AALBC Search
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...
The Black Rose
The Black Rose Paige Turner Book Review Journalist and novelist Tananarive Due is fast establishing herself as a professional writer who can master any genre she deigns to approach. With her previ...
College Road Trip
College Road Trip Kam Williams raven-27.jpg Film Review Raven-Symone’ and Martin Lawrence Co-Star in Coming-of-Age Comedy College Road Trip Rated G Running time: 83 minutes Studio:...
Rising Up From the Blood: A Legacy Reclaimed—A Bridge Forward: The Autobiography of Sarah Wash
Rising Up From the Blood: A Legacy Reclaimed—A Bridge Forward: The Autobiography of Sarah Wash Kam Williams Book Review “I am proud and honored to be the great-granddaughter of Booker T. Wash...
The Root of All Evil
The Root of All Evil Lawrence Brown Book Review Just as many African-American readers have started to complain about the lack of depth in of Black Literature, complaining about the all-too-familiar p...
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Kam Williams nicole20.jpg Film Review Egotistical Talk-Show Host Humbled at Crass Family Reunion The Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Click to or...
Phenomenally Me
Phenomenally Me Chris Hayden Book Review In a dark room with a blue light In the basement, music just right Nothing going down but the Mellow sounds of Mr. DJ’s turntables Going round" Boyz...
Street Judge
Street Judge Thumper Book Review In his fiction debut Judge Greg Mathis, star of the syndicated Judge Mathis TV show, releases Street Judge, a mystery/thriller with a message. Although I ha...
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...
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...
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...
Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 - The Team that Changed the Color of College Basketball
Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 - The Team that Changed the Color of College Basketball Kam Williams Book Review “Was there a time when civil rights protesters could be attacked by a club-wield...
Black Women, Ivory Tower
Black Women, Ivory Tower Ahmad Wright Book Review The best colleges and universities in the nation promise a sense of belonging, public validation, and personal relationships that can last a lifetime...
New England White
New England White Kam Williams Book Review ’I like writing [about] this world for the same reason that others like reading [about] it: the black upper class is a continuing fascination, an...
Our Kind of People
Our Kind of People Paige Turner Book Review A comedian joked that ethnic groups need an elite "Royal Family" to look up to. He mentioned that most WASPS identify with the British Royal fami...
The Third Verse
The Third Verse Robert Fleming Book Review America is a glorious idea founded on democracy and equality for all. When Jerry Canada, a former trial lawyer and New Yorker, chooses one of the most famou...
My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy
My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy Ahmad Wright Book Review My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy by Randal Maurice Jelks is self-described as “a commentary on select Langston essays, poems,...
The Other Woman
The Other Woman Thumper Book Review If you have been following my reviews and/or discussion board over the years, you probably know I’m a huge fan of Eric Jerome Dickey. I’ve read and lo...
Take Me to the River
Take Me to the River Kam Williams take-me-to-the-river-300.jpg Film Review Take Me to the River (2014) In Theaters: Sep 12, 2014 Limited Rated: PG Running Time: 95 Minutes Musical & Performi...
Ballast
Ballast Kam Williams images/img42.jpg Film Review Ballast Click to order via Amazon Unrated Running time: 96 minutes Studio: Alluvial Film Company Release Date: November 10, 2009 ...
The Rise: Creativity
The Rise: Creativity Kam Williams Book Review “This book is about the advantages that come from the improbable ground of creative endeavor. Brilliant inventions and human feats that have co...
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...
The Breakthrough
The Breakthrough Kam Williams Book Review ’If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream ...
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve Kam Williams images/newyearseve_movieposter.jpg Film Review New Yorkers Search for Love in Serendipitous Romantic Comedy New Year’s Eve [2011] Rated PG-13 for profanity and...
Belle
Belle Kam Williams belle.jpg Film Review Belle In Theaters: May 2, 2014 Limited Rated PG for smoking, mature themes and ethnic insensitivity. Running time: 104 minutes Drama Directed By: Amma As...
Transitioning to Real Life
Transitioning to Real Life Jamie Walker Book Review It isn't easy transitioning from college to the real world, but in Transitioning to Real Life: A Common Sense Guide for the African American ...
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom
An Uncaged Eagle -- True Freedom Kam Williams Book Review "This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adversities I fa...
Going Postal
Going Postal Kam Williams Book Review "Rage as we know it today did not exist when Ronald Reagan took power in 1981. The word stress had a far less lethal meaning then. The vise hadn’t ye...
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted
Killing Willis: From Different Strokes to the Mean Streets To the Life I Always Wanted Kam Williams Book Review "AlI I ever wanted as a kid was to be a famous TV star… My dream came true whe...
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...
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll
The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n’ Roll Robert Fleming Book Review It’s a shame that nothing substantial has been written about that sacred Black entertainment network of the ...
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America Eryka Parker Book Review As a Black woman born and raised in the United States, I have always been aware of how blessed I am to ...
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...
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...
Party Crashing
Party Crashing Kam Williams Book Review ’Unlike their parents and grandparents, young black Americans no longer view their political identity as black and white, so to speak. Today,...
Driven from Within
Driven from Within Kam Williams Book Review ’That day I met Phil Knight for the first time. Neither of us could imagine what the next 20 years together would produce’ Nike was the perfec...
Preacher’s Kid
Preacher’s Kid Kam Williams images/img2F.jpg Film Review Prodigal Daughter Learns Valuable Life Lessons in Moralizing Melodrama Preacher's Kid Rated PG-13 for mature themes, sexuality, vio...
The Social Network
The Social Network Kam Williams images/69349_gal.jpg Film Review Damning Bio-Pic Recounts Rise of Ruthless Facebook Founder The Social Network Click to Buy via Amazon.com Rate...
El Cantante
El Cantante Kam Williams jennif9.jpg Film Review J-Lo Back in Bittersweet Bio-Pic about Seventies Salsa Singer El Cantante Rated R for sexuality, drug use and pervasive profan...
Diary of a Tired Black Man
Diary of a Tired Black Man Kam Williams diary_11.jpg Film Review Brow-Beaten Brother Gets Even in Thought-Provoking Melodrama Diary of a Tired Black Man Unrated Running time: 108 m...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
Hung
Hung Kam Williams Book Review ’The place: Providence, Rhode Island. The time, Spring 1986, my sophomore year in college’ I’m a little new to this, this meeting a strange girl ...
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...
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...
The Mighty Macs
The Mighty Macs Kam Williams images/mm2_photo.jpg Film Review Coach Inspires Team to Overachieve in Touching Tale of Female Empowerment The Mighty Macs Unrated Running time: 98 Minu...
Stomp the Yard
Stomp the Yard Kam Williams stomp_6.jpg Film Review Black Greek Goes Gaga Over Curvy Coed in Coincidence-Driven Melodrama Stomp the Yard Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, ethnic slurs and...
The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd Kam Williams the_go7.jpg Film Review De Niro Directs Espionage Thriller about the Dark Side of the CIA The Good Shepherd Excellent (4 stars) Rated R for sex, expletives, et...
96 Minutes
96 Minutes Kam Williams img21.jpg Film Review Gangstas Carjack College Coeds in Character-Driven Crime Caper 96 Minutes [2012] Order via Amazon.com In Theaters: Apr 27, 2012 Limited On DVD: May 2...
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods Kam Williams cabininthewoods.jpg Film Review College Kids Hunted at Haunted House in Harrowing Horror Flick The Cabin in the Woods [2012] In Theaters: Apr 13, 2012 Wide Rated...
Half of a Yellow Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun Kam Williams Half-of-a-Yellow-Sun.jpg Film Review Colonial Nigeria Provides Backdrop for Sweeping Romance Saga Half of a Yellow Sun In Theaters: May 16, 2014 Limited Rated...
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Linda Watkins Book Review Short story collections that are strong and rich throughout are rare finds. Most contain one or two good stories accompanied by mediocre ones....
Hand-Me-Down Dreams
Hand-Me-Down Dreams Robert Fleming Book Review Phillip Wilhite’s novel, Hand-Me-Down Dreams, happens in a period in the glory days of big-league sports during 1980, when the media and baseball ...
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman
What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman Robert Fleming Book Review This was a labor of love. Over seven years ago, it was the mission of Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, a Harvard-tr...
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...
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...
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...
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome
Hair Power - Skin Revolution: A Collection of Poems and Personal Essays by Black and Mixed-Race Wome Kam Williams Book Review "I can honestly say I have a passion for language… I enjoy writi...
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...
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, ...
Howard Street
Howard Street Tony Lindsay Book Review Writers are introduced to the craft of writing through a variety avenues: reading, experience, teaching, and mimicking. Writers often copy the skill sets of tho...
The Birdcatcher
The Birdcatcher Robert Fleming Book Review What the iconic African-American writer James Baldwin once told the young writers about the traditional stature of the prominent writers who put pen to pape...
Every Man a King
Every Man a King Robert Fleming Book Review For those who love the creators of the hard-boiled private dicks from the 1930s such as Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, and Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley&r...
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones Chris Hayden Book Review If It Ain’t Speculative and It Ain’t Fiction Need Black Folks Read Speculative Fiction? It distresses me when I can grant only q...
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist Lynne d. Johnson Book Review Hip-hop has intrinsically woven itself into the fabric of Americana. The culture, music, icons, and p...
The Freedom Writers Diary
The Freedom Writers Diary Kam Williams Book Review "My daughter Suhaila was born a full decade after my mother died… Becoming a parent made me think of my own mother with both intense g...
Life Is A Canvas
Life Is A Canvas Carol Taylor Book Review Life is a Canvas is a contemporary novel about finding love and self and how the choices we make early in life, particularly in our twenties, sets us on a pa...
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...
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 ...
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&...
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...
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper Kam Williams Book Review “While the Constitution declares that all men are born free and equal, the wise corporation of the city of...
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 ...
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 ...
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life
Faith in the Fire: Wisdom for Life Kam Williams Book Review "Amazingly, many people of faith and members of the reading public have not heard of Gardner Taylor or his accomplishments. Publication ...
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...
Go
Go Kam Williams Book Review ’This extraordinary collection of letters to Michelle Obama says a great deal about the lives, the hopes, prayers, fears, and aspirations of Africa...
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...
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 ...
Why Every Black Woman Should Marry a Jewish Man
Why Every Black Woman Should Marry a Jewish Man Kam Williams Book Review “How many times have we heard successful African-American women complain they can’t find a good man? Everyone h...
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...
Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope
Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope Kam Williams Book Review ’I will never forget the unabashed affection the president-elect displayed [Election Night] as, with the whole worl...
Peony’s Daughters
Peony’s Daughters Idrissa Uqdah Book Review A Mother With Crosses To Bear Although not categorized as Christian Fiction, Peony’s Daughters by Leceila Turnage is a very spiritual read w...
Oooooh… Say It Again: Mastering the Fine Art of Verbal Seduction and Aural Sex
Oooooh… Say It Again: Mastering the Fine Art of Verbal Seduction and Aural Sex Kam Williams Book Review “How can you get a woman sexually aroused simply by using certain words, your vo...
Unzipped
Unzipped Thumper Book Review One of my favorite urban authors, Noire, is back with a new novel, Unzipped. In case you don’t know, I love LOVE Noire’s books! Noire has reached the ulti...
Martin Luther King Bullavoid: Imploding Communities
Martin Luther King Bullavoid: Imploding Communities Carol Taylor Book Review “Amid mounting threats to his life, Martin Luther King chose to step onto the second floor balcony of the Lorrai...
Shadows of the Blues
Shadows of the Blues Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In Whitney J. Leblanc’s sequel to "Blues in the Wind," readers are introduced to the lives of the Ferguson and Broussard familie...
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 ...
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You?
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You? Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Ageless Fiction What I expected to be a Young Adult novel turns out to be a good read for women of all ages. Is NO Not Clear...
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...
Babylon Sisters
Babylon Sisters Jayne Cubbage Book Review This novel has many endearing qualities. From the graphic depiction of the characters to the social upliftment themes, which permeate throughout the text. ...
The African-American Criminal Justice Guide
The African-American Criminal Justice Guide Kam Williams Book Review “As a defense attorney, I spend a lot of time counseling young African-American men and women about making better lives fo...
African American History for Dummies
African American History for Dummies Kam Williams Book Review ’African-American history, to be clear, is so much more than a handful of extraordinary individuals or practices like slaver...
Black Faces in White Places
Black Faces in White Places Kam Williams Book Review "What do we mean by Black Faces in White Places? It is more than just a numbers game and being the only person of color in a predominantly wh...
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&...
Choreographing the Folk
Choreographing the Folk Kam Williams Book Review ’Although I studied ballet and modern from an early age, jazz dance was my greatest love… In these predominantly white ...
How To Think Big
How To Think Big Kam Williams Book Review "I am not a genius. I am not a prodigy or sensation or phenomenon. I am just like you. At the age of 19, I founded my first company. After graduat...