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Memoir: Delaware County Prison
Memoir: Delaware County Prison Thumper Book Review Memoir: Delaware County Prison by Reginald L. Hall is a non-fiction account of the eight months Hall, an openly gay man, spent in prison for credit...
Stages
Stages Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall STAGES, the debut novel by Malikah Reese Maccabee is a wonderfully written and very engaging story about women of color in crisi...
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "D.C. Unmasked & Undressed is a memoir. The story of my life includes events, characters and insights related to my miserable child...
My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte
My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte Robert Fleming Book Review My Song: A Memoir is the story of a blessed life, that of Harry Belafonte, the mythic musician, actor, humanitarian, and social activ...
How We Fight for Our Lives
How We Fight for Our Lives Brianna-Christine Alicea Book Review As a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer/Art/Mentorship, Saeed Jones is a poet and the author of...
Panorama: The Missing Chapter: From the Memoir Views from the Cockpit
Panorama: The Missing Chapter: From the Memoir Views from the Cockpit Robert Fleming Book Review With Panorama – The Missing Chapter From The Memoir Views From The Cockpit: The Journey Of A Son...
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir
Blend In or Fade Out: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review The main theme of identity takes center stage in Colnese M. Herndon’s emotional riveting memoir, Blend In Or Fade Out, as the writer in...
I Always Knew: A Memoir
I Always Knew: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review This country rarely acknowledges the celebrated triple threats of the arts in our community. Consider Barbara Chase-Riboud, the noted African-Americ...
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...
I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir
I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review Blessed with a candor, boldness, and business savvy rarely seen in books of this type, former CEO of Black Entertainment Television network Debra L...
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...
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him)
Hot Johnny (And the Women Who Loved Him) Thumper Book Review “That’s mighty pretty, precious“ The question, "Damn Thumper is using a term of endearment in the heading of a r...
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...
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, author of two previous acclaimed novels, Where The Line Bleeds and Salvage The Bones, closely examines...
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir Kam Williams Book Review ’We have joined the rest of the country in protesting in order to get Trayvon Martin’s killer charged....
Post-Traumatic
Post-Traumatic Robert Fleming Book Review Chantal Johnson’s debut novel, Post-Traumatic, confronts the emotional toll of sexual assault, a real-life survivor narrative, with the prickly residue...
Me First: A Deliciously Selfish Take on Life
Me First: A Deliciously Selfish Take on Life Carol Taylor Book Review Women have always been taught to put themselves last, that it’s selfish to put themselves first. Have you ever thought ab...
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 ...
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business
Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Succeeding in Life and Business Shaundale Rénā Book Review I was surprised by Never Wear Red Lipstick: 8 Lies That Stop Black Women from Suc...
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...
Defying the Odds
Defying the Odds Kam Williams Book Review ’Whether the threat is a burning cross in a sleepy Southern town, or a female doctor bucking the whites-only hiring policies of a city h...
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men
The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men Kam Williams Book Review "What do black women want? The truth? They are looking for Denzel Washington. They have been so thoroughly b...
Witnessing and Testifying
Witnessing and Testifying Paige Turner Book Review At the dawn of this new millennium when the "bimbo-ization" of American women is in full flower it is instructive to look back to times wh...
Triangular Road: A Memoir
Triangular Road: A Memoir Thumper Book Review I don't know how I came to be aware of Paule Marshall’s new book, Triangular Road: a Memoir. Maybe it was the same still small voic...
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir
That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Paint a picture of a little brown girl who walks in fear and sadness. Her dark story is told in Stacey Patton’s memoir, Tha...
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir
It Was The Devil All Along: A Memoir Robert Fleming Book Review Her name is Avalon Soulette Brown, a God-sent woman who happens to be an accomplished nurse from Newark, New Jersey, and still lives ...
Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt
Pieces from Life’s Crazy Quilt Walter Benefield Book Review Marvin Sprague says that her mother’s favorite quilts to make were what she called ’Crazy Quilts.’ She defines these qui...
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir Brenda M. Greene Book Review Jaquira Diaz, in her memoir Ordinary Girls, crafts a story that illustrates the intersection of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and poverty on the li...
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice
Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice Carol Taylor Book Review Much more than a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer traces not only Nkechi Taifa’s personal life, and her decad...
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir Troy Johnson Book Review This Review Appears in the Fall 2007 Issue of Harlem World Magazine Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, of...
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir by Toni Braxton Kam Williams Book Review “While Toni Braxton may appear to be living a charmed life, hers is in fact a tumultuous story: a tale of personal triumph...
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 ...
Bitch Is the New Black: A Memoir
Bitch Is the New Black: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "I’m such a badass. I am literally the baddest bitch on the planet. If there was a bitch contest between me and every other he...
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...
Don’t Blame It on Rio
Don’t Blame It on Rio Kam Williams Book Review ’Black women were once at the center of black men’s lives, as wives, mothers, lovers and partners’ However, in this generation, b...
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...
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens Kam Williams Book Review “I was raised in poverty, surrounded by drug dealers, gangs and community violence. My mother was addicted to crack cocai...
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...
When All Hell Breaks Loose
When All Hell Breaks Loose Thumper Book Review less than a minor disturbance. If you can grasp these things along with a few others, then you have the essence of the trouble that our hero Gregory ...
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...
Lighting the Fires of Freedom by Janet Dewart Bell
Lighting the Fires of Freedom by Janet Dewart Bell Brenda M. Greene Book Review In Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (The New Press, 2018), Dr. Janet ...
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...
The Black Church: Where Women Pray and Men Prey
The Black Church: Where Women Pray and Men Prey Kam Williams Book Review “If you are a single black woman regularly attending church and tithing, or you are a woman with children that accomp...
Unfinished Business: Black Women
Unfinished Business: Black Women Kam Williams Book Review “This book explores the Black Church as a black religious site that can offer not only hope and cultural flourishing for poor black w...
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...
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...
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The Kam Williams Book Review “About 10 years ago, I was hanging out with some old high school c...
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...
Womanish Theology
Womanish Theology Eryka Parker Book Review “How differently would Black girls see the world or themselves had they [been] represented and treated as imago Dei [created in the image and likeness...
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 ...
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 ...
The Love Ethic
The Love Ethic Robert Fleming Book Review Inspired by their work with African American couples at their Chicago organization, the acclaimed Twinlineal Institute, Kamau and Akilah Butler, bo...
My View from the Summit (VFS)
My View from the Summit (VFS) Carol Taylor Book Review My View From The Summit is Nicole Thomas’s “inspiring personal memoir” reflecting on her experiences and life lessons on m...
Seventh Child
Seventh Child Thumper Book Review Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X is a memoir told by his nephew, Rodnell P. Collins and his mother, Ella Little Collins. Seventh Child is a nice, factual,...
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet
Rudolph Lewis: The Prophetic Voice of the Poet Miriam Decosta-Willis Book Review Rudolph Lewis In his lyrical Mockingbirds at Jerusalem: A Poetic Memoir, poet, editor, and former professor and l...
Will
Will Robert Fleming Book Review There are millions of success stories in America. This is one of them. Film superstar Will Smith’s memoir, Will, is almost a fantasy comprised of Yankee success,...
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...
Chasing Me to My Grave
Chasing Me to My Grave Robert Fleming Book Review This enthralling memoir is one of the most heralded books about the life, imagination, and cultural influences of an African American man who goes to...
Something Like Beautiful
Something Like Beautiful Robert Fleming Book Review In many ways, the award-winning poet and journalist asha bandele’s second memoir, Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother&rsquo...
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "As a young man, my father had been shot by a white policeman, but never spoke about the incident after leaving Alabama and moving north. H...
Eat, Pray, Love
Eat, Pray, Love Kam Williams images/eat_pray_lovel.jpg Film Review Divorcee Embarks on Spiritual Sojourn in Pat Adaptation of Best-Selling Memoir Eat, Pray, Love Click to order via Amaz...
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...
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson
Just As I Am By Cicely Tyson Robert Fleming Book Review How many of us pray when we board an airplane? Not everyone. This author, James T. Hollin Jr., a former military pilot and experienced ai...
American Imam
American Imam Robert Fleming Book Review Taymullah Abdur-Rahman’s sharp and stylish memoir, American Imam: From Pop Stardom to Prison Abolition, concerns itself with the causes and consequences...
A Memory of Fictions (or) Just Tiddy-Boom
A Memory of Fictions (or) Just Tiddy-Boom Robert Fleming Book Review So many books written by gay, Black men do not explore the inner emotional terrain of their character. That is why this vast, dram...
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...
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 ...
Women of a New Tribe
Women of a New Tribe Kam Williams Book Review African-American females have had a very difficult history: from slavery to racism to poverty. Although slavery has been abolished in this country, a...
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World
Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing our World Kam Williams Book Review “Inspiration allows 30 exceptional people to tell their unique stories. Each of these women takes us on her li...
Broken Utterances
Broken Utterances Kam Williams Book Review ’This book endeavors to piece together the broken utterances of 20 women into a seamless painting of understanding which is representative of ...
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...
Pimps Up
Pimps Up Kam Williams Book Review ’I believe we have reached a fascinating, and predictably retrogressive, moment in American pop culture regarding class, gender, and race. As a member of...
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...
I Wish I Had A Red Dress
I Wish I Had A Red Dress Thumper Book Review I’m going to be upfront. The review will be short and sour. I Wish I Had A Red Dress, Pearl Cleage’s new novel, we return to Idlewood, Michiga...
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...
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...
Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies
Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies Kam Williams Book Review “In addition to being one of the most popular living playwrights in America, Pearl Cleage is a best-selling author with an...
The Conversation
The Conversation Kam Williams Book Review ’One of the things I’ve heard a lot from young brothers and sisters during my recent travels is ’I want a woman like Mich...
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...
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...
Reputations Fade Away
Reputations Fade Away Kam Williams Book Review ’I can understand and relate to why most black men are giving up on life, especially the ones my age’ Only a few of us mak...
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...
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...
Cooked
Cooked Kam Williams Book Review ’My father left when I was one or two years old. It was just my mother, my sister, Cali Slim, and me living in South Central. I only saw my dad on holidays ...
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam
Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam Kam Williams Book Review "The story I must tell in order to be transformed is the story of my coming out — out of Islam, out of my parents’ hous...
A Woman’s Worth
A Woman’s Worth Thumper Book Review I’m forewarning everyone, if…no, when I see Tracy Price-Thompson, whoever is closest to me, grab me, because I’m going to try my best to slap h...
An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones
An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones Brenda M. Greene Book Review Wendy Jones has written a tribute to her late mother Josephine E. Jones. Her mother was part of the Great Migration, depicted so...
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...
The Chronicles of a Gentleman (The Untold Truth)
The Chronicles of a Gentleman (The Untold Truth) Kam Williams Book Review ’I’m here to show you a few things that will enable you to have any woman you desire. Race cree...
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...
Forever An Ex
Forever An Ex Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Where Does The Love Go? Only the women in Forever An Ex know for sure. The sequel to Murray’s wildly popular The Ex Files centers on the specifics of b...
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...
Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman
Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman Kam Williams Book Review “This book asks what it means to represent black womanhood and explores how these representations are connect...
Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama
Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama Kam Williams Book Review "Dear Mrs. Obama, Do you have any idea what you mean to us? By us, I mean ...
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...
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film Kam Williams Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it...
Sister Citizen: Shame
Sister Citizen: Shame Kam Williams Book Review "This book is concerned with understanding the emotional realities of black women’s lives in order to answer a political, not a personal, ques...
Dark Girls (Preview)
Dark Girls (Preview) Kam Williams dark-girls-movie-poster.jpg Film Review Dark Girls: Real Women, Real Stories Click to order via Amazon This documentary exploresd the deep-seated biases ...
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...
Finding Heaven in the Dark
Finding Heaven in the Dark Carol Taylor Book Review Part memoir, part self-help, part-spiritual realization, Finding Heaven In The Dark is William Ingram’s moving account of his journey to spir...