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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...
Sam Langford
Sam Langford Kam Williams Book Review In January of 1944, the New York Herald Tribune published The Forgotten Man a story about Sam Langford, aka “The Boston Tar Baby,” one of b...
The Wig
The Wig Linda Watkins Book Review There were many ways to evaluate, The Wig, by author Charles Wright, so many in fact, I had a difficult time deciding on how I could should begin this review. Perh...
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...
Sweet Release
Sweet Release Kam Williams Book Review ’The racial struggle, for many of us, is over. Our struggles are now centered around schools for our children, career opportunities, and develop...
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America
I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America Kam Williams Book Review “The American Dream is in dire need of a wake-up call… If only Uncle Sam could see...
Sankofa University: Studying African-Centered History and Culture
Sankofa University: Studying African-Centered History and Culture Robert Fleming Book Review Dr. Burnett Kwadwo Gallman’s Sankofa University: Studying African-Centered History And Culture, is a...
Bounce
Bounce Idrissa Uqdah Book Review It’s All About The Trust!Author K.M. Jackson has a real winner in Bounce, a combination contemporary women’s fiction/romance novel that is both ente...
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 ...
The Miseducation of Obi Ifeanyi by Chinedu Achebe
The Miseducation of Obi Ifeanyi by Chinedu Achebe Robert Fleming Book Review Some of the world’s finest fiction has been written by Nigerians. Let’s look at the writers from that area in...
The Summer of my Fifteenth Year
The Summer of my Fifteenth Year Robert Fleming Book Review There are so many gems to be discovered in independent publishing. Every now and then, you come across the book that makes your mind sit up ...
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 Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership
The Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership Kam Williams Book Review “As you read through the following pages and get a sense of my journey and the lessons I’ve...
The Strawberry Letter: Real Talk
The Strawberry Letter: Real Talk Kam Williams Book Review "I’ve been Shirley’s partner in radio for over ten years now… I am amazed by how she manages to balance her personal and...
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 Wake Up Call
The Wake Up Call Robert Fleming Book Review With a focus on the young at heart, personal finance expert Ash Exantus aka Ash Cash employs the themes of master rapper-businessman Jay Z’s classic ...
Granddaddy
Granddaddy Carol Taylor Book Review Granddaddy is a poignant literary novel, told mostly in a stream of conscious narrative, that traces a family’s emotional journey through their memories of t...
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama Kam Williams Book Review “Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted him into the national spotlight and...
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...
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...
Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15
Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15 Kam Williams Book Review "Since the dawn of the hip-hop era in the 1970s, black people have become increasingly freer and freer as individuals, with a wid...
The Entrepreneur Guide 2010 Edition
The Entrepreneur Guide 2010 Edition Kam Williams Book Review "Are you someone seeking to start your own business and frustrated with the lack of straightforward answers to your countless question...
Ghetto Nation
Ghetto Nation Kam Williams Book Review ’Ghetto no longer refers to where you live, it is how you live. It is a mind-set’ a mind-set that thinks the M words — monogamy and marr...
It All Begins with ‘I’: The “New Rules” of Thinking and the Simple Secrets t
It All Begins with ‘I’: The “New Rules” of Thinking and the Simple Secrets t Kam Williams Book Review “What is your deepest desire? Probably the same thing most others really want: a happy an...
Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve (Even If It Means Picking a Figh
Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve (Even If It Means Picking a Figh Kam Williams Book Review "I’m often referred to as a ‘tough love’ principal&hell...
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. ...
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...
Black Prisoner of War
Black Prisoner of War Thumper Book Review I can't honestly tell you when I started watching war movies and reading books written about the American wars. In my younger years, I considered the sub...
Drive Me Crazy
Drive Me Crazy Thumper Book Review When I began writing this review one of my favorite Nancy Wilson recordings, How Glad I Am, was playing in the background. The record perfectly captures my feelin...
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 ...
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...
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually
Sincerely Speaking Spiritually Robert Fleming Book Review Like many successful self-help books, Sincerely Speaking Spiritually, celebrates verses of faith and inspiration in the Holy Word. Its author...
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...
In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom
In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom Robert Fleming Book Review If you were politically conscious decades ago, you would have read the prison chronicles...
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise Kam Williams /reviews/images/maya-angelou-older.jpg Film Review An Intimate Look at the Life of Iconic Poet, Writer, and Activist Excellent (4 stars) In Theaters...
Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama
Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama Kam Williams Book Review “Whites don’t think they have the moral authority to ask anything of black people, certainly not to judge...
The Boiling Pot of Injustice
The Boiling Pot of Injustice Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Kelvin D. Bodley has penned an explosive book. He has taken his experiences of discrimination in the workplace; and using Biblical princ...
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...
Barack Like Me
Barack Like Me Kam Williams Book Review "Ray Charles said the secret to life is timing. He was right on, especially when it comes to writing a book. When I handed in this book ...
Fishing for Love on the Net
Fishing for Love on the Net Kam Williams Book Review ’Many people have tried online dating with no success. The steps necessary to secure love online still remains a mystery. Many more ...
In Search of Nella Larsen
In Search of Nella Larsen Thumper Book Review I’m back! It’s good to be back, although I have to tell you that it took me a minute to find groove, before I was able to fall int...
Low Road
Low Road Thumper Book Review Donald Goines has become, decades after his death, one of the most influential African American authors in the African-American literary canon. The realism, the violenc...
Black Folk Could Fly
Black Folk Could Fly Robert Fleming Book Review Some of our literary greats fly under the radar. The unexpected death of the late great author Randall Kenan in 2020 at age 57 brought him well-deserve...
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou
Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou Kam Williams Book Review “‘Words mean more than what is set down on paper,’ Maya Angelou wrote in her groundbreaking m...
The People Could Fly
The People Could Fly Kam Williams Book Review "The People Could Fly is one of the most extraordinary, moving tales in black folklore… [It] is a detailed fantasy of suffering, of magi...
John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism
John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism Thumper Book Review I was looking forward to reading Keith Gilyard’s biography, John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism. J...
The Gem Connection
The Gem Connection Robert Fleming Book Review This is the usual jewel heist, complicated by a ruthless murder. These are the facts: Wealthy jeweler Clinton Windell, a man who is used to getting his o...
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master
Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master Robert Fleming Book Review This is an astounding tribute to one of the most innovative American artists, Russell Atkins, by a small, indepe...
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...
Crisis of the Black Intellectual
Crisis of the Black Intellectual Kam Williams Book Review ’Today there are many Black intellectuals who do not think of Black people as a people and have no wish to do so. They think of the...
The Sons of Shea
The Sons of Shea Robert Fleming Book Review In Dame DaVohn’s novel of self-determination and redemption, The Sons of Shea, the characters and plot seem ripped from the headlines. The ...
Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure
Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure Kam Williams Book Review "If they’re being honest, most people who have ever succeeded in any human endeavor will tell you they learn...
Sins of the Mother
Sins of the Mother Idrissa Uqdah Book Review KARMA???? Victoria Christopher Murray is the best selling author of several contemporary novels that touch on hot topics that church people aren...
The Last Love Letter
The Last Love Letter Robert Fleming Book Review Amanda Easton, the author of The Last Love Letter, has a history of letter writing going back to her college days when she sometimes said the...
Who Owns the Future?
Who Owns the Future? Kam Williams Book Review “The rise of digital networks led our economy into recession and decimated the middle class. Now, as technology flattens more and more industri...
This Is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House
This Is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House Kam Williams Book Review "I didn’t grow up wanting to be President of the United States. I grew up po', which is even worse than be...
The Motherhood Diaries: A Humorous Look at Motherhood in the New Millennium
The Motherhood Diaries: A Humorous Look at Motherhood in the New Millennium Kam Williams Book Review “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve kept a diary… Instead of writing out al...
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 ...
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...
Not Guilty of Love by Pat Simmons
Not Guilty of Love by Pat Simmons Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Doing It God's Way Christian Author Pat Simmons has written a wonderful sequel to her debut novel, Guilty of Love in her third rel...
Breaking Free
Breaking Free Kam Williams Book Review ’For most of my life, from childhood onward, I had a form of mental illness that enabled me to be simultaneously a fierce competitor&...
Dreams of My Ancestors
Dreams of My Ancestors Kam Williams Book Review “Approximately 455,000 African men, women, girls and boys were the original ancestors of the estimated 40 million African-American people i...
Faith under Fire
Faith under Fire Kam Williams Book Review ’God has given me the opportunity to reach scores of women, connecting with their spirits to bring understanding to the ’dow...
Is Marriage for White People? How the African-American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
Is Marriage for White People? How the African-American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone Kam Williams Book Review "Over the past half-century, African-.Americans have become the most unmarrie...
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...
Freedom’s Daughters
Freedom’s Daughters Paige Turner Book Review “Women hold up half the sky” is one of Chinese revolutionary Mao Tse Dung’s most often quoted statements. However readers of Freedom&rsq...
Wake Up Everybody
Wake Up Everybody Paige Turner Book Review I play the street life cuz there’s no place I can go Street Life - it’s the only life I know Street Life - there’s a thousand parts to pla...
Kingston Noir
Kingston Noir Robert Fleming Book Review With his first anthology for Akashic, Iron Balloons, Colin Channer, author of the celebrated novel, Waiting In Vain, showcased the full range of contempo...
Beyond Glory
Beyond Glory Thumper Book Review Warning! I’ve been cleaning up my library again-meaning I’m about to review an old book. I have two walls full of bookshelves, whose...
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...
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...
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...
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story
Penitentiary Tales: A Love Story Robert Fleming Book Review When I was growing up, I heard about boys and girls, men and women from my Hood going to The Big House. One of the girls I dated had an inm...
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...
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...
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...
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women
The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women Robert Fleming Book Review Identity and gender have always fascinated Catherine McKinley, one of the fewer 15,000 mixed-race child...
BlackWash: The Untold Stories of Reverse Racism
BlackWash: The Untold Stories of Reverse Racism Denolyn Carroll Book Review In the introduction to his latest work, Blackwash, Rodney Cloud Hill (also author of The Cloud Effect) notes the following:...
The Juju Girl
The Juju Girl Robert Fleming Book Review Awarded by the 2022 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Self Published ebook in fiction by an African American author, Nikki Marsh’s The Ju...
Youth Change Agent
Youth Change Agent Shaundale Rénā Book Review In a time when phrases like “inner child” and “mental wellness” have become common in discussions of personal growth, Keith Stric...
In The Falling Snow
In The Falling Snow Thumper Book Review I have heard of Caryl Phillps. We have reviewed one of his earlier novels for AALBC.com in the past, but I had not read anything by him. Phillips’s...
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...
Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It
Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Will The Truth Set Them Free? In my humble opinion, J.D. Mason is a master storyteller, as they say. From the very first novel, ...
Kevin and His Dad
Kevin and His Dad Kam Williams Book Review ’What could be better for a young boy than to spend a whole day with his father! With mom away on a Saturday, that’s exa...
Ralph Ellison: A Biography
Ralph Ellison: A Biography Kam Williams Book Review "I know by now that all my little triumphs are in reality defeats." — Ralph Ellison, 1961 When Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) won th...
True Love
True Love Kam Williams Book Review “This is a story of love. It started when love was lost and I felt as if my world had fallen apart. What followed was a transformative journey, through t...
Uncle Tom: A Oral History of the American Black Conservative
Uncle Tom: A Oral History of the American Black Conservative Troy Johnson https://aalbc.com/reviews/images/Uncle-tom-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Rating: NR Genre: Documentary Directed By: Just...
The Dagger
The Dagger Hedi Harrington Book Review Timothy George’s 2016 novel, The Dagger, should come with a warning to all readers: “Fasten your seatbelts.” The fast-paced thriller is a sequ...
Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation
Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation Adam Henig Book Review In Alex Haley and the Books that Changed a Nation, Robert J. Norrell, professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxvi...
Seaside Stories
Seaside Stories Robert Fleming Book Review There should be more African-American fiction like this, recapturing a time when our communities were more-or-less intact and families were solid. S. R...
The Black-Print
The Black-Print Emanuel Carpenter Book Review Malik Green is passionate and somewhat angry about the status of the descendants of African slaves living in America. In his debut, ’The ...
Strongholds
Strongholds Idrissa Uqdah Book Review The second book in the Blessed Trinity trilogy by best selling Christian fiction author, Vanessa Davis Griggs is a story full of the challenges that c...
Kabu Kabu
Kabu Kabu Robert Fleming Book Review American-Nigerian author Nnedi Okorakor’s first short fiction collection, Kabu Kabu, takes the reader by surprise, with its heady mix of fantasy, scien...
Uncle Yah Yah Parts I & II 21st Century Man of Wisdom
Uncle Yah Yah Parts I & II 21st Century Man of Wisdom Alvin Romer Book Review Author Al Dickens gives us his unique brand of wisdom told as by Uncle Yah Yah, a storyteller and wise sage spewing amus...
Gift of Truth
Gift of Truth Michelle Paynter Book Review There are literary craftsmen who spend a lifetime writing in one particular genre, and there are others who possess a creative and literary zeal, which ...
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 ...
Mojo: Conjure Stories
Mojo: Conjure Stories Thumper Book Review Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by author Nalo Hopkinson is an excellent anthology of short stories that include the occult, folktales and voodoo. The ...
The Prime Anniversary
The Prime Anniversary Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review Jay Wright is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and playwright. Wright is the author of several collections of poetry, which include but are not ...
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...
The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World
The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World Robert Fleming Book Review It’s always beneficial to understand how learned minds, from abroad, view our current world wit...