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Different and the Same
Different and the Same AALBC Staff Writer Book Review In an age where there is a proliferation of emotional and physical Black trauma, that is videotaped and viewed widely online, we should strive to...
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...
From Dusk To Dawn
From Dusk To Dawn Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The opening chapter of From Dusk To Dawn by first-time novelist Niambi Brown Davis reads like your average romance novel, but this reviewer found ...
Harlem Crossroads
Harlem Crossroads Kam Williams Book Review ’The story I tell begins with an introductory account of how photography came to Harlem- that is, how Harlem became, after the Renaissance and at...
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...
Emotions
Emotions Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Emotions certainly contained a lot of them. Love, lust, jealousy, rage’Mr. McCann left no stone unturned in this novel about relationships between both the...
Embracing the Horror
Embracing the Horror RAWSISTAZ Book Review Darline Dorce-Coupet’s first novel, Embracing the Horror, is a fresh and unique love story with just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. ...
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 ...
Every Bitter Thing Sweet
Every Bitter Thing Sweet Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Every Bitter Thing Sweet picks up where A Thirst For Rain ends. While this is the story of Odile and Rory, Ms. Carrington continues her portrayal...
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...
Prodigal
Prodigal Chauncey Ridley Book Review David Covin’s Prodigal is a well-tuned engine of richly resonant, polysemous form firing on all cylinders: a hip, ripping thriller set in the mean streets o...
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas
Insignificant Others: Erotic Novellas Anita Doreen Diggs Book Review Award winning authors, Pynk and Carol Taylor have written two original tales for Insignificant Others. Fans will love both sto...
High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Kn
High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Kn Kam Williams Book Review “As a youth, Carl Hart didn’t realize the value of school; he studied ...
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...
Two Wings to Veil My Face
Two Wings to Veil My Face Tony Lindsay Book Review There is genre fiction, and there is literary fiction. Within these two categories are groups; in part, genre fiction consists of mystery, romance, ...
Grasshopper Speaks
Grasshopper Speaks Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In Katrina Register’s memoir, “Grasshopper Speaks,” the author takes readers on the whirlwind journey of her life. In this debut, s...
Every Woman’s Man
Every Woman’s Man Thumper Book Review Yeah, it’s unusual for me to read a book with a title like, Every Woman’s Man, a novel by Rique Johnson. I don't normally go for the sister girl...
A Thirst For Rain
A Thirst For Rain Tiffany M. Davis Book Review A Thirst For Rain is a multigenerational novel set in Trinidad. It is a tale about demons both real and perceived, and how deceptively simple it is to o...
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...
Loving Donovan
Loving Donovan Thumper Book Review Bernice McFadden continues to embellish her literary reputation and mastery of storytelling with her new novel, Loving Donovan. In this tale McFadden focuses on...
Invasion of the Baby Daddy
Invasion of the Baby Daddy Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In the debut novel "Invasion of the Baby Daddy," debut author Dr. John Bell tells of the personal relationship struggles of protagonist Mark S...
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories
Got to be Real: Four Original Love Stories Thumper Book Review Got to Be Real is a thrilling collection of four original love stories, told by fellas who get pulses racing from Los Angeles to New ...
The Bedroom: An Everlasting Love Story
The Bedroom: An Everlasting Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review This slight paperback, inspired by the film, The Bedroom, packs several truths of marriage and commitment into its revealing pages....
For the Sake of Soul
For the Sake of Soul Robert Fleming Book Review Sometimes short fiction can be a daunting task for the writer, especially when he decides to confront the challenges of plot, characterization, dialogu...
Femme du Monde
Femme du Monde Tara Betts Book Review Spears Jones’ second collection Femme du Monde does not simply unfold the artful experiences of a woman who has traveled and soaked up the internatio...
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...
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...
More Like Wrestling: A Novel
More Like Wrestling: A Novel Thumper Book Review More Like Wrestling, the debut novel by Danyel Smith, is centered on the close relationship between two sisters. This was a vexing book…emo...
I’m Telling
I’m Telling Thumper Book Review For those who are curious as to whether Karen E. Quinones Miller successfully evades the mythical writers’ "sophomore slump" with her latest novel, I&...
Between Brothers
Between Brothers Walter Benefield Book Review C. Kelly Robinson has combined the elements of a successful television drama, violence, suspense, and relationships in his novel, "Between Brothers&...
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me Kam Williams Book Review “In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about american history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for h...
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...
It’s All Love
It’s All Love Robert Fleming Book Review If there is a commodity that is seriously misunderstood in our community, it is the emotion of love which binds us to each other. Marita Golden, a p...
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March Kam Williams Book Review “Jailed nine times before her 15th birthday, Lynda Blackmon Lowery refused to give u...
The PACMAN Plan
The PACMAN Plan Tiffany M. Davis Book Review The PACMAN plan is an ambitious debut by Sam A. Kempt. Set in the smoldering background of Austin, Texas, this book takes an eye-opening look at race, ...
Corruption Officer: From Jail Guard to Perpetrator inside Rikers Island
Corruption Officer: From Jail Guard to Perpetrator inside Rikers Island Kam Williams Book Review “This shocking memoir from a former corrections officer… shares an eye-opening, gritty,...
Passing Strange
Passing Strange Thumper Book Review "We were the only minority family in all of Cypress, California. When my parents moved in, before I was born, they used to have these oranges come through t...
Don’t Let "IT" Get You!
Don’t Let "IT" Get You! Kam Williams Book Review ’Success means nothing, if we are not healthy enough to enjoy it. I urge you to make your health a priority’ This book&rsquo...
Rhythm for Sale
Rhythm for Sale Kam Williams Book Review “I went into the Countee Cullen library… and saw a book titled: The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era… I peeked i...
Righteous Riches
Righteous Riches Kam Williams Book Review "The congregation is loud and excited. They are expecting to profit from the insights shared by their speaker, and he does not disappoint. Upon conclud...
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 ...
Bill Clinton and Black America
Bill Clinton and Black America Walter Benefield Book Review Bill Clinton came to the presidency of the United States inheriting a less than admirable race relations history from his predecessors. Wha...
Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man?
Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man? Kam Williams Book Review "We were the only minority family in all of Cypress, California. When my parents moved in, before I was born, they used to have th...
A Night In Babylon
A Night In Babylon Robert Fleming Book Review This “Woke” novel, A Night In Babylon, seems ripped from the current headlines. It opens with pow-pow-pow action worthy of any TV cop show, w...
Searching for Agabus: Embracing Authenticity and Finding Your Way to You
Searching for Agabus: Embracing Authenticity and Finding Your Way to You Robert Fleming Book Review What is “an authentic self?” Michael Walrond, a well-known keynote speaker and the past...
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey
Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey Sister Shiree Sarana Book Review After reading sistah Traci Brooks’ book, Stepping into Womanhood: A Black Woman’s Poetic Journey,...
Scottsboro
Scottsboro Thumper Book Review The history book train that I hopped on a few months ago is still rolling strong with no station stop in sight. The ride continues with the novel Scottsboro ...
Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda Kam Williams images/kinyarwanda_movie_poster.jpg Film Review Rwandan Tragedy Revisited in "Crash"-Like Ensemble Drama Read an interview with the film maker Alrick Brown Kinyarwanda ...
Night Catches Us
Night Catches Us Kam Williams images/img2B4.jpg Film Review Period Piece about Prodigal Black Panther’s Released on DVD Night Catches Us Click to Buy via Amazon.com Rated R for vi...
Rent a Rasta
Rent a Rasta Kam Williams rent_a11.jpg Film Review Jamaican Sex Tourism the Subject of Steamy Documentary Rent a Rasta Click to order via Amazon DVD Review by Kam Williams Very good (2...
Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
Sarah Palin: You Betcha! Kam Williams images/sarahpalin_movieposter.jpg Film Review Sarah Palin Takes It on the Chin in Unflattering Bio-Pic Sarah Palin: You Betcha! Unrated Running time: 91 m...
Sicko
Sicko Kam Williams sicko.3.jpg Film Review Michael Moore Takes Aim at America’s Healthcare System in Eye-Opening Expose’ Sicko Rated PG-13 for brief s...
Skid Row
Skid Row Kam Williams skid_r12.jpg Film Review Rapper Goes Undercover to Shed Light on Plight of the Homeless Skid Row Click to order via Amazon Rated R for drug use and profanit...
Temptation
Temptation Kam Williams temptation-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Adulteress Wife Shamelessly Violates Vows in Latest Tyler Perry Morality Play Temptation (2013) In Theaters: Mar 29, 2013 Wide Rated ...
Very Young Girls
Very Young Girls Kam Williams very_y1.jpg Film Review NYC Documentary Shows It’s Hard Out There for a Ho, Too Very Young Girls Unrated Running time: 83 minutes Studio: Swinging T...
You Got Served
You Got Served Michael Dequina yougot8.jpg Film Review Michael Dequina’s Review of You Got Served You Got Served (PG-13) Buy The Soundtrack Anyone who buys a ticket for Y...
American Gangster
American Gangster Kam Williams washin61.jpg Film Review Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe Square-Off in Harlem Heroin-Trade Saga American Gangster (2007) Click to o...
Biracial, Not Black, Damn It!
Biracial, Not Black, Damn It! Kam Williams images/imgD1.jpg Film Review Groundbreaking Documentary Explores Sensitive Subject of Biraciality Biracial, Not Black, Damn It! Click to order via Am...
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Kam Williams black-pathers-movie-poster.jpg Film Review The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution In Theaters: Sep 2, 2015 Limited Runtime: 1 hr....
Cadillac Records
Cadillac Records Kam Williams cadillac_records_movie_poster.jpg Film Review Fanciful Bio-Pic Revisits Rise of Legendary Record Company Cadillac Records (2008) Order via Amaz...
Review of A Raisin in the Sun DVD (2008)
Review of A Raisin in the Sun DVD (2008) Kam Williams a_rais29.jpg Film Review Diddy Stars in Adaptation of Classic Play Available on DVD A Raisin in the Sun Click to order vi...
Dreamgirls (2006)
Dreamgirls (2006) Michael Dequina dreamg1.jpg Film Review Dreamgirls (2006) Rated PG-13 for sex, expletives, and drug use. Running time: 125 minutes Studio: Dreamworks Pictures Review...
Ikland
Ikland Kam Williams ikland-girls.jpg Film Review Redemptive Documentary Rectifies Image of Much-Maligned African Tribe Ikland (2012) In Theaters: Jun 15, 2012 Limited Unrated In Englis...
Kamp Katrina
Kamp Katrina Kam Williams kamp_k69.jpg Film Review An eye-opening expose’ welcoming white Americans to the Third World Kamp Katrina Click to order via Amazon ...
Black Pulp
Black Pulp Robert Fleming Book Review In his succinct introduction, award-winning novelist Walter Mosley, creator of the noted private eye Easy Rawlins, explains the appeal of fiction printed i...
Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels
Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels Carol Taylor Book Review Shoe Fetish 2: Grown Into High Heels is part social commentary, murder mystery, female empowerment novel; and is as much a search for sel...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase the ...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Kam Williams Book Review “I want every woman who truly wants a solid relationship to forget everything she’s been taught about men erase th...
Breaking the Code of Silence
Breaking the Code of Silence Kam Williams Book Review ’I felt even more secure with this man than I had ever felt in an previous relationship. Even though h...
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, ...
What in the Hell Happened? An Intimate Look at Love and Relationship with Raw Honesty
What in the Hell Happened? An Intimate Look at Love and Relationship with Raw Honesty Kam Williams Book Review “There is an illusion of marriage created by Hollywood… that only exists in...
Why Do I Have to Think Like a Man?
Why Do I Have to Think Like a Man? Kam Williams Book Review "This book is dedicated to all women who are ready to ask themselves, ‘What could I have done differently to get what I wanted out ...
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...
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...
The Complete Muhammad Ali
The Complete Muhammad Ali Tony Lindsay Book Review Ishmael Reed’s The Complete Muhammad Ali is much more than a standard biography. The work provides specific details on numerous facets that su...
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 ...
Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison
Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison Robert Fleming Book Review There is so much commercial tripe out there on our bookshelves, but this book is very worthy: Miss Chloe: A Memoir Of A...
The Love Habit
The Love Habit Eryka Parker Book Review In The Love Habit: Daily Self-Care Practices for a Happier Life & Healthier Relationships, author and relationship expert Rainie Howard provides a guide to tra...
Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History
Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History Kam Williams Book Review ’If you are able to see [your ancestors&...
The Vixen Diaries
The Vixen Diaries Kam Williams Book Review "From the night we met in April 2005, I knew he was the one for me and that I would love him all the remaining days of my life. Our relationshi...
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...
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 ...
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...
Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters
Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters Carol Taylor Book Review Dear Mary, Dear Luther: A Courtship in Letters is an epistolary love story of a 1930s courtship between Mary Brooks and Luther ...
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System Kam Williams Book Review “The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by poli...
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...
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 ...
How to Avoid the Superwoman Complex 12 Ways to Balance Mind
How to Avoid the Superwoman Complex 12 Ways to Balance Mind Kam Williams Book Review “Although we spend the bulk of our waking hours working, we often underestimate the impact of work on our ...
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...
Cougar Tales
Cougar Tales Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Is Age Just A Number? Three best-selling romance authors have joined together to bring readers an anthology based on the theme of older women/younger m...
Before Brown
Before Brown Kam Williams Book Review "Before Brown details the ferment in civil rights that took place across the South before the momentous Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. T...
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice Sys
Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice Sys Kam Williams Book Review “The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police ...
Pornified
Pornified Kam Williams Book Review ’One need not oppose pornography on religious or political grounds to be nonetheless troubled by the pornified culture. Pornography not only damages relatio...
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...
A Feast of Peonies
A Feast of Peonies Thumper Book Review Within the first four pages of A Feast of Peonies, the 165-page debut novel by Obi; I was both intrigued, and mesmerized. This electrifying novel centers on a...
Going Down South
Going Down South Thumper Book Review When I started reading books many, many years ago, I came to the conclusion that there is no drama like family drama. A few years ago when African-Ameri...
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 ...