentary Pays Homage to Black Pioneers of Comedy Why We Laugh Click to order via Amazon Unrated Running time:...
The Last King
The Last King Thumper Book Review Now is a time of rejoicing. Nichelle Tramble has finally released her much anticipated second novel, The Last King: A Maceo Redfield novel. I have been...
The Color of Justice
The Color of Justice Thumper Book Review Gary Hardwick, author of Cold Medina, Double Dead and Supreme Justice, is back on the literary scene with his latest inner-city crime drama, The Color of Just...
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison
Devil’s Dream: A Novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest by Madison Thumper Book Review It is safe to say, I began this book in complete and total ignorance. I had not read any of Madison Smartt Bell&rs...
Sassy
Sassy Thumper Book Review Gloria Mallette is one of my favorite authors. I became a major fan after I read one her earlier novel, Shades of Jade. Over the years she remained o...
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky Thumper Book Review The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow is the most remarkable debut novel that I have read in years! The small novel about a young girl...
Everything In Its Place
Everything In Its Place Thumper Book Review Everything In It’s Place is the first novel that I read by Evelyn Palfrey. When I finished the novel, I remembered a conversation I had with the lat...
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give Kam Williams images/the-hate-you-give-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Amandla Stenberg Stars in Adaptation of Searing, Inner City Saga Excellent ★★★★ (out...
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...
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...
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...
Be Careful What You Pray For
Be Careful What You Pray For Thumper Book Review It has been a few years since I have read a book by Kimberla Lawson Roby. I decided to break that trend and read her latest novel, Be Careful What You...
No More Sheets
No More Sheets Linda Dominique Grosvenor Book Review No More Sheets by Juanita Bynum is the lay it on the line/tell it like it is approach to sex in the 90’s. In this book Juanita exposes hers...
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 ...
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game
Raceball: How The Major Leagues Colonized The Black and Latin Game Robert Fleming Book Review As a life-long baseball fan, I�m always on the look-out for meaningful books on the sport with its pa...
The Henry Louis Gates
The Henry Louis Gates Robert Fleming Book Review Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of the nation’s most acclaimed scholars, is a masterful jack of all trades, including educator, editor, critic and ...
Endgame
Endgame Kam Williams endgam10.jpg Film Review South African Docudrama Chronicles Demise of Apartheid Endgame Rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and disturbing images. In En...
Gather Together in My Name
Gather Together in My Name Thumper Book Review You know, there are times when I simply LOOOVE being Thumper and reviewing books. Reviewing Tracey Price-Thompson’s latest novel, Gather...
Cinder
Cinder Thumper Book Review Cinder, the latest novel by Albert French, is a sequel to French’s 1993 debut novel, Billy. Although it had been a long time since I read Billy, the novel...
Sweetsmoke
Sweetsmoke Thumper Book Review When I heard of the novel Sweetsmoke by David Fuller, I was intrigued. The novel takes place during the Civil War, 1862, at its heart lays a murder mystery wi...
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...
Leaving Atlanta
Leaving Atlanta Thumper Book Review Tayari Jones enters the literary scene with Leaving Atlanta, a novel that takes place in 1979 Atlanta, Georgia during what came to be known as the Atlanta Child ...
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...
The Cutting Season: A Novel
The Cutting Season: A Novel Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Attica Locke’s (Black Water Rising) latest novel, The Cutting Season, takes place on a sugar cane plantation in Louisiana. Though the s...
Moon
Moon Thumper Book Review Allow me to state up front that I am a huge fan of Jewell Parker Rhodes; have been since I read one of her earlier novels, Magic City. I got extremely excited when I ...
Eden
Eden Thumper Book Review Eden, the debut novel by Olympia Vernon, is a powerful coming of age tale. It is an extraordinary novel, one that offers magnificent artistry in addition to the unveiling o...
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...
Rooftop Diva
Rooftop Diva Idrissa Uqdah Book Review D. T. Pollard’s novel, Rooftop Diva became an Essence bestseller novel in 2007. This fictionalized account put a different spin on a survivor of H...
I Do Love You Still
I Do Love You Still Tony Lindsay Book Review Mary B. Morrison’s novel, I do Love You Still, is filled with drama and unexpected twists that will gap a reader’s mouth. The story uses roman...
Camilla&squo;s Roses
Camilla&squo;s Roses Thumper Book Review Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! *smile* No, my sugar level is not low. I am of sound mind. I know that I ...
Logic
Logic Thumper Book Review I was caught unaware. I was not forewarned or prepared for Olympia Vernon’s beyond marvelous second novel Logic. I knew Vernon was a capable writer after reading her...
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...
Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality
Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality Thumper Book Review Fourplay…the Dance of Sensuality, the latest novel by Brenda L. Thomas, is the continuing story of Sasha Boranni from Thomas’s firs...
The Lion’s Brood
The Lion’s Brood Thumper Book Review I am weak when it comes to reading books on subjects off the normally beaten path of bestselling African-American novels. My ears perked up when I received a re...
Wench
Wench Thumper Book Review I had a feeling that even though we are educated enough in the institution of slavery, there are still aspects that take me by surprise. Dolen Perkins-Valdez debut...
Mama Dearest
Mama Dearest Thumper Book Review As many of you know, Mama Dearest is the last book written by E. Lynn Harris. I was a fan of Harris’s during the Invisible Life days and a few books ...
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...
Black Water Rising
Black Water Rising Thumper Book Review Attica Locke’s debut novel, Black Water Rising, got a lot of press last year, a lot of good press. I’ve been slowly getting back into the gro...
Walk Through Darkness
Walk Through Darkness Thumper Book Review Walk Through Darkness is magnificent! The writing prowess of David Anthony Durham is a promise fulfilled. Now, if, dear reader, your time is of the essence ...
Children of the Waters
Children of the Waters Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Blood Ties, Family Lies Carleen Brice has returned to the literary scene with her second novel, Children of the Waters and she’s ...
Tangled Dreams
Tangled Dreams Kirkus Book Review A fantastic example of ancestry-driven fiction. In Friedman’s novel, a cultural anthropology professor at a crossroads receives a grant that draws her back into h...
Ida Mae
Ida Mae Thumper Book Review There are times when I love this job. The times that I hate to lay a book down for any reason. The times when the counting of pages mean that the story is coming to an end...
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...
Severed: A Novel
Severed: A Novel Mel Hopkins Book Review Severed, a Novel | A Black Woman’s Burden Someone is a few digits short of a hand in Nakadee, Louisiana. What’s worse, someone may be t...
Black and Ugly
Black and Ugly Thumper Book Review Shocked?! You should be. I know I am. Before any of you say anything, I admit that I am somewhat surprised to be reading T. Styles latest novel, Black and U...
White Coat Fever
White Coat Fever Thumper Book Review Roland S. Jefferson, author of the classic The School on 103rd Street, is back on the scene with his latest novel, White Coat Fever. The title of the novel is...
One Foot in Love
One Foot in Love Thumper Book Review Bil Wright, author of Sunday You Learn to Box, has returned with his wonderful sophomore effort, One Foot in Love. I loved Wright’s debut novel and was an...
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 ...
Judge Not!
Judge Not! Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Waiting For Justice To Prevail Audrey Forrest Carter has penned a great sequel to her well-received debut novel, The Wages of Sin. In Judge Not! readers f...
Gonna Lay Down My Burdens
Gonna Lay Down My Burdens Thumper Book Review On a rainy night, Desiree Sheffield calls Carmen Taylor (on the eve of Carmen’s wedding to Burl,) to come get her after another violent fight with...
Sittin’ In The Front Pew
Sittin’ In The Front Pew Thumper Book Review Sittin’ In The Front Pew is the latest novel by Parry "EbonySatin" Brown. This tale showcases the reactions a family to the death of its ...
Not a Day Goes By
Not a Day Goes By Paige Turner Book Review Lifestyles of the Bitch and Famous If you enjoy the big payback and revenge, then popular writer E. Lynn Harris’ is "da man", and his lat...
4 Guys and Trouble
4 Guys and Trouble Thumper Book Review I invite you to sip this premise and swish it around your mind for a minute to see how it tastes. Take five young men that meet and pledge to the same fratern...
The Middle Sister
The Middle Sister Thumper Book Review I’m still finding my footing. Being away from reading books for three years, obtaining another degree, has dulled my reading senses. Now that the...
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 ...
One Day I Saw a Black King
One Day I Saw a Black King Thumper Book Review Earlier this year, J. D. Mason had me singing her praises for her wonderful novel, And on the Eighth Day She Rested. Now I am at the mike again, ready ...
Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics
Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics Robert Fleming Book Review In this novel, Priscilla: Engaging in the Game of Politics, Dr. M. J. Simms-Maddox weaves the fabric of her life with the narrat...
Blessings
Blessings Thumper Book Review Blessing is the third novel written by the author of Lil Mama Rules and Caught Up In The Rapture, Sheneska Jackson. Blessings is the story of four women who work in a ...
Love
Love Thumper Book Review Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison released a new novel, adding another jewel to her already brilliant literary crown. Love, Morrison’s eighth novel, introduces...
In Another Place, Not Here
In Another Place, Not Here Akilah Monifa Book Review Lest we forget that all African-American woman do not live in the United States of America, along comes Dionne Brand, a Trinidadian born now Can...
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...
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Total Eclipse of the Heart Thumper Book Review After reading Zane’s new novel, Total Eclipse of the Heart, I have to admit, I have been sleeping on Zane. The novel is the s...
The Honey Well
The Honey Well Thumper Book Review I had never made a wish like this before. Believe me; I don't harbor any gender bending, transsexual fantasies. But, after reading Gloria Mallette’s lat...
The Womanizers
The Womanizers Thumper Book Review How can I put this,The Womanizers by Dwayne S. Joseph could be classified as a literary "throwback"? Although the novel is not as wearable as a replica o...
Playing with Destiny
Playing with Destiny Thumper Book Review As incredible as it may seem, I’m a tad bit in shock. I recently finished reading and actually LOVING a novel published by BET under its Sepia imprint;...
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 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....
Before I Forget
Before I Forget Thumper Book Review *giggling* I’m going to love writing this review. A little while ago, I read and finished a wonderful debut novel, Before I Forget by Leonard Pitt...
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...
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...
The Emperor of Ocean Park
The Emperor of Ocean Park Thumper Book Review Conservative Pundit’s Mystery Novel Only Partly Successful Stephen L. Carter makes his debut as a fiction writer with The Emperor of Ocean Par...
Player Haters
Player Haters Thumper Book Review No one writes drama like Carl Weber. I don’t know how he does it. He keeps throwing out books that I swallow whole with no salt or pepper while having a croo...
Zone One: A Novel
Zone One: A Novel Robert Fleming Book Review As one of the finest word craftsmen of his generation, Colson Whitehead has shown a high degree of imaginative skill and creativity, turning each genre ...
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 Ex Chronicles: A Novel
The Ex Chronicles: A Novel Thumper Book Review If any of you have been following me for any length of time, you are well aware of how I feel about the 3, 4 sista-girlfriends novels that had become ...
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 ...
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...
Blues From Down Deep
Blues From Down Deep Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper Blues From Down Deep is the second novel I have read by Gwynne Forster, the first being Once In A Lifetime which I enjoyed. I was not pl...
Distant Lover
Distant Lover Thumper Book Review "Ooooo, she makes me SICK!! She does this to me every time!" I heard this from my good friend Steve right after I said hello when I answered the phone. A...
Sojourner’s Dream
Sojourner’s Dream Idrissa Uqdah Book Review An Inside Look At The Atrocities of War In Rwanda I approached the novel, Sojourner’s Dream by first time author Angeline Bandon-Bibum expecting a ...
Colored Sugar Water
Colored Sugar Water Thumper Book Review Another moment of truth, I didn't care for Venise Berry’s new novel of the super-natural meets Jesus, Colored Sugar Water, at all. Although Colored S...
Destini the Chocolate Princess
Destini the Chocolate Princess Robert Fleming Book Review Joan Wright Lewis’ novel, Destini the Chocolate Princess, reveals a terrible affliction in our community; the degree of self-loathing b...