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Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix
Oil and Water and Other Things That don’t Mix Robert Fleming Book Review If you take a trip to the once-scenic Gulf Coast, you will see there is more to be done in the restoration and rejuvenation...
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...
Buried by the Times
Buried by the Times Kam Williams Book Review "The New York Times failed in its coverage of the fate of European Jews from 1939 to 1945. The assimilationist tendencies of the Times’ Jewis...
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 ...
Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache
Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache Kam Williams array.jpg Film Review Vanishing Pearls: The Oysterman of Pointe a la Hache In Theaters: April 18, 2014 (limited) on Netflix Writte...
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth
Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth Kam Williams Book Review “Why read? Reading isn’t just for sissies, or nerds or geeks. Research...
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...
Never Been a Time
Never Been a Time Thumper Book Review I am continuing my own personal goal of reading more history and biography books. If my memory serves me correctly, I think it had something to d...
Resurrecting the Champ
Resurrecting the Champ Kam Williams resurr5.jpg Film Review Reporter Befriends Hobo in Unconvincing Bio-Pic Resurrecting the Champ Click to order via Amazon Rated PG-13 for ...
Black Dynamite
Black Dynamite Kam Williams images/img19.jpg Film Review Campy Spoof of Blaxploitation Era Comes to Blu-Ray Black Dynamite Click to order from Amazon Rated R for profanity, ma...
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...
Why Men Fear Marriage
Why Men Fear Marriage Mel Hopkins Book Review WANTED: “Single Women” In 2050, women internment camps populate the Pacific coastline. This housing once reserved for Japanese Americans...
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...
It Begins With Tears
It Begins With Tears Akilah Monifa Book Review From Montego Bay (a.k.a. MoBay), Jamaica to Manhattan with visits in Brooklyn, Kristoff Valley, Jamaica, and Eternal Valley, Opal Palmer Adisa&rsquo...
Pain & Gain
Pain & Gain Kam Williams pain-and-gain-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Crime Caper Recreates Real-Life Kidnapping Plot Pain & Gain (2013) In Theaters: Apr 26, 2013 Limited Rated R for graphic nudi...
Rebirth of a Nation
Rebirth of a Nation Kam Williams rebirt48.jpg Film Review DJ Does Hip-Hop Remix of Birth of a Nation DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation Click to o...
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Kam Williams startrek-2013-blueray.jpg Film Review Read the comments now. Read our review after you see the film (there some spoilers). Kirk Matches Wits with Rogue Co...
Inheriting the Trade
Inheriting the Trade Kam Williams traces5.jpg Film Review Descendants of Slave Owners Retrace Ancestors Triangular Trade Route Credit: Amishadai Sackitey DeWolf family...
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent Thumper Book Review There is a great chance that my review of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickso...
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...
Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave
Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave Shaundale Rénā Book Review In writing Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave, author Tiffany G. Townsend, PhD, add...
Under the Skin
Under the Skin Robert Fleming Book Review Following the needless deaths of my grandfather and my father, I was very interested in reading Linda Villarosa’s Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll Of Ra...
Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns Kam Williams rick_f2.jpg Film Review Struggling Single-Mom Seeks Salvation in Tyler Perry’s Latest Morality Play Meet the Browns ...
This Christmas
This Christmas Kam Williams this_c11.jpg Film Review Skeletons Aplenty in Dysfunctional Family Dramedy This Christmas Rated PG-13 for sexual content and v...
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...
It’s A Thin Line
It’s A Thin Line Thumper Book Review It’s A Thin Line may be the title to Kimberla Lawson Roby’s latest novel, but it also describes the condition of my last nerve that this book jumped ...
The Covenant with Black America
The Covenant with Black America Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Why a Covenant with Black America? In short, because’ without organization, black folk will ...
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...
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...
Miracle at St. Anna
Miracle at St. Anna Thumper Book Review I wish all of my review assignments were like this one. It came upon me unexpectedly. I don’t need advance warnings when good things come my way, thoug...
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...
The Felix Women Series
The Felix Women Series Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Acceptance Not Required: Felix Women IV Click to order via Amazon Print Length: 58 pages (October 10, 2014) This author, Angelia Vernon M...
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea Linda Watkins Book Review Everyone knows that poetry is opinionated, subjective and sometimes downright confusing. I was delighted to find that the problem of comprehensi...
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 ...
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...
Black Silk
Black Silk Thumper Book Review Black Silk: A Collection of African American Erotica is an anthology that cheers the sexual, sensual side of African-Americans in literature told through short stories ...
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...
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...
And On The Eighth Day She Rested
And On The Eighth Day She Rested Thumper Book Review Lately, I have been in one of my lazy reading moods. I wanted a book that would go easy on my ol’ noggin. As you all know, my normal readi...
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...
There Are Dinosaurs in the Library!
There Are Dinosaurs in the Library! Judy Allen Dodson Book Review Let’s take trip to the library with Mrs. Baker and her third-grade class. As we all know the library is a space filled with boo...
Home
Home Connie Bradley Book Review I just recently completed Toni Morrison’s latest book Home, a novel I have been looking forward to reading because its advance notices promoted it as being set i...
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...
Race Matters
Race Matters Kirby Roy III Book Review Reading and evaluating the overriding themes in Cornel West’s Race Matters, which was published in 1993, given the context of events that have occurred si...
A Person of Interest
A Person of Interest Thumper Book Review I have begun looking forward to reading novels written by Ernest Hills. I became a fan of his work after reading two of his previous novels; ...
Lay This Body Down
Lay This Body Down Thumper Book Review I may have gotten my love for reading from my mother, but I got my love of a good story from my father. He was an excellent storyteller. During my years livin...
Boss of Black Brooklyn, The Life and Times of Bertram Baker
Boss of Black Brooklyn, The Life and Times of Bertram Baker Brenda M. Greene Book Review Bertram Baker was a man of his times… Like Du Bois, Bertram believed in agitating to achieve political...
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...
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler Robert Fleming Book Review { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Review", "headline": "Review of Positive Obsession: The...
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler Robert Fleming Book Review { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Review", "headline": "Review of Positive Obsession: The...
On the Rumba River
On the Rumba River Kam Williams on_the26.jpg Film Review Bio-Pic Pays Tribute to Legendary Congolese Musician Wendo Kolosoy On the Rumba River Unrated ...
Hollywood Chinese
Hollywood Chinese Kam Williams hollyw27.jpg Film Review Asian Stereotypes in Cinema Explored by Enlightening Expose Hollywood Chinese ...
Marvel’s Black Panther
Marvel’s Black Panther Brenda M. Greene Book Review The 2016 San Diego Comic-Con was a memorable moment for independent researcher and writer Todd Steven Burroughs. Burroughs begins Marvel’s Bl...
We Gotta Have It
We Gotta Have It Kam Williams Book Review ’We Gotta Have It represents twenty years of seeing a new generation of Black movies. Before this journey began in 1986, with Spike Lee’s She...
I Am New Orleans
I Am New Orleans Robert Fleming Book Review American poet, author, filmmaker, and teacher Kalamu ya Salaam, a leading citizen of New Orleans’s 9th Ward, has always been a booster for the Cresce...
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...
Mississippi Damned
Mississippi Damned Kam Williams mississippi-damned.jpg Film Review Mississippi Damned In Theaters: January 16, 2009 (limited) on Netflix Written and Directed by: Tina Mabry Rating: UnratedGe...
Precious
Precious Kam Williams precio2.jpg Film Review Lee Daniels’ Long-Anticipated Sundance-Winner Lives up to the Buzz Precious Click to order DVD via Amazon Rated R fo...
Punta Soul
Punta Soul Kam Williams punta_28.jpg Film Review PARANDA MEDIA 80 Vaughn Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801 Contact: Margery Laing 914-393-3037 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Februa...
Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels Kam Williams born_i24.jpg Film Review Academy Award-Winning Documentary Showing at Human Rights Watch Festival Born into Brothels Click to order vi...
Dear White People
Dear White People Kam Williams dear-wite-people-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Dear White People In Theaters: Oct 17, 2014 Limited On DVD: Feb 3, 2015 Rated R for profanity, ethnic and sexual prefe...
Blacktrospective 2009 - Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema
Blacktrospective 2009 - Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Best (and Worst) in Black Cinema Kam Williams https://aalbc.com/reviews/precious_movieposter.jpg Film Review Kam's Annual Assessment of the Best ...
I Will Follow
I Will Follow Kam Williams images/iwillfollow.jpg Film Review Bittersweet Drama Chronicles Day in the Life of Grief-Stricken Caregiver I Will Follow Order via Amazon.com Unrated ...
Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom
Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom Kam Williams Book Review “Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember throug...
Jesus Boy
Jesus Boy Thumper Book Review I have a question for you: have you ever heard of anything; a food dish, a recipe, a car or a book, that by the description alone, you knew, KNEW it was going ...
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...
Do I Have to Be a Starving Artist in the 21st Century?
Do I Have to Be a Starving Artist in the 21st Century? Kam Williams Book Review "The majority of my adult life I have been an artist… Through trial and error, a lot of tears, reading, and ve...
Dona Julia
Dona Julia Rondall Brasher Book Review Do’a Julia and Other Selected Poems" by Alberto O. Cappas is written with tremendous amount of pride. It is a book that comes from the heart of a man...
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...
Sympathy For The Devil
Sympathy For The Devil Thumper Book Review I wasn’t expecting such an excellent, non-stop reading novel when I embarked on Christopher Chamber’s debut novel, Sympathy For The Devil. I wa...
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...
Buffalo Gordon on the Plains
Buffalo Gordon on the Plains Thumper Book Review Reviewed by Thumper There are times when I get tired of the same ole, same ole in commercial fiction. Every now and then, I need a break from the ...
What A Woman’s Gotta Do
What A Woman’s Gotta Do Thumper Book Review Now this was a fascinating book. What A Woman’s Gotta Do is a fascinating book that successfully weaved together the spiritual, science, and my...
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...
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Kam Williams Book Review “This book is an attempt to reclaim, as much as possible, the Jesus of history, the Jesus of Christianity… whos...
The Pride
The Pride Kam Williams kimber9.jpg Film Review Philly Role Model’s Inspirational Life Story Turned into Formulaic Hollywood Bio-Pic Pride Film Review by Kam Williams Rated PG for mature th...
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is Kam Williams keyshi1.jpg Film Review BET’s #1 Rated Reality Series Released on DVD Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is’ (...
Louise Thompson Patterson, A Life of Struggle and Justice by Keith Gilyard
Louise Thompson Patterson, A Life of Struggle and Justice by Keith Gilyard Brenda M. Greene Book Review To study her story is to witness the courage, sacrifice, vision and discipline of someone who s...
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...
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...
Animated Objects
Animated Objects Patricia Mckinney Book Review I was very impressed with Animated Objects by Linda Addison. It was written by a person who truly loves and enjoys the horror and fantasy ...
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...
Paradise Interrupted (Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries)
Paradise Interrupted (Carole Ann Gibson Mysteries) Thumper Book Review I want to state my bias up front. I look forward to this time of the year when a new “Carole Ann Gibson” installment...
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...
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...
Violet of a Deeper Blue
Violet of a Deeper Blue Thumper Book Review Violet Of A Deeper Blue is the story of Brandon Northcross, a young black MBA graduate from Dartmouth who previously lived in New Hampshire. Brandon had re...
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...
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson Kam Williams Book Review ’I have admired and adored Michael Jackson from the first time I heard his name and listened to his music. I have never been more fasc...
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention Kam Williams Book Review “Every February, your history teachers taught you about nine African-Americans: Martin Luther Kin...
What If It Feels Good?
What If It Feels Good? Idrissa Uqdah Book Review It’s A Thin Line Between Seduction and Child Abuse This debut novel, What If It Feels Good? by D.J. McLaurin was a rip-roaring read full of ...
The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The Bondwoman’s Narrative Paige Turner Book Review In the 1850s a female slave owned by John Wheeler, a North Carolina plantation owner and minor government official, escaped and fled to freedom. Sh...
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 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...
Love In A Carry-On Bag
Love In A Carry-On Bag Idrissa Uqdah Book Review As Wild As The Wind Modern technology has made a long-distance love affair more of a reality. The characters in this novel took the concept and made...
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3
Zane’s Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3 Robert Fleming Book Review Some years ago, Zane shocked the square world in the black literary community with her series of raunchy, raw erotic tales delivered onl...
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well
When Frogs Grow Feet: The Un-Aborted Are Alive and Well Robert Fleming Book Review While When Frogs Grow Feet’s blurb links its juicy contents to Henry Miller’s classic wanton tale, Tro...
Oreo
Oreo Thumper Book Review I’m thinking, pondering, you might say, that possibly the sign of a good book isn’t the fact that it is in print. Maybe, the sign of a good book should be wheth...
This Side of Glory
This Side of Glory Thumper Book Review This Side Of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole On my continuing quest in read...
Vanishing Rooms
Vanishing Rooms Thumper Book Review Upon my first glance at Vanishing Rooms, the debut novel by the late poet/novelist Melvin Dixon, I thought — in my mind’s voice that sounds like Billie...
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;...