August 1, 2010
The top selling books by or about African Americans published in July 2010 from Amazon.com.
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
(Odyssey Editions, 07/21/10, Kindle Edition)
| Already a classic by the time it won the National Book Award in 1953, Invisible Man has left an indelible print on the American consciousness. Ralph Ellison’s blistering and impassioned masterpiece not only cracked open the layers of American society to expose the blind prejudice and intolerance at its core, it expanded the idea of what a novel can do. |
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- Total Eclipse of the Heart: A Novel by Zane
(Atria, 07/06/10, Paperback)
| The New York Times bestselling queen of erotica is back with a provocative and sensual new novel of love, heartbreak, and total liberation.Waitress Brooke Alexander is in love with Patrick Sterling, one of the most prominent attorneys in Washington, D.C. On his good days, Patrick is the man of every woman’s dream. On his bad days, he’s a complete nightmare. . . . Compassionate and honest, Damon Johnson worships the ground his wife, Carleigh, walks on, while she treats him like a trophy husband and views his life aspirations as a joke. He’s beginning to wonder if he made the right decision when he asked for her hand in marriage. . . . When a tragic event brings Brooke and Damon together, they see truths about their relationships they never wanted to accept. Sometimes two people meet by pure chance, but sometimes it’s . . . a total eclipse of the heart. |
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- Holy Rollers by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
(Gallery, 07/06/10, Paperback)
| Looking for Love . . . Lifelong friends Coco, Nita, and Tia have spent years looking for love in the arms of flashy pro athletes, hoping to land a baller but ending up with a stream of failed relationships. The beautiful and demure Coco has endured years of physical abuse from her boyfriend, Sonny, while Tia, a single mother, has dated her fair share of cheaters and yearns for a stable companion who will be a father figure to her son. And feisty, seductive Nita is tired of being the million-dollar mistress and wants to settle down — if she can find someone worth coming home to. Changing the Game . . . Now that the women are approaching thirty, they’re finding it harder than ever to compete with the pro groupies. Determined to change the game and find some worthwhile men, Tia hatches an outrageous plan. Soon the trio is “holy rolling,” masquerading as God-fearing churchgoers at a local conference for young ministers in the hopes of snagging a prominent pastor. But will their big gamble pay off? Men of the cloth are still just men, after all. As the three friends meet their potential life partners, they will have to decide how far they want to take their holy rollers scheme — each risking heartbreak while taking a chance on finding a reliable, responsible man to love and cherish, flaws and all. |
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- Trophy Wife by Ashley JaQuavis
(Urban Books, 07/01/10, Paperback)
- Full Figured: Carl Weber Presents by Brenda Hampton
(Urban Books, 07/01/10, Paperback)
- More Church Folk by Michele Andrea Bowen
(Grand Central Publishing, 07/28/10, Hardcover)
| It is now 1986, and the preachers of the Gospel United Church are preparing for their much-anticipated Triennial General Conference. The last time readers encountered the good Rev. Theophilus Simmons, he was a newlywed and the pastor of a modest-sized congregation in Memphis. Now he’s the father of three and running a congregation in St. Louis. His best friend, Rev. Eddie Tate, is now with a fast growing church in Chicago, but he is getting real frustrated with the way things are run in the Gospel United Church. Marcel Brown and his father, Ernest, along with Sonny Washington and Bishop Larsen Giles have had two decades to perfect their slimy methods of “tapping” church funds and other misdeeds. Now they’ve found a secret weapon that will allow them to make fast money and accomplish what they failed to do 20 years ago–buy off enough power to dominate the entire denomination, put their cronies in key spots, and ransack the church like it is the spoils of war. It won’t be long before the two opposing sides face off…”church-folk” style. |
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- Dmitry’s Royal Flush: Rise of the Queen (The Medlov Crime Family Series) by Latrivia Nelson
(RiverHouse Publishing, LLC, 07/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| From the popular multicultural author, Latrivia S. Nelson, comes the highly anticipated second installment of the Medlov Crime Family Series, Dmitry’s Royal Flush: Rise of the Queen.For Dmitry and Royal Medlov, money doesn’t equal happiness. Forced to leave Memphis, TN and flee to Prague after a brutal mafia war, the couple nestled into the countryside to raise their daughter, Anya, and lead a safe, quiet life. But when Dmitry’s son, Anatoly, shows up with an offer he can’t refuse, Dmitry is forced to go back to the life he left as boss of the most feared criminal organization in world. Consequently, the deal could not only destroy the Medlov Crime Family but also Dmitry and Royal. Royal hasn’t been the same since she was attacked three years ago. Where she used to be a sweet, innocent girl, she’s now the jaded, bitter mistress of the Medlov Chateau. However, a reality check is in store for the pre-Madonna when Anya’s new teacher shows up with her sights set on stealing Dmitry, and Ivan’s old ally shows up with his sights on killing him. Can Royal save them all? Will she?With a family in such turmoil, the only way to survive is to stick together. Read the gripping tale of a marriage strong enough to stand the test of time as Dmitry realizes that he has the best cards in the house as long as he has a Royal Flush. |
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- A Ramsey Wedding by AlTonya Washington
(07/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| Chicago sets the scene for a week of Love, romance and drama like only The Ramseys can provide. You’re invited to the wedding of the year as Fernando and Contessa tie the knot! |
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- Platinum: A Novel by Aliya S King
(Touchstone, 07/06/10, Hardcover)
| You only think you want this life . . . Alex Maxwell is planning her wedding to up-and coming music artist Birdie, ghostwriting video vixen Cleopatra Wright’s memoir, and she’s just been assigned the story of the year by her editor in chief at a major music industry magazine — an article about the glamorous lives of women married to platinum-selling hip-hop artists. Alex has been interviewing celebrities and hangers-on long enough to know all that glitters isn’t gold, so she’s determined to get the real scoop. Still, it’s not going to be easy to get past the wives’ gilded cages. . . Beth Saddlebrook, wife of aging rapper Z. They have three beautiful boys and a seemingly endless supply of cash. But Beth spends her days trying to keep Z off drugs and fielding calls from women hollering she’s just a “small-town white bitch” and claiming to be carrying Z’s baby. Only one person understands what she’s going through. . . Kipenzi Hill, multiplatinum-selling R&B artist and Beth’s best friend. Her relationship with rap star and record label president Jake is an open secret in the industry. She knows Jake loves her, but he’d rather break up than publicly acknowledge it. Now she has learned that the newest (and much younger) R&B sensation Bunny has been signed to Jake’s label. Josephine Bennett, wife to Jamaican singer and Ãœberproducer Ras Bennett. Josephine doesn’t just want to spend her husband’s money, she wants to contribute. Her fashion company is finally starting to get media attention when her husband admits to something she’s suspected all along — he’s fallen in love with another woman. Cleopatra Wright, every man’s dream girl, a video vixen with a story to tell and scores to settle. Cleo’s got that thing no one can put a finger on and no man (or woman) can resist. Some would call her evil or misguided or both, but Cleo always moves with a purpose and she’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants. . . Alex realizes she may have more in common with these women than she’d like. What if this is a glimpse of how her life will be if Birdie finally gets signed to a major label? Stuck between her loyalty to this newfound sisterhood and her obligation to write the truth, Alex is forced to rethink everything she knows about work, friendship, and love. |
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- Sweet Revenge by Grant Wilson
(07/05/10, Kindle Edition)
| Lena Franklin has held on to a painful memory for years. One that Lane Hamilton is responsible for. He humiliated Lena because she was an ugly duckling that had a crush on him. Years later, she is now a successful and beautiful detective and he is a suspect drug dealer. She is going to make it her life’s mission to get revenge for what he did, but will love alter her course? |
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- Stealing Candy (Zane Presents) by Allison Hobbs
(Strebor Books, 07/06/10, Paperback)
| Forced teen prostitution in America is on the rise and is being exposed through the media. Allison Hobbs offers a provocative look into the lives of three young girls who have been forced into sex slavery by a homicidal pimp, and the one woman who risks everything to try and save their lives. Stealing Candy by Allison Hobbs is a shocking novel about human sex trafficking. Three teenage girls from very different backgrounds have been abducted by a pimp who refers to them as “his candy” while treating them with cruelty and contempt. Routinely battered, emotionally manipulated, the girls are brainwashed into accepting sexual servitude as their hopeless plight in life. Saleema Sparks has made it her life’s mission to provide a sanctuary for troubled teen-age girls. With dwindling personal funds, she may have to close the doors to her one-woman operation — Head Up — a safe haven for young women in crisis. But when Portia, a member of Head Up, goes missing, Saleema does not accept that the troubled teen is simply a runaway. She is compelled to look for Portia, forcing an apathetic community to open their eyes and lend a hand in the search for the abducted teen. But can she help Portia and the other sex-trafficked girls break free from the malicious pimp who has abducted them? Determined to save three young lives, Saleema risks everything to get the girls out of the pimp’s murderous grasp. |
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- Forever Love by Melinda Abrams
(07/04/10, Kindle Edition)
| Serena Copeland has been haunted by the recurring nightmare of a seductive man. Drawn to him physically, she is repelled by his predator-like eyes. When her best friend reveals that the man in her dreams is real, Serena is torn between fear and love. *********Jonas Augustin has spent centuries pursing the creature that turned him into the immortal monster he has become. That is until he sees the eyes that belonged to his beloved wife on the mahogany face of Serena Copeland. He intends to love her from afar until evil forces compel him to reveal himself to save his forever love. Excerpt:Serena was asleep, tossing and turning. She could see him all to clear. He was outside of her home, in the alley. He stood in the shadows. She could feel his desire to claim her. She could feel his pulse quicken. She could feel his desire welling up. As she fought to stay asleep suddenly he was besideher in her room. She could feel the heat from his body. See the molten intense arousal in his black eyes. Her breath was coming short and fast. As her blood, started to heat up, Jonas knelt down to brush a kiss upon her mouth to go. He knew that he would not be able to be this close without claiming her soon.Jonas was surprised when she reached out in her sleep and grabbed his head. She thrust her tongue into his mouth. Her kisses were intoxicating.She was warm, and hot. Her lust for him was so strong that he did not know if he had the strength to pull back. How many nights had he wanted her. So many night’s had he watched her struggle through the nightmare of his life. And now she was kissing him. Jonas had a low growl escape histhroat. He pulled away and mumbled a low chant over Serena so she would go into a deep sleep. Soon he would take her body If he did not no one would be safe. |
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- Heart Stopping Love by Grant Wilson
(07/12/10, Kindle Edition)
| LaTonya Taylor is a successful literary agent who has begun to receive threatening emails. When the emails become more than she can handle, she turns to her long time Harley riding friend, Derek Carter. Will they unravel this mystery before someone gets hurt, or worse – falls in love?Excerpt:His mind drifted back to the day he met LaTonya Taylor. Had it really been ten years since he was a struggling author trying to get anything published, when a friend had read his first book and introduced him to LaTonya at a dinner party?She had just become a partner in one of the most successful literary agencies in the country. She read his book and liked it and the rest, as they say, is history.Within a year, she had pushed his book to the top of the best-seller lists everywhere. Television and magazine interviews followed in a frenzy of media hype the likes of which he had never seen. Feeling a debt of gratitude to LaTonya for takinga chance on him, he signed a ten-year deal with her.The annoying voice shocked him back to reality.”Mr. Edwards, I’m sorry, but Miss Taylor isn’t in the office today, she’s working out of her home. Can I give her a message for you?”"Tell her to call me. I’m only going to be around for another hour and then she can get me on my cell phone.” He hung up, not even waiting for the receptionist to acknowledge his last sentence. …………………………….”THE END OF YOUR LIFE IS NEAR. YOU WON’T KNOW WHEN OR WHERE, BUT I WILL. YOU’RE GOING TO DIE, YOU MISERABLE BITCH, AND I’M GOING TO WATCH. DON’T CONTACT THE POLICE! I’M WATCHING YOU!”The cursor sat blinking on her screen as she read the e-mail for the fifth time this morning. LaTonya lit another cigarette and ran her fingers through her relaxed hair. She sat in her home office overlooking the scenic Berkshire Mountains. She thought of Herman Melville sitting at his desk while looking out at these same mountains as he penned “Moby Dick.” The mountains could be beautiful or volatile, depending on who viewed them and the time of year. They seemed to have a different effect on each person. Living here most of her life, she had left for a brief time to attend college. Since the advent of the Internet, one could virtually work at any geographic location on earth and still stay as in touch as if you were in the next office. Since she had become a partner in the business, trips to New York were required a couple of times a month; other than that, she could be found here via phone, fax, or the Internet. The old Victorian house she inhabited was both her home and her office, and she liked it just fine that way. Staring back at the computer screen, she read the e-mail again. It was the third one she’d received in the past week. Pulling the top desk drawer open, she removed a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber Airweight with the shrouded hammer her father had given her and checked it once again to make sure it was loaded.Holding the cold blue steel in her hands made her feel warm and secure. Who was this nut, and why was he/she harassing her? Putting the gun back in the drawer and sliding it shut, she shuddered as a sudden chill came over her. LaTonya didn’t know what to do or where to turn. Each e-mail had warned her against contacting the police, and the person had said he/she was watching her. Maybe she was getting worked up over nothing; maybe this was some cruel prank by some twelve-year-old kid on the Internet. Still, it made her feel uneasy and scared, and she didn’t know whom to turn to. She had thought of calling her sister Erica and confiding in her, but she didn’t want to endanger her.As she peered out at the steel-gray sky, a tear ran down her cheek. |
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- Can’t Get Enough of You by Bette Ford
(Avon, 07/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| No rebounds. . . Jenna Gaines has her Ph.D., a great teaching job at her alma mater, everything she ever wanted in life . . . almost. Once upon a time she wanted Scott Hendricks, but the NBA called and he left her to become a hoops star. Now his career is over, and the only man Jenna ever loved is back at her school and in her life — too many years too late, as far as she’s concerned. Jenna would have given up her dreams to follow Scott, which was the last thing he wanted. All Scott can think about now is the taste of her lips and how it feels to caress her silky ebony skin, but Jenna won’t give him a second chance to break her heart. She will, however, let him be her backup and support when she reconnects with her long-lost brother. But anything could happen on their fateful trip — because Scott still has the moves . . . and the magic. |
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- Lover’s Allure- A Ramsey Romance by AlTonya Washington
(07/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| Journey to Scotland where Darby Ellis and Kraven DeBurgh embark upon a fiery, erotic romance that sets the stage for the next level of Ramsey mystery, drama and revenge. |
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- Vows (Arabesque) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani Press, 07/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| On a well-deserved vacation in exotic Mexico, sensible, practical accountant Vanessa Blanchard allows a maelstrom of desire to turn her world upside down. She’s not sure why she dared to trust gorgeous, mysterious Joshua Kirkland, even though he revealed very little about his past — or their future together. All she knows is that she fell under the spell of a man who made her love him, and then disappeared without a trace. Now Joshua haunts her mind with desperate, unanswered questions and torments her sleepless nights with memories of ecstasy.Unbeknownst to Vanessa, Joshua Kirkland hasn’t abandoned the woman he branded with his passion. His mission began as a game of seduction fueled by suspicion, but it has now turned into a daring race to confront the deadly danger that threatens the love of a lifetime — and the woman he cherishes. |
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- 32 Candles: A Novel by Ernessa T. Carter
(Amistad, 07/01/10, Hardcover)
| 32 Candles is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn’t stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams. Davie — an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi — is positive her life couldn’t be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she’s pretty sure she’s ugly. Just when she’s resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life — Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn’t imitate art. Tormented endlessly in school with the nickname “Monkey Night,” and hopelessly in unrequited love with a handsome football player, James Farrell, Davie finds that it is bittersweet to dream of Molly Ringwald endings. When a cruel school prank goes too far, Davie leaves the life she knows and reinvents herself in the glittery world of Hollywood — as a beautiful and successful lounge singer in a swanky nightclub. Davie is finally a million miles from where she started — until she bumps into her former obsession, James Farrell. To Davie’s astonishment, James doesn’t recognize her, and she can’t bring herself to end the fantasy. She lets him fall as deeply in love with her as she once was with him. But is life ever that simple? Just as they’re about to ride off into the sunset, the past comes back with a vengeance, threatening to crush Davie’s dreams — and break her heart again. With wholly original characters and a cinematic storyline, 32 Candles introduces Ernessa T. Carter, a new voice in fiction with smarts, attitude, and sassiness to spare. |
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- Song of Solomon (Urban Christian) by Kendra Norman-Bellamy
(Urban Books, 07/01/10, Paperback)
- Unconditionally Single by Mary B. Morrison
(Dafina, 07/01/10, Paperback)
| New York Times bestselling author Mary B. Morrison thrills readers with another riveting tale featuring beloved heroine Honey Thomas. This time, Honey goes into hiding to save her life–and fights to keep past enemies from destroying the future she so desperately wants. . .Honey Thomas once made her living as a tough-talking prostitute and madam, but those days are long gone. Now, Honey runs a counseling center she founded in Atlanta that helps women like her get off the streets. The best part is Honey’s new life is being bankrolled by money stolen from her ex-pimp, Valentino James. But no matter how fast Honey runs, she never seems to break free from her demons. Valentino knows Honey has his money–fifty million dollars to be exact–and he’s willing to kill her to get it back. Honey escapes from Valentino by the skin of her teeth, but she knows the time has come to disappear for a while and figure out where her life is headed. In her heart, Honey still aches for Grant Hill, the love she lost when he learned about her dark past. How much more must she lose before she finally finds some peace?Like a cat, Honey Thomas seems to have nine lives, and she’s used up just about every last one of them. But life still has a few surprises left for Honey–and if she’s willing to risk everything, she may just get that happy ending her heart and soul desire. . . |
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- Heart’s Choice (Arabesque) by Celeste O. Norfleet
(Kimani Press, 07/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Before he was a football legend, Devon Hayes fantasized about Hollywood actress Jazelle Richardson. Now that he’s famous in his own right and ready to settle down, meeting Jazz through The Platinum Society seems like destiny. Their sensual chemistry is overwhelming except Jazz wants the one thing Devon can’t give her — a life away from the spotlight.Born to movie star parents, Jazz has seen the problems wealth and fame can bring. Reeling after a loss, she’s not sure she’s ready to get close to anyone again, especially someone who’s so attached to his celebrity status. But by the time Devon figures out what matters most, will he have lost the woman his heart chose to love long ago? |
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June 6, 2010
The top selling books by or about African Americans published in May2010 from Amazon.com.
- The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant
(Pantheon, 05/11/10, Hardcover)
| In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry Aaron’s reputation has only grown in magnitude: he broke existing records (rbis, total bases, extra-base hits) and set new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times, becoming the first player in history to hammer five hundred home runs and three thousand hits). But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball’s immortal figures. Â Based on meticulous research and interviews with former teammates, family, two former presidents, and Aaron himself, The Last Hero chronicles Aaron’s childhood in segregated Alabama, his brief stardom in the Negro Leagues, his complicated relationship with celebrity, and his historic rivalry with Willie Mays — all culminating in the defining event of his life: his shattering of Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record. Â Bryant also examines Aaron’s more complex second act: his quest to become an important voice beyond the ball field when his playing days had ended, his rediscovery by a public disillusioned with today’s tainted heroes, and his disappointment that his career home-run record was finally broken by Barry Bonds during the steroid era, baseball’s greatest scandal. Â Bryant reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time — fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress — and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full equality for African-Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public spotlight. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.From the Hardcover edition. |
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- Red Hats: A Novel by Damon Wayans
(Atria, 05/04/10, Hardcover)
| Meet Alma, a mother and wife, who’s brutally honest and bitter. Disappointment and heartbreak have left the once vital and joyful woman so cynical and self-protecting that she has forgotten how to love anyone, including herself. She has become so accustomed to being resentful of her husband, James, that even when she wants to show him love she doesn’t know how. He made some mistakes over the course of their decades-long marriage, but she made some mistakes, too, which alienated not only her husband but friends and neighbors as well. Deep down she is sorry for what happened and still loves Harold, but stubborn pride eats away the short time they have left to make amends. When she finds herself widowed with grown children in far-off places, a deep loneliness sets in and she starts to give up on life. That is until a group of red hat ladies — whom she once thought of as belonging to a cult — extend hands of friendship and reintroduce her to herself and, possibly, a new love. In this debut novel, Wayans has crafted unforgettable characters in Alma, her family, and friends, and a charming story that stays with the reader long after the last page is read and reminds us of the enduring power of love and friendship. |
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- The Dopefiend: Part 2 of Dopeman’s Trilogy (The Dopefiend Trilogy) by JaQuavis Coleman
(Urban Books, 05/01/10, Paperback)
- Trife Life To Lavish Part 2 Genesis & Genevieve…Am I My Brother’s Keeper by Deja King
(A King Production, 05/25/10, Paperback)
| Nichelle feels betrayed and alone as she wonders what happened to her man Renny and if her best friend Tierra is dead or alive. As she fights through the turmoil she is more determined than ever to locate the brother she never knew she had, Genesis, but will the calculating and ruthless Arnez stand in her way? Genesis is still a broken man after losing his wife on their wedding day. The ever so loyal CoCo is right by his side trying to mend his broken heart but she is not sure if he is interested in what she is offering. Things get further complicated when Genesis begins to focus all his attention on finding out what happened to his long lost sister Genevieve. But as Genesis gets closer to discovering the truth, chaos erupts. Precious has always tried to be in control of her own destiny but she was dealt a card that turned her already shaky relationship with Supreme upside down. As she struggles to keep her family intact, it seems impossible with Nico constantly lurking in the background. Things become further complicated when secrets become revealed and their loyalty is tested. Quentin Jacobs is loved by many and hated by few. But the one person s love he wants more than anything is that of his daughter Precious. Quentin will not be deterred and as he begins to make headway, Precious gives him an ultimatum; it s either me or Maya. Who will he choose? Get ready as this explosive tale reveals all and prepares you for a new generation of street royalty in Bitch…A New Beginning. |
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- Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden
(Akashic Books, 05/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| The seeming inevitability of cruel fate juxtaposes the triumph of the spirit in this remarkably rich and powerful novel, Glorious. Bernice McFadden’s fully realized characters are complicated, imperfect beings, but if ever a character were worthy of love and honor, it is her Easter Bartlett. This very American story is fascinating; it is also heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. — Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route “Riveting. . . . I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes. — Toni Morrison, on The Warmest December Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden’s rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty. Glorious is ultimately an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption. Bernice L. McFadden is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including the classic Sugar and Nowhere Is a Place, which was a Washington Post best fiction title for 2006. She is a two-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of two fiction honors from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). McFadden lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is working on her next novel. |
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- Spontaneous (Harlequin Blaze) by Brenda Jackson
(Harlequin, 05/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Kimani Cannon knows she’s in trouble the second she lays eyes on 6′4″ of luscious male. The best kind of trouble, toomm-mmm! Duan Jeffries turns out to be the perfect man — charming, considerateand the best lover she’s ever had. Too bad Mr. Delicious is just a one-night stand.Until Kim needs a date to her mother’s (fifth) wedding! Duan’s willing to act the part of her fiancé as long as it means full benefits. More amazing sex? No problem!Then Kim finds out that Duan’s got his own private agenda. Suddenly, she doesn’t know what to believe. Her head and heart are telling her to be careful. But the sensual thrumming in her blood is turning out to be much more persuasive. |
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- Flint: Book 7: The Finale by Treasure Hernandez
(Urban Books, 05/25/10, Paperback)
- From Cape Town with Love: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel by Blair Underwood
(Atria, 05/18/10, Hardcover)
| THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF CASANEGRA AND IN THE NIGHT OF THE HEAT TEAM UP FOR A THIRD TIME TO PRESENT FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE, A TENNYSON HARDWICK NOVEL.Actor-turned-detective Tennyson Hardwick has solved two high-profile deaths in Hollywood, but nothing has prepared him for a race to save a child’s life. Tennyson’s past in the sex game cost him his new girlfriend, and he brings her to Cape Town, South Africa — a scenic film destination and playground for the rich — to try to win her back. There Tennyson is hired as a bodyguard by superstar Sofia Maitlin when she visits an orphanage to adopt an African child.Months later, Maitlin offers Tennyson one of Hollywood’s hottest tickets — a job as a bodyguard at adopted daughter Nandi’s A-list celebrity birthday party. But the party is over before it begins. When Nandi’s birthday goes dreadfully wrong, it’s up to a guilt-ridden Tennyson to save a child’s life and reunite a Hollywood family.But how? He can’t go to the police, the FBI has threatened to arrest him, and Big Brother is monitoring his telephone calls. To find Nandi, Tennyson will have to rely on tips from his father — a retired LAPD captain — and a mysterious woman from his past, Marsha, who has already proven she can’t be trusted. His strongest lead is a deadly knife fighter known only as Spider. When his search for the missing child crosses Marsha’s covert investigation into a criminal gang with ties to South Africa, Tennyson knows that finding Nandi might cost him his freedom — or his life. |
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- Curly Like Me: How to Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long, and Strong by Teri LaFlesh
(Wiley, 05/03/10, Paperback)
| The simple secrets to growing your curls healthy and long. Tightly curly hair isn’t like any other type of hair, and it needs totally different care to make it happy. Do you spend countless hours — and untold dollars — on weaves, perms, salon visits, and products that promise to change, heal, or make your hair more manageable, only to end up even more frustrated? Do you wrestle daily with hair you can’t get a brush through? Do you struggle to keep from hurting your child when you comb through her tight curls? Would you like to grow your tightly curly hair long and healthy? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book was written for you. It gives you the information and techniques you need to celebrate — not fight against — your very curly hair. You will learn how not only to care for your curls, but to cherish them, all the while saving time, effort, and money. Curly Like Me is the off-the-grid, do-it-yourself owner’s manual for tightly curly hair: Learn how to wear your own curls in their natural curl patterns Over 250 photographs and illustrations Includes the best products, tools, ingredients, curl-enhancing hairstyle ideas, tips for growing out your perm, and more Shows you pain-free techniques on how to comb and style your curls or your child’s curls Over thirty easy, curl-enhancing hairstyle ideas, tips for growing out your perm, and more Helps you save money by avoiding costly treatments, products, marketing misinformation, and frequent salon visits so you can enjoy your own curls without pain, chemicals, or the use of weaves or extensions The story (with lots of photos) of Teri’s journey from hair broken by relaxers, texturizers, improper care, trying to force it to conform, and fighting her weave addiction to finally understanding her own curls. Now her natural hair reaches to her hips. End your struggles with misunderstood, damaged hair and begin your journey to thriving natural curls. Applying the ideas and information in this book will show you how to love your hair the way it really is. Curly Like Me empowers you to take back the care of your hair so you can let your own beautiful curls shine. Teri LaFlesh spent nearly thirty years working to find a way to make her curls happy. Not wanting anyone else to go through with their hair what she did with hers inspired Teri to create the popular Web site TightlyCurly.com and to write Curly Like Me. |
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- By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat by Tracye Lynn McQuirter MPH
(Lawrence Hill Books, 05/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| * The first vegan guide geared to African American women * More than forty delicious and nutritious recipes highlighted with color photographs* Menus and advice on transitioning from omnivore to vegan* Resource information and a comprehensive shopping list for restocking the fridge and pantry African American women are facing a health crisis: Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes occur more frequently among them than among women of other races. Black women comprise the heftiest group in the nation — 80 percent are overweight, and 50 percent obese. Decades of studies show that these chronic diseases can be prevented and even reversed with a plant-based diet. But how can you control your weight and health without sacrificing great food and gorgeous curves?Just ask Tracye Lynn McQuirter. With attitude, inspiration, and expertise, in By Any Greens Necessary McQuirter shows women how to stay healthy, hippy, and happy by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes as part of an active lifestyle. The book is a call to action that all women should heed. |
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- The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South by Alex Heard
(Harper, 05/01/10, Hardcover)
| A gripping saga of race and retribution in the Deep South and a story whose haunting details echo the themes of To Kill a Mockingbird In 1945, Willie McGee, a young African-American man from Laurel, Mississippi, was sentenced to death for allegedly raping Willette Hawkins, a white housewife. At first, McGee’s case was barely noticed, covered only in hostile Mississippi newspapers and far-left publications such as the Daily Worker. Then Bella Abzug, a young New York labor lawyer, was hired by the Civil Rights Congress — an aggressive civil rights organization with ties to the Communist Party of the United States — to oversee McGee’s defense. Together with William Patterson, the son of a slave and a devout believer in the need for revolutionary change, Abzug and a group of white Mississippi lawyers risked their lives to plead McGee’s case. After years of court battles, McGee’s supporters flooded President Harry S. Truman and the U.S. Supreme Court with clemency pleas, and famous Americans — including William Faulkner, Albert Einstein, Jessica Mitford, Paul Robeson, Norman Mailer, and Josephine Baker — spoke out on McGee’s behalf. By the time the case ended in 1951 with McGee’s public execution in Mississippi’s infamous traveling electric chair, “Free Willie McGee” had become a rallying cry among civil rights activists, progressives, leftists, and Communist Party members. Their movement had succeeded in convincing millions of people worldwide that McGee had been framed and that the real story involved a consensual love affair between him and Mrs. Hawkins — one that she had instigated and controlled. As Heard discovered, this controversial theory is a doorway to a tangle of secrets that spawned a legacy of confusion, misinformation, and pain that still resonates today. The mysteries surrounding McGee’s case live on in this provocative tale of justice in the Deep South. Based on exhaustive documentary research — court transcripts, newspaper reports, archived papers, letters, FBI documents, and the recollections of family members on both sides — Mississippi native Alex Heard tells a moving and unforgettable story that evokes the bitter conflicts between black and white, North and South, in America. |
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- Duke Ellington’s America by Harvey G. Cohen
(University Of Chicago Press, 05/01/10, Hardcover)
| Few American artists in any medium have enjoyed the international and lasting cultural impact of Duke Ellington. From jazz standards such as “Mood Indigo and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, to his longer, more orchestral suites, to his leadership of the stellar big band he toured and performed with for decades after most big bands folded, Ellington represented a singular, pathbreaking force in music over the course of a half-century. At the same time, as one of the most prominent black public figures in history, Ellington demonstrated leadership on questions of civil rights, equality, and America’s role in the world.With Duke Ellington’s America, Harvey G. Cohen paints a vivid picture of Ellington’s life and times, taking him from his youth in the black middle class enclave of Washington, D.C., to the heights of worldwide acclaim. Mining extensive archives, many never before available, plus new interviews with Ellington’s friends, family, band members, and business associates, Cohen illuminates his constantly evolving approach to composition, performance, and the music business — as well as issues of race, equality and religion. Ellington’s own voice, meanwhile, animates the book throughout, giving Duke Ellington’s America an intimacy and immediacy unmatched by any previous account.By far the most thorough and nuanced portrait yet of this towering figure, Duke Ellington’s America highlights Ellington’s importance as a figure in American history as well as in American music. |
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- Breakaway (Arabesque) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani Press, 05/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| When E.R. doctor Celia Cole-Thomas is wounded and her fiancé killed in a shootout at the hospital, the only way she can heal her body and her heart is to spend time at her mountain retreat. In her remote cabin on the Tennessee border, she isolates herself from the world — until Gavin Faulkner moves into a nearby lodge. And as hard as Celia tries to stay away, Gavin’s friendship and sensuality are slowly bringing her back to life.An FBI special agent, Gavin has been ordered to apprehend a fugitive in the area. The moment he meets Celia, he knows he can’t pass up the chance to show this vibrant woman all the passion she’s been missing. But his dangerous assignment could shatter the fragile trust they’ve built, unless he can convince her that love’s rewards are worth the risks. |
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- Lily in Full Bloom (Disney Fairies) (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) by Laura Driscoll
(RH/Disney, 05/11/10, Paperback)
| This blooming good story is the 18th book in our popular Disney Fairies chapter book series, which features Tinker Bell’s adventures in Never Land with her fairy friends. Lily has always thought of herself as a garden-talent fairy first and foremost. But after Tink challenges the other talents to think up new ideas, Lily discovers she’s pretty good at inventing things, too, like her new flowers, the panglories. They grow anywhere — in dirt, on wood, even on rocks! But then little gray spots pop up, first on the panglories, then on other flowers, until all the plants in Pixie Hollow start losing their colors. Can Lily invent a way out of this new fix? |
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- What’s Really Hood!: A Collection of Tales from the Streets by Wahida Clark
(Grand Central Publishing, 05/24/10, Paperback)
| Life in the streets take on a whole new meaning in this urban anthology of “hood” tales compiled by New York Times bestselling author Wahida ClarkWHAT’S REALLY HOOD!Black Is Blue by Victor L. Martin delves into the life of a corporate woman who falls in love with a thug and finds out just how easy it is to stray from the straight and narrow. Eighteen and hungry Wiz’s only addiction to drugs is the money it made. But Crystal changed all of that and shows him just how powerful a woman can be in The P is Free by LaShonda Teague. In The LastLaugh by Bonta, Bobo, a member of the infamous Eight-Trey street gang, learns that gang life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be as “street wars” take on a whole new meaning. Shawn “Jihad” Trump tells the story of loyalty, love and honor, when The Point Blank Mob is brought to its knees leaving the crew fighting for their lives and freedom in All for Nothing. And New York Times bestselling author, Wahida Clark, introduces Nina, a woman tired of being disrespected by men who takes revenge to the ultimate level in Makin’ Endz Meet. |
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- Black Diamond 2: Nicety by Brittani Williams
(Urban Books, 05/01/10, Paperback)
- An Actor and a Gentleman by Louis Gossett Jr.
(Wiley, 05/03/10, Hardcover)
| Award-winning African American actor Lou Gossett Jr. takes an unvarnished look at the daunting challenges and incredible triumphs of his fifty-five year career Louis Gossett Jr. is one of the most respected African American stage and screen actors, who rose to fame with his Emmy-winning role in the television miniseries Roots and Oscar-winning performance in An Officer and a Gentleman. Now he tells the story of his fifty-plus years in the entertainment world — from his early success on the New York stage appearing with Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in A Raisin in the Sun, through his long Hollywood career working alongside countless stars, including Marilyn Monroe and Dennis Quaid. He writes frankly of his struggle to get leading roles and fair pay as a black man in Hollywood, his problems with drugs and alcohol that took years to overcome, and his current work to eradicate racism and violence and give our children a better future. Includes revealing stories and reminiscences involving famous performers, including Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Shirley Booth, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve McQueen, Richard Gere, Maggie Smith, Halle Berry, and Gena Rowlands Spans half a century of American theater and film history, people, and performances Highlights the problem of racism in Hollywood and the challenges faced by African American actors from the 1950s and 1960s onward An Actor and a Gentleman penetrates the celebrity glitz and glamour to offer an honest, heartfelt portrayal of the African American experience both in Hollywood and the New York theater world, as told by one of the nation’s most enduring and highly esteemed actors. |
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- Give Me Fever by Niobia Bryant
(Dafina, 05/01/10, Paperback)
| She had everything she needed–until she met himIt looked like it would take a miracle for sexy nature guide Jade Prince to notice quiet accountant Kaeden Strong. Then a camping vacation left them stranded together, sharing a sleeping bag and a wild encounter that burned up the cold night. When it comes to making heat, they’re compatible in every way, except. . .He’s a workaholic who’s allergic to the outdoors. She’s an adventuress with a vixen’s body and a tomboy heart. He’s wanted Jade from the moment he saw her, but so do a long line of men–including her business partner, Darren. On paper, Kaeden is all wrong for Jade–but can he prove he’s right in all the ways that really matter? |
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- Rhythms of Love: You Sang to Me\Beats of My Heart (Kimani Romance) by Beverly Jenkins
(Kimani, 05/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
Four hearts. Two stories. One melody of love.
You Sang to Me by Beverly Jenkins – Sassy streetwise crooner Regina Carson is still dreaming of her big break. And when Jamal Watts hears the stunning songbird, he’s ready to sign her to his label. The love-burned producer isn’t prepared for the passion Regina unleashes in him. Suddenly they’re both hitting all the right notes. But Regina isn’t ready to trust her heart — unless this gorgeous, caring man can show her how, together, they can make the most beautiful music of all.
Beats of My Heart by Elaine Overton – Rayne Philips worked hard to turn her jazz club into the hottest downtown scene in the city. But her latest hire — hot young guitarist Tristan Daniels — is throwing off her rhythm. Tristan’s star is on the rise and he wants to make more than sweet music with the sultry club owner. Can the mixed medley of the past turn into a brand-new tempo — the tempo of love? |
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- Freedom Is Not Enough: The Moynihan Report and America’s Struggle over Black Family Life–from LBJ to Obama by James T. Patterson
(Basic Books, 05/04/10, Hardcover)
| On June 4, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson delivered what he and many others considered the greatest civil rights speech of his career. Proudly, Johnson hailed the new freedoms granted to African Americans due to the newly passed Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, but noted that “freedom is not enough.” The next stage of the movement would be to secure racial equality “as a fact and a result.” The speech was drafted by an assistant secretary of labor by the name of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who had just a few months earlier drafted a scorching report on the deterioration of the urban black family in America. When that report was leaked to the press a month after Johnson’s speech, it created a whirlwind of controversy from which Johnson’s civil rights initiatives would never recover. But Moynihan’s arguments proved startlingly prescient, and established the terms of a debate about welfare policy that have endured for forty-five years.The history of one of the great missed opportunities in American history, Freedom Is Not Enough will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand our nation’s ongoing failure to address the tragedy of the black underclass. |
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May 12, 2010
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
(Crown, 01/28/10, Kindle Edition)
| Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons — as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family — especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.From the Hardcover edition. |
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- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
(New Press, The, 01/05/10, Kindle Edition)
| Jarvious Cotton’s great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation; his father was barred by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Cotton cannot vote because he, like many black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole. –FROM THE NEW JIM CROW As the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status–much like their grandparents before them. In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community–and all of us–to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America. |
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- Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides
(Doubleday, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| From the acclaimed bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder, a taut, intense narrative about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history. On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man — whose real name was James Earl Ray — drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace’s racist presidential campaign. On February 1, 1968, two Memphis garbage men were crushed to death in their hydraulic truck, provoking the exclusively African American workforce to go on strike. Hoping to resuscitate his faltering crusade, King joined the sanitation workers’ cause, but their march down Beale Street, the historic avenue of the blues, turned violent. Humiliated, King fatefully vowed to return to Memphis in April. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel when the drifter catches up with his prey. Against the backdrop of the resulting nationwide riots and the pathos of King’s funeral, Sides gives us a riveting cross-cut narrative of the assassin’s flight and the sixty-five-day search that led investigators to Canada, Portugal, and England — a massive manhunt ironically led by Hoover’s FBI. Magnificent in scope, drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, this nonfiction thriller illuminates one of the darkest hours in American life — an example of how history is so often a matter of the petty bringing down the great. |
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- Alex Cross’s TRIAL by James Patterson
(Grand Central Publishing, 04/06/10, Paperback)
| Separated by timeFrom his grandmother, Alex Cross has heard the story of his great uncle Abraham and his struggles for survival in the era of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, Alex passes the family tale along to his own children in a novel he’s written–a novel called Trial.Connected by bloodAs a lawyer in turn-of-the-century Washington D.C., Ben Corbett represents the toughest cases. Fighting against oppression and racism, he risks his family and his life in the process. When President Roosevelt asks Ben to return to his home town to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan there, he cannot refuse. United by braveryWhen he arrives in Eudora, Mississippi, Ben meets the wise Abraham Cross and his beautiful granddaughter, Moody. Ben enlists their help, and the two Crosses introduce him to the hidden side of the idyllic Southern town. Lynchings have become commonplace and residents of the town’s black quarter live in constant fear. Ben aims to break the reign of terror–but the truth of who is really behind it could break his heart. Written in the fearless voice of Detective Alex Cross, Alex Cross’s Trial is a gripping story of murder, love, and, above all, bravery. |
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- Cross Fire by James Patterson
(Little, Brown and Company, 11/15/10, Hardcover)
| Wedding bells ringDetective Alex Cross and Bree’s wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.’s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories–is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?A murderer returnsThe case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims’ movements–information that only a Washington insider could possess.Caught in a lethal cross fire As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson’s most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever. |
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- The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
(Algonquin Books, 02/10/10, Kindle Edition)
| This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white. In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, here is a portrait of a young girl — and society’s ideas of race, class, and beauty. It is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice. |
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- Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden
(Akashic Books, 05/01/10, Kindle Edition)
| The seeming inevitability of cruel fate juxtaposes the triumph of the spirit in this remarkably rich and powerful novel, Glorious. Bernice McFadden’s fully realized characters are complicated, imperfect beings, but if ever a character were worthy of love and honor, it is her Easter Bartlett. This very American story is fascinating; it is also heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. — Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route “Riveting. . . . I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes.” — Toni Morrison, on The Warmest December Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden’s rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty. Glorious is ultimately an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption. Bernice L. McFadden is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including the classic Sugar and Nowhere Is a Place, which was a Washington Post best fiction title for 2006. She is a two-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of two fiction honors from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). McFadden lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is working on her next novel. |
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- Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
(Amistad, 01/01/10, Hardcover)
| An ambitious and startling debut novel that follows the lives of four women at a resort popular among slaveholders who bring their enslaved mistresses wench \’wench\ n. from Middle English “wenchel,” 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child. Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don’t bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory — but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave behind everything these women value most — friends and families still down South — and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances — all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era. An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery. |
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- Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
(Smiley Books, 02/01/10, Paperback)
| “Black people are not dark-skinned white people,” says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are much more. They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of “No way!” At this pivotal point in history, the idea of black inferiority should have had a “Going-Out-of-Business Sale.” After all, Barack Obama has reached America’s Promised Land. Yet, as Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority testifies, too many in black America are still wandering in the wilderness. In this powerful examination of “the greatest propaganda campaign of all time” — the masterful marketing of black inferiority, aka the BI Complex — Burrell poses ten disturbing questions that will make black people look in the mirror and ask why, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many blacks still think and act like slaves. Burrell’s acute awareness of the power of words and images to shift, shape, and change the collective consciousness has led him to connect the contemporary and historical dots that have brought us to this crossroads. Brainwashed is not a reprimand — it is a call to action. It demands that we question our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. Racism is not the issue; how we respond to media distortions and programmed self-hatred is the issue. It’s time to reverse the BI campaign with a globally based initiative that harnesses the power of new media and the wisdom of intergenerational coalitions. Provocative and powerful, Brainwashed dares to expose the wounds so that we, at last, can heal. |
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- Sensual Confessions (Madaris Family) by Brenda Jackson
(Kimani Press, 04/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Blade Madaris has watched the men in his family surrender their single status one by one, and he has no plans to join them. But the gorgeous attorney he meets at his cousin’s wedding would make a fine notch on his bedpost. And when circumstances bring them together for six months, Blade formulates a plan to sweep Samari Di Meglio off her feet and into his arms.Though Blade is the kind of player Sam has spent years avoiding, a no-strings one-night stand is too tempting to resist. But their sizzling night together comes with unforeseen complications. Blade can’t walk away from the most passionate woman he’s ever met. To break through her resistance, the consummate bachelor will have to bare his soul and confess everything that’s in his heart — . |
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- Spontaneous (Harlequin Blaze) by Brenda Jackson
(Harlequin, 05/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Kimani Cannon knows she’s in trouble the second she lays eyes on 6′4″ of luscious male. The best kind of trouble, too — mm-mmm! Duan Jeffries turns out to be the perfect man — charming, considerate — and the best lover she’s ever had. Too bad Mr. Delicious is just a one-night stand.Until Kim needs a date to her mother’s (fifth) wedding! Duan’s willing to act the part of her fiance — as long as it means full benefits. More amazing sex? No problem! Then Kim finds out that Duan’s got his own private agenda. Suddenly, she doesn’t know what to believe. Her head and heart are telling her to be careful. But the sensual thrumming in her blood is turning out to be much more persuasive . |
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- The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
(Spiegel & Grau, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had grown up in similar neighborhoods and had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world. |
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- Wifey 4 Life (Part 5) by Kiki Swinson
(Melodrama Publishing, 02/16/10, Paperback)
| Kira’s quiet life in the islands is interrupted when she’s called back to Virginia to attend her cousin Nikki’s funeral. Reluctantly, Kira plans a short, incognito trip to do just that. However, her plans are derailed when news of her arrival spreads. Now there’s a bounty on her head, and several snakes are ready to cash in. Behind enemy lines in her own hometown, Kira is faced with yet another battle to stay alive as she finds out once again, that she’s living on borrowed time. Will she be able to cheat death again, or will death snatch her from behind in part five of the Wifey series? |
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- Unzipped: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire
(One World/Ballantine, 03/23/10, Paperback)
| Have you ever had everything you love snatched from your hands in the blink of an eye? Do you know what it’s like to watch helplessly as those you cherish burn to a crisp? Have you ever heard a mournful cry for street justice and then realized that the only person left to heed the call was you? Pearl Baines is a straight Harlem stunna. She and her twin sister, Diamond, are chased by some of the most notorious ballers in New York City. But while their father, ex-gangsta Irish Baines, devotes his life to rehabilitating young thugs, his sexy twin daughters fall hard for the glamour and glitter of strip clubs and street life. Unlike Diamond, though, Pearl is able to shake off the trappings of the hood in search of a better future. After graduating at the top of her class, Pearl becomes an FBI agent and plans to get as far away from the grime of Harlem as possible. But fate is cruel and the streets always get their due. On what should have been the happiest night of her life, Pearl’s family perishes in a ball of merciless flames — flames intentionally set on the orders of Mookie Mason, her father’s archenemy and the most ruthless gangsta in Harlem.Crazed with grief, Pearl becomes unzipped. Hell-bent on retribution, she prepares for battle in New York’s urban jungle. With the help of Menace, an ex-lover who once trampled all over her heart but was deeply loyal to Irish Baines, Pearl puts her FBI training and tactical skills to work in a murderous mission designed to do what her father wasn’t able to: take down Mookie Mason, and his entire crew, one at a time. |
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- Relapse: A Novel by Nikki Turner
(One World/Ballantine, 04/20/10, Paperback)
| Nikki Turner, Queen of Hip-Hop Lit, is back with one of her gutsiest female characters yet, a glamorous chick with a high-end hustle that can rival any man’s game. As the respected, renowned concierge for a luxury hotel chain, Beijing Lee caters to the wealthy and famous. Whether it’s securing a dinner reservation, a fleet of limos, or a record deal, or protecting her clients from the paparazzi, there’s nothing Beijing can’t do. She’s stacked up an impressive pile of IOUs from the world’s elite — and one day she decides it’s time to start cashing in. Before long, she’s a five-star diva running her own lucrative business, where she secures her clients their most outrageous — and increasingly illegal — desires.But Beijing has her own addiction: a man named Lootchee, who lavishes her with even more diamonds and luxury than she already has. But behind Lootchee’s charm and over-the-top romantic gestures is a selfish, high-stakes hustler who lures Beijing into a dangerous web that takes even this seasoned enterpriser by surpise, and breaks her heart in the process.Once the ball finally drops, it’ll take a ghost from Beijing’s past to rescue her — not only from those who are out to seriously harm her, but from herself. |
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- Hot Westmoreland Nights (Silhouette Desire) by Brenda Jackson
(Silhouette, 03/16/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| He knew better than to lust after the hired help. But Ramsey Westmoreland’s new cook was just so delectable — it was enough to make the Denver rancher rethink his rules. When temptation got the best of him, he discovered Chloe Burton was just as hot in the bedroom as she was in the kitchen.Though their affair was growing steamier by the minute, Ramsey couldn’t help but question Chloe’s true motives. And when he discovered her ultimate betrayal, he was set to satisfy himself with cold showers. Until he realized his fatal mistake: never underestimate the power of the human heart, especially a Westmoreland’s. |
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- The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Elaine Meryl Brown
(One World/Ballantine, 03/02/10, Hardcover)
| In this engaging and invaluable “mentor in your pocket,” three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game — and win.Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership — self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage — while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don’t become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don’t assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female).Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made — and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time. |
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- In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance by Wilbert Rideau
(Knopf, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| From Wilbert Rideau, the award-winning journalist who spent forty-four years in Louisiana prisons working against unimaginable odds to redeem himself, the story of a remarkable life: a crime, its punishment, and ultimate triumph.After killing a woman in a moment of panic following a botched bank robbery, Rideau, denied a fair trial, was improperly sentenced to death at the age of nineteen. After more than a decade on death row, his sentence was amended to life imprisonment, and he joined the inmate population of the infamous Angola penitentiary. Soon Rideau became editor of the prison newsmagazine The Angolite, which under his leadership became an uncensored, daring, and crusading journal instrumental in reforming the violent prison and the corrupt Louisiana justice system.With the same incisive feel for detail that brought Rideau great critical acclaim, here he brings to vivid life the world of the prison through the power of his pen. We see Angola’s unique culture, encompassing not only rivalries, sexual slavery, ingrained racism, and daily, soul-killing injustices but also acts of courage and decency by keeper and kept alike. As we relive Rideau’s remarkable rehabilitation — he lived a more productive life in prison than do most outside — we also witness his long struggle for justice. In the Place of Justice goes far beyond the confines of a prison memoir, giving us a searing expose of the failures of our legal system framed within the dramatic tale of a man who found meaning, purpose, and hope in prison. This is a deeply moving, eloquent, and inspirational story about perseverance, unexpected friendships and love, and the possibility that good can be forged under any circumstances. |
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- Breakaway (Arabesque) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani Press, 05/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| When E.R. doctor Celia Cole-Thomas is wounded and her fiance killed in a shootout at the hospital, the only way she can heal her body and her heart is to spend time at her mountain retreat. In her remote cabin on the Tennessee border, she isolates herself from the world — until Gavin Faulkner moves into a nearby lodge. And as hard as Celia tries to stay away, Gavin’s friendship and sensuality are slowly bringing her back to life.An FBI special agent, Gavin has been ordered to apprehend a fugitive in the area. The moment he meets Celia, he knows he can’t pass up the chance to show this vibrant woman all the passion she’s been missing. But his dangerous assignment could shatter the fragile trust they’ve built, unless he can convince her that love’s rewards are worth the risks — . |
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- The Dopefiend: Part 2 of Dopeman’s Trilogy (The Dopefiend Trilogy) by JaQuavis Coleman
(Urban Books, 05/01/10, Paperback)
May 12, 2010
The top selling books by or about African Americans published in April 2010 from Amazon.com.
- Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides
(Doubleday, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| From the acclaimed bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder, a taut, intense narrative about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the largest manhunt in American history. On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man — whose real name was James Earl Ray — drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace’s racist presidential campaign. On February 1, 1968, two Memphis garbage men were crushed to death in their hydraulic truck, provoking the exclusively African American workforce to go on strike. Hoping to resuscitate his faltering crusade, King joined the sanitation workers’ cause, but their march down Beale Street, the historic avenue of the blues, turned violent. Humiliated, King fatefully vowed to return to Memphis in April. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel when the drifter catches up with his prey. Against the backdrop of the resulting nationwide riots and the pathos of King’s funeral, Sides gives us a riveting cross-cut narrative of the assassin’s flight and the sixty-five-day search that led investigators to Canada, Portugal, and England — a massive manhunt ironically led by Hoover’s FBI. Magnificent in scope, drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, this nonfiction thriller illuminates one of the darkest hours in American life — an example of how history is so often a matter of the petty bringing down the great. |
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- Alex Cross’s TRIAL by James Patterson
(Grand Central Publishing, 04/06/10, Paperback)
| Separated by timeFrom his grandmother, Alex Cross has heard the story of his great uncle Abraham and his struggles for survival in the era of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, Alex passes the family tale along to his own children in a novel he’s written–a novel called Trial.Connected by bloodAs a lawyer in turn-of-the-century Washington D.C., Ben Corbett represents the toughest cases. Fighting against oppression and racism, he risks his family and his life in the process. When President Roosevelt asks Ben to return to his home town to investigate rumors of the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan there, he cannot refuse. United by braveryWhen he arrives in Eudora, Mississippi, Ben meets the wise Abraham Cross and his beautiful granddaughter, Moody. Ben enlists their help, and the two Crosses introduce him to the hidden side of the idyllic Southern town. Lynchings have become commonplace and residents of the town’s black quarter live in constant fear. Ben aims to break the reign of terror–but the truth of who is really behind it could break his heart. Written in the fearless voice of Detective Alex Cross, Alex Cross’s Trial is a gripping story of murder, love, and, above all, bravery. |
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- Sensual Confessions (Madaris Family) by Brenda Jackson
(Kimani Press, 04/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Blade Madaris has watched the men in his family surrender their single status one by one, and he has no plans to join them. But the gorgeous attorney he meets at his cousin’s wedding would make a fine notch on his bedpost. And when circumstances bring them together for six months, Blade formulates a plan to sweep Samari Di Meglio off her feet and into his arms.Though Blade is the kind of player Sam has spent years avoiding, a no-strings one-night stand is too tempting to resist. But their sizzling night together comes with unforeseen complications. Blade can’t walk away from the most passionate woman he’s ever met. To break through her resistance, the consummate bachelor will have to bare his soul and confess everything that’s in his heart…. |
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- The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
(Spiegel & Grau, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had grown up in similar neighborhoods and had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world. |
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- Relapse: A Novel by Nikki Turner
(One World/Ballantine, 04/20/10, Paperback)
| Nikki Turner, Queen of Hip-Hop Lit, is back with one of her gutsiest female characters yet, a glamorous chick with a high-end hustle that can rival any man’s game. As the respected, renowned concierge for a luxury hotel chain, Beijing Lee caters to the wealthy and famous. Whether it’s securing a dinner reservation, a fleet of limos, or a record deal, or protecting her clients from the paparazzi, there’s nothing Beijing can’t do. She’s stacked up an impressive pile of IOUs from the world’s elite — and one day she decides it’s time to start cashing in. Before long, she’s a five-star diva running her own lucrative business, where she secures her clients their most outrageous — and increasingly illegal — desires.But Beijing has her own addiction: a man named Lootchee, who lavishes her with even more diamonds and luxury than she already has. But behind Lootchee’s charm and over-the-top romantic gestures is a selfish, high-stakes hustler who lures Beijing into a dangerous web that takes even this seasoned enterpriser by surpise, and breaks her heart in the process.Once the ball finally drops, it’ll take a ghost from Beijing’s past to rescue her — not only from those who are out to seriously harm her, but from herself. |
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- In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance by Wilbert Rideau
(Knopf, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| From Wilbert Rideau, the award-winning journalist who spent forty-four years in Louisiana prisons working against unimaginable odds to redeem himself, the story of a remarkable life: a crime, its punishment, and ultimate triumph.After killing a woman in a moment of panic following a botched bank robbery, Rideau, denied a fair trial, was improperly sentenced to death at the age of nineteen. After more than a decade on death row, his sentence was amended to life imprisonment, and he joined the inmate population of the infamous Angola penitentiary. Soon Rideau became editor of the prison newsmagazine The Angolite, which under his leadership became an uncensored, daring, and crusading journal instrumental in reforming the violent prison and the corrupt Louisiana justice system.With the same incisive feel for detail that brought Rideau great critical acclaim, here he brings to vivid life the world of the prison through the power of his pen. We see Angola’s unique culture, encompassing not only rivalries, sexual slavery, ingrained racism, and daily, soul-killing injustices but also acts of courage and decency by keeper and kept alike. As we relive Rideau’s remarkable rehabilitation — he lived a more productive life in prison than do most outside — we also witness his long struggle for justice. In the Place of Justice goes far beyond the confines of a prison memoir, giving us a searing exposé of the failures of our legal system framed within the dramatic tale of a man who found meaning, purpose, and hope in prison. This is a deeply moving, eloquent, and inspirational story about perseverance, unexpected friendships and love, and the possibility that good can be forged under any circumstances. |
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- Foxy: My Life in Three Acts by Pam Grier
(Grand Central Publishing, 04/28/10, Hardcover)
| Some may know her as hot, gutsy, gun-totin’ Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown. Others may know her from her role as Kit Porter on The L Word. But that only defines one part of the legend that is Pam Grier. Foxy is Pam’s testimony of her life, past and present. In it, she reveals her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze Sr., among others. She unveils her experiences as a backup singer and a blaxploitation star. In particularly candid and shocking chapters, she shares-for the first time-her view of those films and the persecution that blacks, especially women, needed to endure to make a name for themselves . . . including how it felt to be labeled one of the most beautiful women alive, yet not be permitted to try on clothes in a department store because of the color of her skin. And in words sure to inspire many, she tells the story of her ongoing battle with cancer. From her disappointments to her triumphs, nothing is held back. With FOXY, Pam wishes to impart life lessons to her readers-and hopes to touch their hearts. |
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- It Had to Be You (Grayson Friends) by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 04/27/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Most musicians would do anything to work with the hot, young record producer known as “Rolling Deep.” R.D. can pick and choose any artist he wants–and he wants Laurel Raineau. A classical violinist, Laurel plays soaring music that touches R.D. to his very soul. But the last thing Laurel wants is to work with someone whose exploits with the ladies appear in the tabloids every week. Not one to take no for an answer, R.D. keeps trying–and failing–to let Laurel know that he’s not the player he’s made out to be. So he introduces himself to her by his real name, Zachary Wilder, hoping to win her over. But it’s Zach who falls under this beauty’s spell. Now it’s only a matter of time before Laurel learns who the man she’s losing her heart to really is–but can she walk away from a passion that feels so right? |
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- Till You Hear from Me: A Novel by Pearl Cleage
(One World/Ballantine, 04/20/10, Hardcover)
| From the acclaimed Pearl Cleage, author of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day . . . and Seen It All and Done the Rest, comes an Obama-era romance featuring a cast of unforgettable characters. Just when it appears that all her hard work on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is about to pay off with a White House job, thirty-five-year-old Ida B. Wells Dunbar finds herself on Washington, D.C.’s post-election sidelines even as her twentysomething counterparts overrun the West Wing. Adding to her woes, her father, the Reverend Horace A. Dunbar, Atlanta civil rights icon and self-described “foot soldier for freedom,” is notoriously featured on an endlessly replayed YouTube clip in which his pronouncements don’t exactly jibe with the new era in American politics. The Rev’s stinging words and myopic views don’t sound anything like the man who raised Ida to make her mark in the world. When friends call to express their concern, Ida realizes it’s time to head home and see for herself what’s going on. Besides, with her job prospects growing dimmer, getting out of D.C. for a while might be the smartest move she could make. Back in her old West End neighborhood, Ida runs into childhood friend and smooth political operator Wes Harper, also in town to pay a visit to the Reverend Dunbar, his mentor. Ida doesn’t trust Wes or his mysterious connections for one second, but she can’t deny her growing attraction to him. While Ida and the Rev try to find the balance between personal loyalties and political realities, they must do some serious soul searching in order to get things back on track before Wes permanently derails their best laid plans. |
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- Crossing The Line (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Bernice Layton
(Genesis Press, 04/01/10, Paperback)
- Dirty To The Grave by Karen Williams
(Urban Books, 04/01/10, Paperback)
- Naughty No More (Urban Renaissance) by Brenda Hampton
(Urban Books, 04/01/10, Paperback)
- Unspoken Lies (Urban Renaissance) by Darrien Lee
(Urban Books, 04/01/10, Paperback)
- Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry
(Harvard University Press, 04/30/10, Hardcover)
| The story of the Confederate States of America, the proslavery, antidemocratic nation created by white Southern slaveholders to protect their property, has been told many times in heroic and martial narratives. Now, however, Stephanie McCurry tells a very different tale of the Confederate experience. When the grandiosity of Southerners’ national ambitions met the harsh realities of wartime crises, unintended consequences ensued. Although Southern statesmen and generals had built the most powerful slave regime in the Western world, they had excluded the majority of their own people — white women and slaves — and thereby sowed the seeds of their demise. Wartime scarcity of food, labor, and soldiers tested the Confederate vision at every point and created domestic crises to match those found on the battlefields. Women and slaves became critical political actors as they contested government enlistment and tax and welfare policies, and struggled for their freedom. The attempt to repress a majority of its own population backfired on the Confederate States of America as the disenfranchised demanded to be counted and considered in the great struggle over slavery, emancipation, democracy, and nationhood. That Confederate struggle played out in a highly charged international arena. The political project of the Confederacy was tried by its own people and failed. The government was forced to become accountable to women and slaves, provoking an astounding transformation of the slaveholders’ state. Confederate Reckoning is the startling story of this epic political battle in which women and slaves helped to decide the fate of the Confederacy and the outcome of the Civil War. |
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- Yesterday’s Promise (Second Chance at Love) by Vanessa Miller
(Whitaker House, 04/06/10, Paperback)
| Melinda Johnson has always felt called to ministry. So, when her father, Bishop Langston Johnson, decides to step down after thirty years of leadership at Omega Christian Center, it seems only natural for her to take his place. But Bishop Johnson feels led by a God who has other things in mind, and to succeed him, he appoints Steven Marks-a man who is opposed to female pastors, not to mention the fact that he is Melinda’s ex-fiancé. Feeling defeated, Melinda nevertheless maintains her position as the church’s Missions and Community Outreach Director. Frequent interaction with the new bishop incites bitter sparring-and rekindles long-suppressed attraction, which grows only stronger when Melinda develops a relationship with Steven’s precious daughter, Brianna, who’s still struggling with the death of her mother. Can Steven and Melinda set aside past pains, forgive each other, and learn to love again? Or will their opposing positions regarding women preachers keep them forever at odds? |
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- The Real Thing by J.J. Murray
(Kensington, 04/01/10, Paperback)
| Former boxing champion Dante “Blood and Guts” Lattanza is being featured in Personality magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” issue, and reporter Christiana Artis has the scoop. There’s just one hitch: she’ll have to fly to her elusive subject’s home in Canada. But once she lays eyes on Dante’s chiseled physique and sultry Italian looks, she decides it was worth every mile. Too bad his icy demeanor doesn’t match his hot body. Since he lost his last fight ten years ago, Dante has led a reclusive life–and he never gives interviews. But he’s making a comeback, ready to prove to the world–and his ex-wife–that he can still win a championship. He gives Christiana an ultimatum: if she can perform five tasks, she can ask him five questions. And then she can be on her way. Yet Dante’s always had a weakness for beautiful black women, and seeing Christiana everyday is enough to melt his defenses. Soon Christiana is an intimate part of the very story she came to write. But when the line between personal and professional gets blurred, it can be difficult to see when you’ve found the real thing. . .. |
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- Stop Being Niggardly: And Nine Other Things Black People Need to Stop Doing by Karen Hunter
(Karen Hunter, 04/27/10, Hardcover)
| nig·gard·ly (adj.) [nig´erd-le]1. stingy, miserly; not generous2. begrudging about spending or granting3. provided in a meanly limited supply If you don’t know the definition of the word, you might assume it to be a derogatory insult, a racial slur. You might be personally offended and deeply outraged. You might write an angry editorial or organize a march. You might even find yourself making national headlines In other words, you’d better know what the word means before you pour your energy into overreacting to it. That’s the jumping-off point for this powerful directive from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Karen Hunter. It’s time for the black community to stop marching, quit complaining, roll up their collective sleeves, channel their anger constructively, and start fixing their own problems, she boldly asserts. And while her straight-talking, often politically incorrect narrative is electrifyingly fresh and utterly relevant to today’s hot-button issues surrounding race, Hunter harks back to the wisdom of a respected elder — Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was ahead of her time penning Twelve Things the Negro Must Do for Himself more than a century ago. Burroughs’s guidelines for successful living — from making education, employment, and home ownership one’s priorities to dressing appropriately to practicing faith in everyday life — teach empowerment through self-responsibility, disallowing excuses for one’s standing in life but rather galvanizing blacks to look to themselves for strength, motivation, support, and encouragement. From our urban communities to small-town America, the issues Hunter is bold enough to tackle in Stop Being Niggardly affect us all. Refreshingly candid and challenging, certain to get people everywhere talking, this is the book that takes on race in a new — yet also historically revered and simply stated — way that can change lives, both personally and collectively. |
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- Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture by Lee D. Baker
(Duke University Press, 04/01/10, Paperback)
| In the late nineteenth century, if ethnologists in the United States recognized African American culture, they often perceived it as something to be overcome and left behind. At the same time, they were committed to salvaging “disappearing” Native American culture by curating objects, narrating practices, and recording languages. In Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture, Lee D. Baker examines theories of race and culture developed by American anthropologists during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth. He investigates the role that ethnologists played in creating a racial politics of culture in which Indians had a culture worthy of preservation and exhibition while African Americans did not. Baker argues that the concept of culture developed by ethnologists to understand American Indian languages and customs in the nineteenth century formed the basis of the anthropological concept of race eventually used to confront “the Negro problem” in the twentieth century. As he explores the implications of anthropology’s different approaches to African Americans and Native Americans, and the field’s different but overlapping theories of race and culture, Baker delves into the careers of prominent anthropologists and ethnologists, including James Mooney Jr., Frederic W. Putnam, Daniel G. Brinton, and Franz Boas. His analysis takes into account not only scientific societies, journals, museums, and universities, but also the development of sociology in the United States, African American and Native American activists and intellectuals, philanthropy, the media, and government entities from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Supreme Court. In Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture, Baker tells how anthropology has both responded to and helped shape ideas about race and culture in the United States, and how its ideas have been appropriated (and misappropriated) to wildly different ends. |
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- Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II (Oral History) by J. Todd Moye
(Oxford University Press, USA, 04/14/10, Hardcover)
| As the country’s first African American military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen fought in World War II on two fronts: against the Axis powers in the skies over Europe and against Jim Crow racism and segregation at home. Although the pilots flew more than 15,000 sorties and destroyed more than 200 German aircraft, their most far-reaching achievement defies quantification: delivering a powerful blow to racial inequality and discrimination in American life. In this inspiring account of the Tuskegee Airmen, historian J. Todd Moye captures the challenges and triumphs of these brave pilots in their own words, drawing on more than 800 interviews recorded for the National Park Service’s Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Project. |
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- Best Kept Secrets (Arabesque) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani, 04/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| With the tumult of the Great War finally at an end, ambitious Samuel Cole returns from Europe determined to forge his own destiny as a wealthy entrepreneur. The lush lands of the Caribbean will provide the means to wealth, but they offer private bounty, as well — a bride.Marguerite-Josefina Diaz is the toast of Havana, the convent-educated daughter of a wealthy cigar manufacturer. Beautiful and intelligent, M.J. dreams of distant lands and a liberated future for herself — and she believes charming, handsome Samuel will deliver both. But neither of them anticipates the new realities of their life in West Palm Beach — the social injustices, the demands of a growing family and the secret passions that threaten the empire Samuel has vowed to build. |
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April 11, 2010
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
(Crown, 02/02/10, Hardcover)
| Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons — as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family — especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. |
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- Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
(Smiley Books, 02/01/10, Paperback)
| “Black people are not dark-skinned white people,” says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are much more. They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of “No way!” At this pivotal point in history, the idea of black inferiority should have had a “Going-Out-of-Business Sale.” After all, Barack Obama has reached America’s Promised Land. Yet, as Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority testifies, too many in black America are still wandering in the wilderness. In this powerful examination of “the greatest propaganda campaign of all time” — the masterful marketing of black inferiority, aka the BI Complex — Burrell poses ten disturbing questions that will make black people look in the mirror and ask why, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many blacks still think and act like slaves. Burrell’s acute awareness of the power of words and images to shift, shape, and change the collective consciousness has led him to connect the contemporary and historical dots that have brought us to this crossroads. Brainwashed is not a reprimand — it is a call to action. It demands that we question our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. Racism is not the issue; how we respond to media distortions and programmed self-hatred is the issue. It’s time to reverse the BI campaign with a globally based initiative that harnesses the power of new media and the wisdom of intergenerational coalitions. Provocative and powerful, Brainwashed dares to expose the wounds so that we, at last, can heal. |
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- Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
(Amistad, 01/01/10, Hardcover)
| Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don’t bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory — but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave behind everything these women value most — friends and families still down South — and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances — all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era. An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery. |
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- Sensual Confessions (Madaris Family) by Brenda Jackson
(Kimani Press, 04/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Blade Madaris has watched the men in his family surrender their single status one by one, and he has no plans to join them. But the gorgeous attorney he meets at his cousin’s wedding would make a fine notch on his bedpost. And when circumstances bring them together for six months, Blade formulates a plan to sweep Samari Di Meglio off her feet and into his arms.Though Blade is the kind of player Sam has spent years avoiding, a no-strings one-night stand is too tempting to resist. But their sizzling night together comes with unforeseen complications. Blade can’t walk away from the most passionate woman he’s ever met. To break through her resistance, the consummate bachelor will have to bare his soul and confess everything that’s in his heart! . |
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- Wifey 4 Life by Kiki Swinson
(Melodrama Publishing, 02/16/10, Paperback)
| Kira’s quiet life in the islands is interrupted when she’s called back to Virginia to attend her cousin Nikki’s funeral. Reluctantly, Kira plans a short, incognito trip to do just that. However, her plans are derailed when news of her arrival spreads. Now there’s a bounty on her head, and several snakes are ready to cash in. Behind enemy lines in her own hometown, Kira is faced with yet another battle to stay alive as she finds out once again, that she’s living on borrowed time. Will she be able to cheat death again, or will death snatch her from behind in part five of the Wifey series? |
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- The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin
(Viking Adult, 01/21/10, Hardcover)
| A leading historian offers a sweeping new account of the African American experience over four centuries Four great migrations defined the history of black people in America: the violent removal of Africans to the east coast of North America known as the Middle Passage; the relocation of one million slaves to the interior of the antebellum South; the movement of more than six million blacks to the industrial cities of the north and west a century later; and since the late 1960s, the arrival of black immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe. These epic migra tions have made and remade African American life. Ira Berlin’s magisterial new account of these passages evokes both the terrible price and the moving triumphs of a people forcibly and then willingly migrating to America. In effect, Berlin rewrites the master narrative of African America, challenging the traditional presentation of a linear path of progress. He finds instead a dynamic of change in which eras of deep rootedness alternate with eras of massive movement, tradition giving way to innovation. The culture of black America is constantly evolving, affected by (and affecting) places as far away from one another as Biloxi, Chicago, Kingston, and Lagos. Certain to garner widespread media attention, The Making of African America is a bold new account of a long and crucial chapter of American history. |
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- Hot Westmoreland Nights (Silhouette Desire) by Brenda Jackson
(Silhouette, 03/16/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| He knew better than to lust after the hired help. But Ramsey Westmoreland’s new cook was just so delectable! it was enough to make the Denver rancher rethink his rules. When temptation got the best of him, he discovered Chloe Burton was just as hot in the bedroom as she was in the kitchen.Though their affair was growing steamier by the minute, Ramsey couldn’t help but question Chloe’s true motives. And when he discovered her ultimate betrayal, he was set to satisfy himself with cold showers. Until he realized his fatal mistake: never underestimate the power of the human heart, especially a Westmoreland’s. |
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- Dirtier Than Ever: A Novel by Vickie M. Stringer
(Atria, 02/16/10, Hardcover)
| Following the phenomenal success of Essence bestsellers Dirty Red and Still Dirty, Vickie M. Stringer takes readers on another bumpy ride in Dirtier Than Ever with Red, Bacon, and Q — the crazy love-hate triangle who makes the series a favorite among urban fiction fans.Q wished that Bacon had killed Red when he had the chance. Red knew that Q’s career as a hustler was over and he was counting on starting a new legit business with the money he had made. He had once believed her when she promised that the money didn’t mean a thing and she would give it all up to be with him. Bacon returns from prison and suddenly Q is left for dead. With Q out of the picture, Bacon now has Red to himself. His sights are set on being the top hustler with Red by his side. He believes Red has fi nally changed when she reveals the truth about her past. But all comes to a head when the snooping detective, Thomas, suspects Red’s involvement in Q’s getting shot and the murder of Zeke, Q’s best friend. With two murders, a tumultuous love affair, andmoney on her mind, Red must make a decision . . . does she turn over a new leaf or revisit her dirty ways of old? Gritty, steamy, and intense, Stringer delivers another page-turning caper about a hustler in high heels who is Dirtier Than Ever. |
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- If You Were My Man by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Griffin, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| Nathalyia Fontaine has been the sole proprietor of the restaurant Fontaine since her husband died four years ago. She hasn’t dated anyone in all those years, choosing not to open her heart again, or risk revealing her dark past. That is, until she meets Rafael Dunlap. Rafael is a hostage negotiator with his own set of problems. Though he loves women, he vows he’ll never marry because his job is just too unpredictable. He can’t imagine leaving a widow and children behind. But his thinking and game plan of loving and leaving changes when he meets Nathalyia. Though she tries to resist him, Rafael sweeps her into a whirlwind romance. When the unexpected happens, and Nathalyia is forced to keep it a secret, she ends things with Rafael before he can break her heart. But when Rafael is in harms way, will Nathalyia resolve to tell him the truth before it’s too late? Or will past demons keep them apart forever? |
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- Unzipped: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire
(One World/Ballantine, 03/23/10, Paperback)
| Have you ever had everything you love snatched from your hands in the blink of an eye? Do you know what it’s like to watch helplessly as those you cherish burn to a crisp? Have you ever heard a mournful cry for street justice and then realized that the only person left to heed the call was you? Pearl Baines is a straight Harlem stunna. She and her twin sister, Diamond, are chased by some of the most notorious ballers in New York City. But while their father, ex-gangsta Irish Baines, devotes his life to rehabilitating young thugs, his sexy twin daughters fall hard for the glamour and glitter of strip clubs and street life. Unlike Diamond, though, Pearl is able to shake off the trappings of the hood in search of a better future. After graduating at the top of her class, Pearl becomes an FBI agent and plans to get as far away from the grime of Harlem as possible. But fate is cruel and the streets always get their due. On what should have been the happiest night of her life, Pearl’s family perishes in a ball of merciless flames — flames intentionally set on the orders of Mookie Mason, her father’s archenemy and the most ruthless gangsta in Harlem.Crazed with grief, Pearl becomes unzipped. Hell-bent on retribution, she prepares for battle in New York’s urban jungle. With the help of Menace, an ex-lover who once trampled all over her heart but was deeply loyal to Irish Baines, Pearl puts her FBI training and tactical skills to work in a murderous mission designed to do what her father wasn’t able to: take down Mookie Mason, and his entire crew, one at a time. |
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- Moth To A Flame by Ashley Antoinette
(Urban Trade Paper, 03/01/10, Paperback)
| In the little city of Flint, MI, the good die young and the people left standing are the grimiest of characters. With reign over the city’s drug trade, Benjamin Atkins made sure that his precious daughter, Raven, was secluded from the grit that the city had to offer. But when Raven’s young heart gets claimed by Mizan, a stick-up kid in search of a come-up, there’s nothing Benjamin can do about losing her to the streets. She chooses love over loyalty and runs off with Mizan, but her new role as wifey soon proves to be more than she can handle.Puppy love always feels right, but things turn stale, and she soon finds that everyone she loves has disappeared. All she has is Mizan, but when hugs and kisses turn to bloody lips and black eyes, she realizes that Mizan is not who she thought he was. Raven becomes desperate for a way out, but this time, Daddy can’t save her. Every time she finds the courage to leave, fear convinces her to stay. Like a moth to a flame, Raven is drawn to Mizan, even though she knows he’ll be the death of her. When the hood life she chose becomes unbearable and the only way out is in a coffin, what will she do? |
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- Cross Fire by James Patterson
(Little, Brown and Company, 11/15/10, Hardcover)
| Wedding bells ringDetective Alex Cross and Bree’s wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.’s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories–is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?A murderer returnsThe case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims’ movements–information that only a Washington insider could possess.Caught in a lethal cross fire As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson’s most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever. |
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- Married on Mondays by HoneyB
(Grand Central Publishing, 03/24/10, Hardcover)
| By day, Valerie Cooper, Dierdra Dawson, and Foxy Brown assist their husbands, all partners at the law firm Brown, Cooper, and Dawson. But at night, they become Vanilla Cream, Cherry Cream, and Sugar Cream, and run an upscale swingers club called Cream. Their clientele include everyone from judges, lawyers, politicians, and police officers, to soccer moms and housewives. Business is booming at the hottest club in town. Until the police chief extends an indecent proposal to Foxy: sleep with him, or go to jail. With the whole town standing behind Cream (and not just because they all happen to be clients), the women must decide whether to stand together and fight, or risk losing their business. |
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- Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber
(Kensington, 02/01/10, Hardcover)
| New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber cranks up the heat in this explosive follow-up to Something on the Side–a novel of friendship, family ties, and the bonds–and betrayals–of love. . . Isis and her sister, Egypt–two of the original curvaceous members of the Big Girls Book Club–have hightailed it out of New York and settled in Richmond, Virginia, where they’ve started a new chapter of the BGBC. The same rules apply here: You must be at least a bodacious size 14 to join. Living in the plush suburbs, Isis has it all–almost. The thirty-seven-year-old plus-size beauty is happily married to Rashid, and they’re living in the lap of luxury. There’s just one thing missing. They want to start a family. Enter Egypt, who’s moved into her sister’s McMansion with dreams of starting over. There’s just one hitch: before her sister married Rashid, he was Egypt’s man for ten years. Egypt thought she was over him, but the close quarters are giving both her and her sister doubts. She’s ready to pack her bags until Isis and Rashid ask her for a serious favor. Egypt knows she shouldn’t get involved, but she can’t say no to her sister–even if the price might be way too high for them all. Egypt isn’t the only one with drama. Rumor has it that Loraine–Isis’s brilliant boss and one of BGBC’s newest members–is in the running to be her sorority’s next national president. But Loraine has more than one secret that will ruin her if they ever see the light of day. Thank goodness only one other person knows them–BGBC’s first male member, Jerome–and what he knows just might destroy him. As friendships and family and past and present collide, these book lovers are about to learn that drama can follow you wherever you go–and that big girls do cry… |
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- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
(New Press, The, 01/05/10, Hardcover)
| Jarvious Cotton’s great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation; his father was barred by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Cotton cannot vote because he, like many black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole. –FROM THE NEW JIM CROW As the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status–much like their grandparents before them. In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community–and all of us–to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America. |
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- Be Careful What You Pray For by Kimberla Lawson Roby
(William Morrow, 02/01/10, Hardcover)
| New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with this delightful sequel to The Best of Everything, in which the infamous Reverend Curtis Black’s beautiful daughter, Alicia, is all grown up — and headed for trouble of her own Her first marriage didn’t work out, but that isn’t going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants. One month after her wedding to her second husband, she can’t believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father. Unfortunately, Alicia doesn’t understand just how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. She doesn’t know that JT has been sneaking around town with other women — or that he only married her to get close to her father’s money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn’t. He warned his little girl that JT simply can’t be trusted. After all, it takes one to know one, and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner’s heart than Curtis? It will take a miracle to save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon a host of lies, longtime secrets, and acts of betrayal comes to light, and Alicia must face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she’s got to be careful what she prays for. . . . |
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- The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Elaine Meryl Brown
(One World/Ballantine, 03/02/10, Hardcover)
| In this engaging and invaluable “mentor in your pocket,” three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game — and win.Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership — self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage — while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don’t become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don’t assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female).Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made — and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time. |
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- Forever Yours: The Taggart Brothers by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 03/30/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Why would a happily divorced, independent businesswoman like Victoria Chandler agree to get married again? It’s called desperation. To keep her lingerie boutiques from going bankrupt, Victoria’s got to find a husband — and fast. But what kind of man would accept a marriage proposal that sounds more like a business proposition? Enter Kane Taggart! Big, handsome, smart, rich — Kane is one fine catch who could have any woman he wants. But there’s something about Victoria that leaves this silver-tongued rancher speechless with desire. He’s tempted by her offer: one year of marriage, no strings attached. But when they seal the deal with a soul-searing kiss, Kane makes a deliciously indecent proposal of his own! |
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- It Is Well with My Soul: The Extraordinary Life of a 106-Year-Old Woman by Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson
(Penguin (Non-Classics), 03/31/10, Paperback)
| An African American centenarian shares wisdom from a life well lived An inspirational, dynamic, and one-of-a-kind woman, Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson’s ordinary life has been nothing less than extraordinary throughout the course of her 105 years. The oldest living black graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Ella Mae is the child of former slaves who has experienced the best and worst of the past century, including the 2009 presidential inauguration, which she memorably attended last January. Through it all, she has endured-and thrived-by believing that compassion is the key to the good life. In Ella Mae, she shares her insights on living a long and enjoyable life and her hopes for the future. |
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- Message From A Mistress by Niobia Bryant
(Dafina, 03/01/10, Paperback)
| Niobia Bryant–the red-hot author of Show and Tell–delivers a sexy, unforgettable novel about love, infidelity, and the importance of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. . .Through good times and bad, longtime friends Jaime, Renee, Aria, and Jessa have shared just about everything. But all hell breaks loose when Jessa texts them a shocking revelation: she’s been sharing her bed–with one of their husbands. To make matters worse, she refuses to name which husband she’s been cheating with. And all three wives believe they have reason to worry. . .Jaime wonders if her own past infidelity drove her man into Jessa’s waiting arms. . . Renee thinks her busy career opened the door for Jessa to step in and fulfill her wifely duties. . .and Aria fears her competitive relationship with Jessa pushed her so-called friend to claim the ultimate prize in revenge. The betrayed trio vow to stick together. But before the identity of Jessa’s lover is revealed, each woman’s deepest secrets will be exposed for all to see–and they’ll need each other more than ever. |
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April 11, 2010
The top-selling books about Michelle Obama published in 2010 (as of 4/1/2010).
- Totally Toned Arms: Get Michelle Obama Arms in 21 Days by Rylan Duggan
(Wellness Central, 01/06/10, Paperback)
| Once Barack Obama joined the presidential race and attended events with wife at his side, the media, bloggers, and people everywhere started buzzing about Michelle’s toned arms–and asking how on earth she does it. Even at the Presidential Inauguration, much of the talk was about Michelle’s amazing arms. Media outlets from GMA to CNN to MSNBC have covered the story, inspiring women across the country to call their personal trainers and say, “I want Obama arms!”Certified personal trainer Rylan Duggan, creator of the successful (and pricey, at $70 each!) e-book series Go Sleeveless!, constantly gets calls from clients and reporters asking for the training secrets behind Michelle’s arms. Duggan is the expert quoted in much of this coverage, and in TOTALLY TONED ARMS, he offers his 21-day program to get those sleek and sexy arms.In this low-priced paperback, Duggan reveals the program (combining strength training and cardio) including a 7-day jumpstart maintenance plan, and essential diet secrets designed to shed fat and reveal toned muscle, plus 50-60 black and white photos throughout to illustrate. This is a simple program that anyone can do, no matter what their fitness level, at home and with little equipment. With this series of 25 easy exercises, anyone can have Obama arms– in a matter of weeks! |
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- A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago’s Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond by Craig Robinson
(Gotham, 04/20/10, Hardcover)
| The eagerly anticipated inspirational memoir from Michelle Obama’s brother, celebrating the extraordinary family members and mentors who have shaped his life When he stepped into history’s spotlight at the National Democratic Convention, Craig Robinson recalls that nothing could have been more gratifying than introducing his sister, Michelle Obama, to millions of Americans. Within minutes, he won the hearts of the nation by sharing highlights of growing up in the modest Robinson household, where the two were raised by devoted parents who taught them the values of education, hard work, and the importance of reaching far beyond what even seemed possible. Those lessons of character were fundamentals in shaping Craig Robinson’s own remarkable journey: from his days playing street basketball on Chicago’s Southside, while excelling academically, to admission at Princeton University, where he was later named Ivy League Player of the Year, twice. After playing professionally in Europe, Robinson made an about-face, entering the competitive field of finance. With his MBA from the University of Chicago, his meteoric rise landed him a partnership in a promising new venture. But another dream beckoned and Craig made the unusual decision to forego the trappings of money and status in the business world in order to become a basketball coach. He soon helped transform three struggling teams – as an assistant coach at Northwestern, then as head coach at Brown and now at Oregon State University. In his first season at OSU, he navigated what was declared to be one of the nation’s best single season turnarounds. In A Game of Character, Robinson takes readers behind the scenes to meet his most important influences in his understanding of the winning traits that are part of his playbook for success. Central to his story are his parents, Marian and Fraser, two indefatigable individuals who showed their children how to believe in themselves and live their lives with conviction through love, discipline and respect. With insights into this exemplary family, we relive memories of how Marian sacrificed a career to be a full-time mom, how Fraser got up and went to work every day while confronting the challenges of multiple sclerosis, how Craig and Michelle strengthened their bond as they journeyed out of the Southside to Princeton University and eventually, the national stage. Heartwarming, inspiring, and even transformational, A Game of Character comes just at the right time in an era of change, reminding readers of our opportunity to work together and embrace the character of our nation, to make a difference in the lives of others and to pave the way for the next generation. |
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- Michelle Obama: In Her Own Words by Michelle Obama
(CreateSpace, 02/18/10, Paperback)
| A complete documentary collection of all Remarks and Speeches held by Michelle Obama within one year (since she became First Lady of the United States.) All 65 remarks were released by the Office of the First Lady, an entity of the White House Administration, and published by The White House. “A Must Read for Everyone interested in Social Issues”, and a Must Read for Everyone who wants to learn more about the First Lady, her thoughts, her opinion, and her views. 1 year serving as the First Lady. 65 remarks. 266 pages. Carefully collected, formatted and re-published by SoHo Books. |
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- Michelle Obama: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies) by Alma Halbert Bond
(Greenwood, 07/31/10, Hardcover)
| Independent and supportive, elegant and down-to-earth, an accomplished professional and family anchor as her husband rose to the presidency, Michelle Obama is to many the consummate life partner in politics and the epitome of the 21st-century working mom. Michelle Obama: A Biography offers an unprecedented look at one of the most captivating women of our time, one who is sure to add her own distinctive legacy to the tradition of presidential wives.Ranging across the full arc of Michelle Obama’s life, this revealing biography tells the story of her family background — her great-great-grandfather was a slave — her modest Chicago upbringing, her education and well-established legal career, and her relationship with her husband before, during, and after he reached the pinnacle of American politics. |
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- Michelle Obama: Primera dama y primera mama /Michelle Obama: Mom in Chief (Spanish Edition) by Roberta Edwards
(Altea, 02/28/10, Paperback)
Michelle Obama never considered a life in politics and now she is our new First Lady. From the bestselling duo of Barack Obama: United States President comes this easy to read biography filled with photos of the entire Obama family. It charts Michelle s life from her childhood in Chicago, her years at Princeton and Harvard Law, and her historic journey to the White House.
Spanish Description: Michelle Obama nunca penso que se dedicaria a la politica, hoy en dia es la primera dama de los Estados Unidos de America! Este tomo, parte del exitoso duo Barack Obama: United States President, nos presenta una amena biografia del historico trayecto de Michelle Obama, desde su infancia en Chicago y su epoca de estudiante en Princeton y la escuela de leyes de Harvard, hasta su llegada a la Casa Blanca. El texto es facil de leer y cuenta con fotografias de la familia Obama. |
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- First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama by Betty Caroli
(Oxford University Press, USA, 07/15/10, Paperback)
| Betty Boyd Caroli’s engrossing and informative First Ladies is both a captivating read and an essential resource for anyone interested in the role of America’s First Ladies. This expanded and updated fourth edition includes Laura Bush’s tenure, Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid, and an in-depth look at Michelle Obama, one of the most charismatic and appealing First Ladies in recent history. Covering all forty-one women from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama and including the daughters, daughters-in-law, and sisters of presidents who sometimes served as First Ladies, Caroli explores each woman’s background, marriage, and accomplishments and failures in office. This remarkably diverse lot included Abigail Adams, whose “remember the ladies” became a twentieth-century feminist refrain; Jane Pierce, who prayed her husband would lose the election; Helen Taft, who insisted on living in the White House, although her husband would have preferred a judgeship; Eleanor Roosevelt, who epitomized the politically involved First Lady; and Pat Nixon, who perfected what some have called “the robot image.” They ranged in age from early 20s to late 60s; some received superb educations for their time, while others had little or no schooling. Including the courageous and adventurous, the emotionally unstable, the ambitious, and the reserved, these women often did not fit the traditional expectations of a presidential helpmate. Here then is an engaging portrait of how each First Lady changed the role and how the role changed in response to American culture. These women left remarkably complete records, and their stories offer us a window through which to view not only this particular sorority of women, but also American women in general. “Impressive…Caroli’s profiles and observations of American first ladies and their relationship to the media are intelligent and perceptive.” –Philadelphia Inquirer |
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- First Lady Michelle Obama: REMARKS! by Michelle Obama
(CreateSpace, 02/18/10, Paperback)
| First Lady Michelle Obama – REMARKS! is a complete documentary collection of all Remarks and Speeches held by Michelle Obama within one year (since she became First Lady of the United States.) All 63 remarks were released by the Office of the First Lady, an entity of the White House Administration, and published by The White House. “A Must Read for Everyone interested in Social Issues”, and a Must Read for Everyone who wants to learn more about the First Lady, her thoughts, her opinion, and her views. 1 year serving as the First Lady. 65 remarks. 266 pages. Carefully collected, formatted and re-published by SoHo Books. |
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- Michelle Obama: The Making of a First Lady by Dawne Allette
(Tamarind, 02/23/10, Paperback)
| I want you to know that we have very much in common. For nothing in my life would have predicted that I would be standing here as First Lady of the United States of America…’ When Michelle Obama spoke these words in a London school, the effect on the students was overwhelming. Her inspiring words, approachable nature and regal style make Michelle a much-loved public figure and a role model in her own right. A child of working class parents in Chicago, Michelle went on to become an Ivy League graduate, a lawyer, and an international icon as wife to President Barack Obama. Her life is a tale of extraordinary achievement in a changing society. |
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- Essence First Lady Michelle Obama: An Extraordinary Woman of Substance, Service & Style by Editors of Essence Magazine
(Essence, 10/26/10, Hardcover)
| Through her commitment to her family and community, professional pursuits and personal passions, First Lady Michelle Obama is redefining possibilities and opportunities for women in this century. ESSENCE chronicled Mrs. Obama before she ventured into the national spotlight. Now, in First Lady Michelle Obama: An Extraordinary Woman of Substance, Service & Style, ESSENCE editors will recapture those early moments and illuminate her current role as First Lady today in a special commemorative book that charts one of the most incredible personal journeys in American history. First Lady Michelle Obama: An Extraordinary Woman of Substance, Service & Style, will document Mrs. Obama’s life from the South Side of Chicago to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This lavishly illustrated title will explore the social, cultural, and political impact of the First Lady’s education, health, and military family initiatives; her national and international causes and campaigns; and her broad fashion sense that connects with both Seventh Avenue and Main Street. Like the best-sellers The Obamas in the White House: Reflections on Family, Faith and Leadership, and The Obamas: Portrait of America’s New First Family, the new book from ESSENCE editors will combine stunning images of the First Lady in and out of the White House, with the President and her family, along with memorable quotes she’s provided exclusively to the magazine and from her most popular speeches and addresses. |
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- Michelle Obama (Basic Biographies) by Susan Kesselring
(Childs World, 2010-01, Library Binding)
- Michelle Obama: Our First Lady (Making History: the Obamas) by Amelie Von Zumbusch
(PowerKids Press, 01/15/10, Paperback)
- Michelle Obama (People in the News) by Michael V. Uschan
(Lucent Books, 05/07/10, Library Binding)
- Michelle Obama (Pebble Plus) by Lucia Raatma
(, 2010-08, School & Library Binding)
April 11, 2010
The top-selling books about Barack Obama published in 2010 (as of 4/1/2010).
- Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda by Sean Hannity
(Harper Paperbacks, 03/30/10, Paperback)
| Barack Obama and his radical team of self-professed socialists, fringe activists, and others are trying to remake the American way of life. They have used their new Democratic majority to launch an alarming assault on our capitalist system — while abandoning the war on terror, undermining our national security, and weakening our position in the eyes of our enemies. The “candidate of change” is threatening to change our country irreparably, and for the worse — if we don’t act to stop him now. Sean Hannity has been sounding the alarms about Obama and his agenda from the start. Now — in his first new book in six years — he issues a stirring call to action. Hannity surveys all the major Obama players — from the president’s affiliation with radical theology to his advisers’ history of Marxist activism, repression of the media, support for leftist dictators, and worse. He exposes their resulting campaign to dismantle the American free-market system and forfeit our national sovereignty. But he draws on the examples of Ronald Reagan and the GOP’s Contract with America to show how conservatives can unite behind this country’s most cherished principles and act now to get America back on the right track — while we still can. |
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- Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann
(Harper, 01/01/10, Hardcover)
| In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country’s leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character-driven and dialogue-rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, it’s an intimate portrait of some of the most powerful and fascinating figures in American life — the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime. |
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- Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation by Jason Mattera
(Threshold Editions, 03/23/10, Hardcover)
| In 2008, Barack Obama lobotomized a generation. For an entire year, otherwise clear-thinking members of the most affluent, over-educated, information-drenched generation in American history fell prey to the most expensive, hi-tech, laser-focused marketing assault in presidential campaign history. Twitter messages were machine-gunned to cell phones at mach speed. Facebook and MySpace groups spread across the Internet like digital fire. YouTube videos featuring celebrities ricocheted across the globe and into college students’ in-boxes with devastating regularity. All the while, the mega-money-raising engine whirred like a slot machine stuck on jackpot. The result: an unthinking mass of young voters marched forward to elect the most radical and untested president in U.S. history. Recognized as one of the country’s top young conservative activists by Human Events, Jason Mattera created an internet sensation with ambush video interviews that exposed clueless young liberals and cunning Democratic officials. Now he reveals the jaw-dropping lengths Barack Obama and his allies in Hollywood, Washington, and Academia went to in order to transform a legion of iPod-listening, MTV-watching followers into a winning coalition that threatens to become a long-lasting political realignment. Obama Zombies uncovers the true, behind-the-scenes story of the methods and tactics the Obama campaign unleashed on youth culture. Through personal interviews and meticulous original research, Mattera explains why conservatism’s future rests upon jolting the young masses from their slumber, yanking out their earphones, and sparking a countercultural conservative battle against the rise of the ignorant Left. The lesson from 2008 is crystal clear: When true conservatives run away, Obama zombies come out to play. |
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- That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom: Team Obama’s Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans by Michael Graham
(Regnery Press, 03/23/10, Hardcover)
| Responsible. Independent. Hard-working. These are qualities which used to define Americans. But now we’re a nation of whiners, blamers, and excuse-makers. So says Michael Graham – radio talk show host, former GOP campaign consultant, and journalist — in his new book, That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom. That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom taps into the frustration and anxiety felt by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers at Tea Parties nationwide. Frustration that the government is taking over our lives; punishing success while rewarding failure; and fostering a society of Americans who don’t take responsibility for their actions and then expect the government — and their fellow citizens — to pick up the bill. Graham, known for his searing wit and controversial comments, also explains who the tea party “activists” really are: ordinary, everyday citizens pushed into action by the threat of higher taxes and increased government intrusion. Tackling everything from the economy and education to health care and the housing market, Graham argues that it’s up to us to take control back from the government bureaucrats and to restore the home-spun values of hard work, fair play, and individual responsibility. That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom shows us how. |
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- Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack by Marc A. Thiessen
(Regnery Press, 01/18/10, Hardcover)
| White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen was locked in a secure room and given access to the most sensitive intelligence when he was tasked to write President George W. Bush’s 2006 speech explaining the CIA’s interrogation program and why Congress should authorize it. Few know more about these CIA operations than Thiessen, and in his new book, Courting Disaster, he documents just how effective the CIA’s interrogations were in foiling attacks on America, penetrating al-Qaeda’s high command, and providing our military with actionable intelligence. Thiessen also shows how reckless President Obama has been in shutting down the CIA’s program and releasing secret documents that have aided our enemies. Courting Disaster proves:How the CIA program thwarted specific deadly attacks against the U.S.Why “enhanced interrogation” was not torture by any reasonable legal or moral standardHow the information gained by “enhanced interrogation” could not have been acquired any other wayHow President Obama’s actions since taking office have left America much more vulnerable to attackIn chilling detail, Thiessen reveals how close the terrorists came to striking again, how intelligence gained from “enhanced interrogation” repeatedly stymied their plots, and how President Obama’s dismantling of this CIA program is inviting disaster for America. |
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- The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick
(Knopf, 04/06/10, Hardcover)
| No story has been more central to America’s history this century than the rise of Barack Obama, and until now, no journalist or historian has written a book that fully investigates the circumstances and experiences of Obama’s life or explores the ambition behind his rise. Those familiar with Obama’s own best-selling memoir or his campaign speeches know the touchstones and details that he chooses to emphasize, but now — from a writer whose gift for illuminating the historical significance of unfolding events is without peer — we have a portrait, at once masterly and fresh, nuanced and unexpected, of a young man in search of himself, and of a rising politician determined to become the first African-American president.The Bridge offers the most complete account yet of Obama’s tragic father, a brilliant economist who abandoned his family and ended his life as a beaten man; of his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who had a child as a teenager and then built her career as an anthropologist living and studying in Indonesia; and of the succession of elite institutions that first exposed Obama to the social tensions and intellectual currents that would force him to imagine and fashion an identity for himself. Through extensive on-the-record interviews with friends and teachers, mentors and disparagers, family members and Obama himself, David Remnick allows us to see how a rootless, unaccomplished, and confused young man created himself first as a community organizer in Chicago, an experience that would not only shape his urge to work in politics but give him a home and a community, and that would propel him to Harvard Law School, where his sense of a greater mission emerged.Deftly setting Obama’s political career against the galvanizing intersection of race and politics in Chicago’s history, Remnick shows us how that city’s complex racial legacy would make Obama’s forays into politics a source of controversy and bare-knuckle tactics: his clashes with older black politicians in the Illinois State Senate, his disastrous decision to challenge the former Black Panther Bobby Rush for Congress in 2000, the sex scandals that would decimate his more experienced opponents in the 2004 Senate race, and the story — from both sides — of his confrontation with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. By looking at Obama’s political rise through the prism of our racial history, Remnick gives us the conflicting agendas of black politicians: the dilemmas of men like Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, and Joseph Lowery, heroes of the civil rights movement, who are forced to reassess old loyalties and understand the priorities of a new generation of African-American leaders.The Bridge revisits the American drama of race, from slavery to civil rights, and makes clear how Obama’s quest is not just his own but is emblematic of a nation where destiny is defined by individuals keen to imagine a future that is different from the reality of their current lives. |
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- Game Change CD: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann
(HarperAudio, 03/01/10, Audio CD)
| “This shit would be really interesting if we weren’t in the middle of it.” — Barack Obama, September 2008 In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton — and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama’s partner and America’s face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime. |
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- The Promise: President Obama, Year One by Jonathan Alter
(Simon & Schuster, 05/18/10, Hardcover)
| Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery. In The Promise: President Obama, Year One, Jonathan Alter, one of the country’s most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama’s difficult debut. What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and off-hours, using what his best friend called “a Rubik’s Cube in his brain”? These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office. The Promise is a fast-paced and incisive narrative of a young risk-taking president carving his own path amid sky-high expectations and surging joblessness. Alter reveals that it was Obama alone — “feeling lucky” — who insisted on pushing major health care reform over the objections of his vice president and top advisors, including his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who admitted that “I begged him not to do this.” Alter takes the reader inside the room as Obama prevents a fistfight involving a congressman, coldly reprimands the military brass for insubordination, crashes the key meeting at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, and realizes that a Senate candidate’s gaffe about baseball in a Massachusetts special election will dash the big dream of his first year.In Alter’s telling, the real Obama is an authentic, demanding, unsentimental, and sometimes overconfident leader. He adapted to the presidency with ease and put more “points on the board” than he is given credit for, but neglected to use his leverage over the banks and failed to connect well with an angry public. We see the famously calm president cursing leaks, playfully trash-talking his advisors, and joking about even the most taboo subjects, still intent on redeeming more of his promise as the problems mount. This brilliant blend of journalism and history offers the freshest reporting and most acute perspective on the biggest story of our time. It will shape impressions of the Obama presidency and of the man himself for years to come. |
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- Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama by Peniel E. Joseph
(Basic Civitas Books, 01/05/10, Hardcover)
| The Civil Rights Movement is now remembered as a long-lost era, which came to an end along with the idealism of the 1960s. In Dark Days, Bright Nights, acclaimed scholar Peniel E. Joseph puts this pat assessment to the test, showing the 60s — particularly the tumultuous period after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act — to be the catalyst of a movement that culminated in the inauguration of Barack Obama.Joseph argues that the 1965 Voting Rights Act burst a dam holding back radical democratic impulses. This political explosion initially took the form of the Black Power Movement, conventionally adjudged a failure. Joseph resurrects the movement to elucidate its unfairly forgotten achievements.Told through the lives of activists, intellectuals, and artists, including Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Amiri Baraka, Tupac Shakur, and Barack Obama, Dark Days, Bright Nights will make coherent a fraught half-century of struggle, reassessing its impact on American democracy and the larger world. |
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- The War On Success: How the Obama Agenda Is Shattering the American Dream by Tommy Newberry
(Regnery Publishing, 01/11/10, Hardcover)
| Higher Taxes! Nationalized Industries! Suffocating Regulation! President Obama Has Declared War Against YouIn The War on Success, New York Times bestselling author Tommy Newberry argues that the Obama administration is not only attacking entrepreneurs and small business owners, it’s launched a fundamental assault on the very concept of success. By denigrating all the qualities that make success possible — self-reliance, ambition, hard work, the pursuit of excellence — the administration is setting the stage for Big Government to step in and “guarantee” everyone’s success through socialist-style redistribution. Brash, direct, and unafraid, The War on Success tells you what’s at stake: nothing less than the survival of the American Dream. |
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- The Bad Science and Bad Policy of Obama’s Global Warming Agenda (Encounter Broadsides) by Roy W. Spencer
(Encounter Books, 01/26/10, Paperback)
| As the U.N. moves closer to a new global warming treaty, it is time to examine the calls for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The health and welfare of humanity has benefited from access to fossil fuels, and any drastic move to limit that access must have extraordinary evidence to support it.While alternative energy technologies will increasingly be relied upon in the face of dwindling fossil fuel supplies, leading climate researcher Dr. Roy W. Spencer argues that the free market is the best mechanism for solving the problem. In addition, Dr. Spencer addresses the new science that suggests that our modern fears of anthropogenic global warming might well be unfounded, because the climate system itself might be responsible for causing what is now known as “climate change.” |
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- Journey of Hope: Quilts Inspired by President Barack Obama by Carolyn L. Mazloomi
(Voyageur Press, 04/05/10, Hardcover)
| Journey of Hope is a gallery of more than 100 stunning quilts inspired by President Obama’s path to the White House. The works range from the poignantly abstract to the grippingly realistic and feature techniques including piecing, painting, applique, embroidery, dyeing, beading, and more. Filled with the spirit of renewal and change that fueled the Obama campaign, Journey of Hope is a celebration of our patchwork heritage and the quilter’s art. |
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- Obama’s Radical Transformation of America: Year One (Encounter Broadsides) by Joshua Muravchik
(Encounter Books, 02/23/10, Paperback)
- Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama by Bill O’reilly
(William Morrow, 09/01/10, Hardcover)
- The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America by Pamela Geller
(Threshold Editions, 07/27/10, Hardcover)
| A battle cry about damage being done by the current administration to the presidency and the ongoing possibility of American exceptionalism. |
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- How the Obama Administration has Politicized Justice (Encounter Broadsides) by Andrew C McCarthy
(Encounter Books, 01/26/10, Paperback)
| With the Obama Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder’s direction, Americans are learning what really happens when law-enforcement power is co-opted by politics.In this eye-popping Broadside, Andrew C. McCarthy shows that the biggest beneficiaries have been jihadists. For the past eight years, a group of lawyers volunteered their services to America’s enemies. Now, the Justice Department is rife with some of those same lawyers as it enhances due process for terrorists and feeds the international Left’s call for war-crimes charges against President Obama’s political adversaries. Just consider how the administration has disclosed national defense secrets during wartime or granted the 9/11 mass murderers a civilian trial. The department, moreover, is working to tighten the Democratic Party’s grip on power, ignoring the Constitution and green-lighting election fraud and abuse. |
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- Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice by Daniel Lathrop
(O’Reilly Media, 02/16/10, Paperback)
| In a world where web services can make real-time data accessible to anyone, how can the government leverage this openness to improve its operations and increase citizen participation and awareness? Through a collection of essays and case studies, leading visionaries and practitioners both inside and outside of government share their ideas on how to achieve and direct this emerging world of online collaboration, transparency, and participation. Contributions and topics include: Beth Simone Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for open government, “The Single Point of Failure” Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, “All Your Data Are Belong to Us: Liberating Government Data” Aaron Swartz, cofounder of reddit.com, OpenLibrary.org, and BoldProgressives.org, “When Is Transparency Useful?” Ellen S. Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, “Disrupting Washington’s Golden Rule” Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.Org, “By the People” Douglas Schuler, president of the Public Sphere Project, “Online Deliberation and Civic Intelligence” Howard Dierking, program manager on Microsoft’s MSDN and TechNet Web platform team, “Engineering Good Government” Matthew Burton, Web entrepreneur and former intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, “A Peace Corps for Programmers” Gary D. Bass and Sean Moulton, OMB Watch, “Bringing the Web 2.0 Revolution to Government” Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, “Defining Government 2.0: Lessons Learned from the Success of Computer Platforms” Open Government editors: Daniel Lathrop is a former investigative projects reporter with the Seattle Post Intelligencer who’s covered politics in Washington state, Iowa, Florida, and Washington D.C. He’s a specialist in campaign finance and “computer-assisted reporting” — the practice of using data analysis to report the news. Laurel Ruma is the Gov 2.0 Evangelist at O’Reilly Media. She is also co-chair for the Gov 2.0 Expo. |
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- The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power by David E. Sanger
(Three Rivers Press, 01/12/10, Paperback)
| Readers of The New York Times know David Sanger as one of the most trusted correspondents in Washington, one to whom presidents, secretaries of state, and foreign leaders talk with unusual candor. Now, with a historian’s sweep and an insider’s eye for telling detail, Sanger delivers an urgent intelligence briefing on the world America faces. In a riveting narrative, The Inheritance describes the huge costs of distraction and lost opportunities at home and abroad as Iraq soaked up manpower, money, and intelligence capabilities. The 2008 market collapse further undermined American leadership, leaving the new president with a set of challenges unparalleled since Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the Oval Office.Sanger takes readers into the White House Situation Room to reveal how Washington penetrated Tehran’s nuclear secrets, leading President Bush, in his last year, to secretly step up covert actions in a desperate effort to delay an Iranian bomb. Meanwhile, his intelligence chiefs made repeated secret missions to Pakistan as they tried to stem a growing insurgency and cope with an ally who was also aiding the enemy — while receiving billions in American military aid. Now the new president faces critical choices: Is it better to learn to live with a nuclear Iran or risk overt or covert confrontation? Is it worth sending U.S. forces deep into Pakistani territory at the risk of undermining an unstable Pakistani government sitting on a nuclear arsenal? It is a race against time and against a new effort by Islamic extremists — never before disclosed — to quietly infiltrate Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. “Bush wrote a lot of checks,” one senior intelligence official told Sanger, “that the next president is going to have to cash.”The Inheritance takes readers to Afghanistan, where Bush never delivered on his promises for a Marshall Plan to rebuild the country, paving the way for the Taliban’s return. It examines the chilling calculus of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il, who built actual weapons of mass destruction in the same months that the Bush administration pursued phantoms in Iraq, then sold his nuclear technology in the Middle East in an operation the American intelligence apparatus missed. And it explores how China became one of the real winners of the Iraq war, using the past eight years to expand its influence in Asia, and lock up oil supplies in Africa while Washington was bogged down in the Middle East. Yet Sanger, a former foreign correspondent in Asia, sees enormous potential for the next administration to forge a partnership with Beijing on energy and the environment. At once a secret history of our foreign policy misadventures and a lucid explanation of the opportunities they create, The Inheritance is vital reading for anyone trying to understand the extraordinary challenges that lie ahead.From the Hardcover edition. |
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- The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin by Roland S. Martin
(Third World Press, 01/31/10, Paperback)
| Noted African American journalist Roland Martin takes readers back down President Barack Obama’s campaign trail in this chronological journal of events that dates back to when then Senator Obama had yet to announce his candidacy and follows him on his journey to the presidency. Martin’s charismatic writing style is presented through his in-depth analysis of the presidential campaign and Obama’s struggles and successes. Martin gives readers insight on how each important event played out in front of the nation and also shares interviews from his broadcasts, including an interview he conducted with President Obama after his win in Iowa in January 2008. Other Notable interviews include Dr. Cornel West, Rep John Lewis, Spike Lee, Maxine Waters and Michael Eric Dyson. |
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- How Obama Has Mishandled the War on Terror (Encounter Broadsides) by Michael Bernard Mukasey
(Encounter Books, 03/30/10, Paperback)
April 5, 2010
The top selling books by or about African Americans published in March 2010 from Amazon.com.
- Hot Westmoreland Nights (Silhouette Desire) by Brenda Jackson
(Silhouette, 03/16/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| He knew better than to lust after the hired help. But Ramsey Westmoreland’s new cook was just so delectable — it was enough to make the Denver rancher rethink his rules. When temptation got the best of him, he discovered Chloe Burton was just as hot in the bedroom as she was in the kitchen.Though their affair was growing steamier by the minute, Ramsey couldn’t help but question Chloe’s true motives. And when he discovered her ultimate betrayal, he was set to satisfy himself with cold showers. Until he realized his fatal mistake: never underestimate the power of the human heart, especially a Westmoreland’s. |
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- If You Were My Man by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Griffin, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| Nathalyia Fontaine has been the sole proprietor of the restaurant Fontaine since her husband died four years ago. She hasn’t dated anyone in all those years, choosing not to open her heart again, or risk revealing her dark past. That is, until she meets Rafael Dunlap. Rafael is a hostage negotiator with his own set of problems. Though he loves women, he vows he’ll never marry because his job is just too unpredictable. He can’t imagine leaving a widow and children behind. But his thinking and game plan of loving and leaving changes when he meets Nathalyia. Though she tries to resist him, Rafael sweeps her into a whirlwind romance. When the unexpected happens, and Nathalyia is forced to keep it a secret, she ends things with Rafael before he can break her heart. But when Rafael is in harms way, will Nathalyia resolve to tell him the truth before it’s too late? Or will past demons keep them apart forever? |
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- Unzipped: An Urban Erotic Tale by Noire
(One World/Ballantine, 03/23/10, Paperback)
| Have you ever had everything you love snatched from your hands in the blink of an eye? Do you know what it’s like to watch helplessly as those you cherish burn to a crisp? Have you ever heard a mournful cry for street justice and then realized that the only person left to heed the call was you? Pearl Baines is a straight Harlem stunna. She and her twin sister, Diamond, are chased by some of the most notorious ballers in New York City. But while their father, ex-gangsta Irish Baines, devotes his life to rehabilitating young thugs, his sexy twin daughters fall hard for the glamour and glitter of strip clubs and street life. Unlike Diamond, though, Pearl is able to shake off the trappings of the hood in search of a better future. After graduating at the top of her class, Pearl becomes an FBI agent and plans to get as far away from the grime of Harlem as possible. But fate is cruel and the streets always get their due. On what should have been the happiest night of her life, Pearl’s family perishes in a ball of merciless flames — flames intentionally set on the orders of Mookie Mason, her father’s archenemy and the most ruthless gangsta in Harlem.Crazed with grief, Pearl becomes unzipped. Hell-bent on retribution, she prepares for battle in New York’s urban jungle. With the help of Menace, an ex-lover who once trampled all over her heart but was deeply loyal to Irish Baines, Pearl puts her FBI training and tactical skills to work in a murderous mission designed to do what her father wasn’t able to: take down Mookie Mason, and his entire crew, one at a time.  |
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- Moth To A Flame by Ashley Antoinette
(Urban Trade Paper, 03/01/10, Paperback)
| In the little city of Flint, MI, the good die young and the people left standing are the grimiest of characters. With reign over the city’s drug trade, Benjamin Atkins made sure that his precious daughter, Raven, was secluded from the grit that the city had to offer. But when Raven’s young heart gets claimed by Mizan, a stick-up kid in search of a come-up, there’s nothing Benjamin can do about losing her to the streets. She chooses love over loyalty and runs off with Mizan, but her new role as wifey soon proves to be more than she can handle.Puppy love always feels right, but things turn stale, and she soon finds that everyone she loves has disappeared. All she has is Mizan, but when hugs and kisses turn to bloody lips and black eyes, she realizes that Mizan is not who she thought he was. Raven becomes desperate for a way out, but this time, Daddy can’t save her. Every time she finds the courage to leave, fear convinces her to stay. Like a moth to a flame, Raven is drawn to Mizan, even though she knows he’ll be the death of her. When the hood life she chose becomes unbearable and the only way out is in a coffin, what will she do? |
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- Married on Mondays by HoneyB
(Grand Central Publishing, 03/24/10, Hardcover)
| By day, Valerie Cooper, Dierdra Dawson, and Foxy Brown assist their husbands, all partners at the law firm Brown, Cooper, and Dawson. But at night, they become Vanilla Cream, Cherry Cream, and Sugar Cream, and run an upscale swingers club called Cream. Their clientele include everyone from judges, lawyers, politicians, and police officers, to soccer moms and housewives. Business is booming at the hottest club in town. Until the police chief extends an indecent proposal to Foxy: sleep with him, or go to jail. With the whole town standing behind Cream (and not just because they all happen to be clients), the women must decide whether to stand together and fight, or risk losing their business. |
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- The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Elaine Meryl Brown
(One World/Ballantine, 03/02/10, Hardcover)
| In this engaging and invaluable “mentor in your pocket,” three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game — and win.Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership — self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage — while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don’t become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don’t assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female).Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made — and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time. |
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- Forever Yours: The Taggart Brothers by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 03/30/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Why would a happily divorced, independent businesswoman like Victoria Chandler agree to get married again? It’s called desperation. To keep her lingerie boutiques from going bankrupt, Victoria’s got to find a husband — and fast. But what kind of man would accept a marriage proposal that sounds more like a business proposition? Enter Kane Taggart — Big, handsome, smart, rich — Kane is one fine catch who could have any woman he wants. But there’s something about Victoria that leaves this silver-tongued rancher speechless with desire. He’s tempted by her offer: one year of marriage, no strings attached. But when they seal the deal with a soul-searing kiss, Kane makes a deliciously indecent proposal of his own — |
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- It Is Well with My Soul: The Extraordinary Life of a 106-Year-Old Woman by Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson
(Penguin (Non-Classics), 03/31/10, Paperback)
| An African American centenarian shares wisdom from a life well lived An inspirational, dynamic, and one-of-a-kind woman, Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson’s ordinary life has been nothing less than extraordinary throughout the course of her 105 years. The oldest living black graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Ella Mae is the child of former slaves who has experienced the best and worst of the past century, including the 2009 presidential inauguration, which she memorably attended last January. Through it all, she has endured-and thrived-by believing that compassion is the key to the good life. In Ella Mae, she shares her insights on living a long and enjoyable life and her hopes for the future. |
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- Message From A Mistress by Niobia Bryant
(Dafina, 03/01/10, Paperback)
| Niobia Bryant–the red-hot author of Show and Tell–delivers a sexy, unforgettable novel about love, infidelity, and the importance of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. . .Through good times and bad, longtime friends Jaime, Renee, Aria, and Jessa have shared just about everything. But all hell breaks loose when Jessa texts them a shocking revelation: she’s been sharing her bed–with one of their husbands. To make matters worse, she refuses to name which husband she’s been cheating with. And all three wives believe they have reason to worry. . .Jaime wonders if her own past infidelity drove her man into Jessa’s waiting arms. . . Renee thinks her busy career opened the door for Jessa to step in and fulfill her wifely duties. . .and Aria fears her competitive relationship with Jessa pushed her so-called friend to claim the ultimate prize in revenge. The betrayed trio vow to stick together. But before the identity of Jessa’s lover is revealed, each woman’s deepest secrets will be exposed for all to see–and they’ll need each other more than ever. |
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- More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time) by William Julius Wilson
(W. W. Norton & Company, 03/22/10, Paperback)
| A preeminent sociologist of race explains a groundbreaking new framework for understanding racial inequality, challenging both conservative and liberal dogma. In this timely and provocative contribution to the American discourse on race, William Julius Wilson applies an exciting new analytic framework to three politically fraught social problems: the persistence of the inner-city ghetto, the plight of low-skilled black males, and the fragmentation of the African American family. Though the discussion of racial inequality is typically ideologically polarized. Wilson dares to consider both institutional and cultural factors as causes of the persistence of racial inequality. He reaches the controversial conclusion that while structural and cultural forces are inextricably linked, public policy can only change the racial status quo by reforming the institutions that reinforce it. . |
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- Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American city by Antero Pietila
(Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 03/16/10, Hardcover)
| Eugenics, racial thinking, and white supremacist attitudes influenced even the federal government’s actions toward housing in the 20th century, dooming American cities to ghettoization. The Federal Housing Administration continued discriminatory housing policies even into the 1960s, long after civil rights legislation. This all-American tale is told through the prism of Baltimore, from its early suburbanization in the 1880s to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The events are real, and so are the heroes and villains. Mr. Pietila’s narrative centers on the human side of residential real estate practices, whose discriminatory tools were the same everywhere: restrictive covenants, redlining, blockbusting, predatory lending. |
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- Whites, Blacks and Racist Democrats by Wayne Perryman
(Book Publisher Network, 03/10/10, Hardcover)
| On March 18, 2008, after the Jeremiah Wright incident, Senator Barack Obama went on national television and delivered what many called one of the most inspiring and thought provoking speeches ever delivered on the issue of race. After the speech, several news organizations reported that it was time for America to engage in discussions on race. Over the years, we have had several discussions on the subject, most of which focused on the relationship between blacks and whites but seldom have we ever explored the role politics played in the establishing our racist society. Historians report that one political party supported slavery and Jim Crow while the other party opposed them. They also report that one party was known as the “Party of White Supremacy” and the other party was known as “Nigger Lovers.” In his book: Dreams From My Father, Senator Obama makes the connection between politics and racism when he tells his readers how white Chicago Democrats vowed to vote Republican before they would vote for a black man (Harold Washington) to be Mayor of Chicago. Whites, Blacks and Racist Democrats is a modified version of the author’s previous book: The Drama of Obama Regarding Racism. After reading the Drama of Obama, Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the National NAACP said, “Your captions of political influence on racial issues are thought-provoking and insightful.” Whites, Blacks and Racist Democrats is a must-read for every American. Like Chairman Jealous, you will want to read the entire book after reading the first three pages. |
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- Not Quite Right (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Tammy Williams
(Genesis Press, 03/01/10, Paperback)
- Uptown: A Novel by Virginia DeBerry
(Touchstone, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| ENTER THE WORLD OF UPTOWNUptown . . . where money rulesUptown . . . where ambition trumps traditionUptown . . . where politics come before everythingUptown . . . where a family’s secrets will bring them together — or downAfter twenty years away, Avery Lyons returns to New York when her mother and uncle suffer a serious car accident. The tragedy brings the family together, but Avery is not happy about the impromptu reunion. She no longer recognizes the Harlem of her childhood, but the same old family dynamics and secrets are all too familiar . . . Heir to a real estate empire, Dwight is willing to do anything to realize his aging and demanding father’s dream: Dixon Plaza, a luxury high-rise development on Central Park North that will change the face of Harlem forever. There’s only one thing in his way: his cousin Avery has inherited a share of the property. She’s more than willing to sell until a reporter uncovers the truth behind the rumored shady dealings . . . In Uptown a prominent Harlem family is strained to the breaking point by the high-stakes world of the Manhattan real estate industry, and one woman searches for her identity and the will to forgive. Steamy, provocative, and sexy, Uptown is a turbulent and triumphant read. |
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- The Bitch Is Back by Deja King
(A King Production, 03/29/10, Paperback)
| Precious Cummings is more ruthless than ever in Part 3 of the Bitch series. In The Bitch Is Back, Precious is relishing in every hood queen s dream life. She has her king, Supreme, and her princess, their daughter Aaliyah. With an estate in Beverly Hills, a fleet of luxurious cars and endless cash flow, the drama Precious experienced in the gritty streets of New York is a distant memory … or so she thought. Without warning, Precious worst nightmare becomes a reality. Pretty Boy Mike, the man who brutally raped Precious and who plotted to have her husband Supreme killed, has escaped from prison. With her life in danger, Precious resorts to what she knows best murder and mayhem to defend herself and the people she loves. Hell hath no fury than a gangsta chick out to protect what she cherishes the most her family. Brace yourself as Precious again wreaks havoc from West to East Coast battling her most treacherous enemy yet. |
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- Sweet Dreams (Kimani Romance) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Chandra Eaton can’t believe she left her journals — containing very private, very erotic dreams she’s been having for the past two years — in a Philly taxicab. Her embarrassment turns to intrigue when Preston Tucker finds and returns them. The soulful playwright fires up Chandra’s body and her mind. An irresistible combination, until she starts to suspect that he’s just using her for creative inspiration.Preston has spent years running from relationships. Chandra’s journals captivate his imagination, for sure, but it’s the intelligent, sensual woman behind them who really fascinates him. Now he has to find a way to win back her trust before she brings the curtain down on their affair for good. |
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- Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson by Timothy M. Gay
(Simon & Schuster, 03/16/10, Hardcover)
| Before Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball in 1947, black and white ballplayers had been playing against one another for decades — even, on rare occasions, playing with each other. Interracial contests took place during the off-season, when major leaguers and Negro Leaguers alike fattened their wallets by playing exhibitions in cities and towns across America. These barnstorming tours reached new heights, however, when Satchel Paige and other African- American stars took on white teams headlined by the irrepressible Dizzy Dean. Lippy and funny, a born showman, the native Arkansan saw no reason why he shouldn’t pitch against Negro Leaguers. Paige, who feared no one and chased a buck harder than any player alive, instantly recognized the box-office appeal of competing against Dizzy Dean’s “All-Stars.” Paige and Dean both featured soaring leg kicks and loved to mimic each other’s style to amuse fans. Skin color aside, the dirt-poor Southern pitchers had much in common. Historian Timothy M. Gay has unearthed long-forgotten exhibitions where Paige and Dean dueled, and he tells the story of their pioneering escapades in this engaging book. Long before they ever heard of Robinson or Larry Doby, baseball fans from Brooklyn to Enid, Oklahoma, watched black and white players battle on the same diamond. With such Hall of Fame teammates as Josh Gibson, Turkey Stearnes, Mule Suttles, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, and Bullet Joe Rogan, Paige often had the upper hand against Diz. After arm troubles sidelined Dean, a new pitching phenom, Bob Feller — Rapid Robert — assembled his own teams to face Paige and other blackballers. By the time Paige became Feller’s teammate on the Cleveland Indians in 1948, a rookie at age forty-two, Satch and Feller had barnstormed against each other for more than a decade. These often obscure contests helped hasten the end of Jim Crow baseball, paving the way for the game’s integration. Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, and Bob Feller never set out to make social history — but that’s precisely what happened. Tim Gay has brought this era to vivid and colorful life in a book that every baseball fan will embrace. |
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- Fierce Angels: The Strong Black Woman in American Life and Culture by Sheri Parks
(One World/Ballantine, 03/23/10, Hardcover)
| An important work on an essential subject, Fierce Angels explores and explodes the idea of the “strong black woman” as never before. Authoritative yet deeply personal and daringly confessional, Sheri Parks’s bold new study of the black female’s role as communal savior and martyr will challenge and change anyone who reads it.
Fierce Angels exposes the overwhelming emotional costs — as well as the benefits — attached to this role. Parks, an esteemed scholar and popular media personality, provides exclusive interviews and astute analysis, as well as accounts of her own searing and inspiring experiences, to highlight the myths and the realities of black women’s lives.
Beginning with the oldest ongoing archetype, the Dark Feminine, Parks reveals the layered significance of the fertility of darkness — the abyss out of which the world was spoken into existence, the primordial creator in ancient Greek, Sumerian, and West African cultures, and the essence of Mother Earth herself. As these myths matured, they played critical parts in the assignment of maternal roles to women of African descent, the Dark Feminine acquiring a particularly acrid scent once she crossed the Atlantic Ocean in shackles, bound for a life of slavery. |
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- Surrender to Love (Arabesque) by Adrianne Byrd
(Kimani Press, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Julia Kelley’s abusive husband has been murdered — and she’s afraid she might be next. Penniless, she hits the road with her six-year-old daughter only to have her car give out in the middle of a small town. Julia’s sure her luck has turned from bad to worse — until handsome mechanic Carson Webber comes to her rescue.Carson suspects that a broken-down car is the least of Julia’s problems, and he knows he could help her with whatever is troubling her — if she wasn’t in such a hurry to leave. He’s also convinced that with a little bit of stalling as he repairs her car — and a whole lot of tenderness — he just might find a way to win her trust — and her love. |
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- Bitch Reloaded Part 2 by Deja King
(A King Production, 03/29/10, Paperback)
| The femme fatale of the streets is back and she s deadlier than ever. Precious miraculously survives her brush with death, but the celebration is cut short when tragedy strikes. Convinced that Nico Carter is responsible for ripping her world apart, Precious’ sole purpose for living is to make him pay in blood. The street life that she left behind calls her name as Precious wreaks havoc on anyone who stands in her way of getting revenge. While on her path of destruction, new enemies arise and old friends resurface, complicating Precious plans to bring Nico down. But soon she realizes that everything isn’t what it seems. Will the dark road Precious travels finally lead to her own demise once and for all? |
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March 14, 2010
The bestselling romances featuring African American characters or by African Americans for 2010 (as of 3/1/2010).
- Dirtier Than Ever: A Novel by Vickie M. Stringer
(Atria, 02/16/10, Hardcover)
| Following the phenomenal success of Essence bestsellers Dirty Red and Still Dirty, Vickie M. Stringer takes readers on another bumpy ride in Dirtier Than Ever with Red, Bacon, and Q — the crazy love-hate triangle who makes the series a favorite among urban fiction fans. Q wished that Bacon had killed Red when he had the chance. Red knew that Q’s career as a hustler was over and he was counting on starting a new legit business with the money he had made. He had once believed her when she promised that the money didn’t mean a thing and she would give it all up to be with him. Bacon returns from prison and suddenly Q is left for dead. With Q out of the picture, Bacon now has Red to himself. His sights are set on being the top hustler with Red by his side. He believes Red has fi nally changed when she reveals the truth about her past. But all comes to a head when the snooping detective, Thomas, suspects Red’s involvement in Q’s getting shot and the murder of Zeke, Q’s best friend. With two murders, a tumultuous love affair, andmoney on her mind, Red must make a decision . . . does she turn over a new leaf or revisit her dirty ways of old? Gritty, steamy, and intense, Stringer delivers another page-turning caper about a hustler in high heels who is Dirtier Than Ever. |
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- If You Were My Man by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Griffin, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| Nathalyia Fontaine has been the sole proprietor of the restaurant Fontaine since her husband died four years ago. She hasn’t dated anyone in all those years, choosing not to open her heart again, or risk revealing her dark past. That is, until she meets Rafael Dunlap. Rafael is a hostage negotiator with his own set of problems. Though he loves women, he vows he’ll never marry because his job is just too unpredictable. He can’t imagine leaving a widow and children behind. But his thinking and game plan of loving and leaving changes when he meets Nathalyia. Though she tries to resist him, Rafael sweeps her into a whirlwind romance. When the unexpected happens, and Nathalyia is forced to keep it a secret, she ends things with Rafael before he can break her heart. But when Rafael is in harms way, will Nathalyia resolve to tell him the truth before it’s too late? Or will past demons keep them apart forever? |
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- Reverend Feelgood by Lutishia Lovely
(Dafina, 02/01/10, Paperback)
| In Lutishia Lovely’s wickedly sexy new novel, an energetic young pastor works overtime to keep the ladies in his congregation deliciously satisfied. . .Nathaniel “Nate” Thicke is a preaching prodigy. At only twenty-eight years old, he’s the senior pastor of The Gospel Truth Church. In addition to carrying on the preaching tradition begun by his great-grandfather, Nate is also just plain carrying on, wherever the spirit–and the flesh–lead him. And when it leads him to three women from the same family, bickering and backstabbing follow…Content with having his pick of the flock, Nate is surprised to discover he’s fallen head-over-heels in love, and decides to become a one-woman man. But the other ladies aren’t about to give him up so easily. They’re prepared to do whatever it takes to get their man back–even if it means adding a few more shocking sins to their list…Praise for Lutishia Lovely and A Preacher’s Passion”The scintillating brew of sex, faith and sharp humor will have Lovely’s fans breathless for more.”–Publishers Weekly”Lutishia Lovely brought Passion to church and set it on fire!!!”–Pat G’Orge-Walker, Essence- bestselling author”Filled with drama, consequences, double-standards and plenty of life lessons to go around.”–Naleighna Kai, author of She Touched My Soul |
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- Hot Westmoreland Nights (Silhouette Desire) by Brenda Jackson
(Silhouette, 03/16/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| He knew better than to lust after the hired help. But Ramsey Westmoreland’s new cook was just so delectable — it was enough to make the Denver rancher rethink his rules. When temptation got the best of him, he discovered Chloe Burton was just as hot in the bedroom as she was in the kitchen.Though their affair was growing steamier by the minute, Ramsey couldn’t help but question Chloe’s true motives. And when he discovered her ultimate betrayal, he was set to satisfy himself with cold showers. Until he realized his fatal mistake: never underestimate the power of the human heart, especially a Westmoreland’s. |
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- Wrapped in Pleasure: Delaney’s Desert Sheikh\Seduced by a Stranger (Arabesque) by Brenda Jackson
(Kimani Press, 01/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
Two Westmoreland novels — one classic and one new — from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Brenda Jackson
Delaney’s Desert Sheikh
A mix-up in Delaney Westmoreland’s vacation plans forces her to share a cabin with a tall, dark and oh-so-handsome sheikh who is bent on her seduction. Jamal Ari Yasir intends to school Delaney in sensuality for his own pleasure. But instead of loving and leaving her, he becomes enraptured by an irresistible and unforgettable passion for his sexy-as-sin roommate. Can the arrogant sheikh convince his secret lover that they are fated for more than just a summer fling?
Seduced by a Stranger
Johari Yasir has no interest in returning to her homeland to marry a man she’s never met — at least, not without sowing some wild oats first. And when a handsome charmer offers to whisk her away in his private plane, she impulsively accepts. Rasheed Valdemon is shocked that his bride-to-be would fly off with someone she barely knows — even though he’s the one doing the asking. More surprising is his hunger for this lovely, rebellious woman. Yet what will happen when she realizes she’s been seduced by the man who’s destined to be her husband? |
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- Sweet Dreams (Kimani Romance) by Rochelle Alers
(Kimani, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Chandra Eaton can’t believe she left her journals — containing very private, very erotic dreams she’s been having for the past two years — in a Philly taxicab. Her embarrassment turns to intrigue when Preston Tucker finds and returns them. The soulful playwright fires up Chandra’s body and her mind. An irresistible combination, until she starts to suspect that he’s just using her for creative inspiration.Preston has spent years running from relationships. Chandra’s journals captivate his imagination, for sure, but it’s the intelligent, sensual woman behind them who really fascinates him. Now he has to find a way to win back her trust before she brings the curtain down on their affair for good. |
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- Not Quite Right (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Tammy Williams
(Genesis Press, 03/01/10, Paperback)
- Bedroom Bully by Trista Russell
(Pocket, 01/26/10, Paperback)
| In award-winning author Trista Russell’s latest erotic adventure, two lovers bound by an impossible crime confront a dangerous seduction that sends them over the edge….As Audra Lopez watches news reports about the infamous “Turnpike Cop Killer” at her favorite after-work spot, the last thing she expects is to find the wanted man waiting at her house like an old, familiar lover. Shaken with fright when he nudges a gun to her body and demands protection, Audra has no clue how deeply the murderer’s rough, tender touches will penetrate the hardened layers of her heart.Dean Casey can’t believe he’s on the run after shooting two cops. But he never dreamed that his young daughter would be molested, either, a crushing reality that pushed the hardworking father to the brink of insanity. With the entire city of Miami on the hunt for him, Dean must figure out a way to save his daughter before vanishing from her life forever. To complicate matters, his hostage is a sexy, thick beauty whose attraction to him is impossible to ignore.Overcome with the thrill of their forbidden lust and imprisoned in the walls of her home, Audra and Dean lose themselves in an addictive, erotic haze — until sudden tragedies and shocking twists force them to escape Miami. As the fugitives set sail on the tranquil Caribbean Sea, their treacherous journey will, once and for all, test the limitless bounds of their passion. |
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- Up To No Good by Carl Weber
(Dafina, 01/01/10, Paperback)
| There’s always a man around the corner, and church trustee James Black should know–he’s usually that very man. The “New York Times”-bestselling author of “Something on the Side” introduces a deliciously dysfunctional family in this new page-turning novel filled with intrigue, sex, and surprises. Annotation: The Black family has a few issues to work out. The father, James, is finally ready to put his player days behind him and settle down, but his lover is the same age as his daughter, Jamie, who has problems of her own, as she tries to discover the mystery woman who has been stalking her man. Meanwhile, James’s son Darnel catches his fiance in bed with his best friend, Omar, and he finds himself in jail after exacting a brutal vengeance. This is only the beginning of the soap opera, as the family fights to stick together through a series of unbelievable twists and turns, both in the streets and between the sheets. |
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- No Other Lover Will Do by Cheris Hodges
(Dafina, 02/01/10, Paperback)
- Surrender to Love (Arabesque) by Adrianne Byrd
(Kimani Press, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Julia Kelley’s abusive husband has been murdered — and she’s afraid she might be next. Penniless, she hits the road with her six-year-old daughter only to have her car give out in the middle of a small town. Julia’s sure her luck has turned from bad to worse — until handsome mechanic Carson Webber comes to her rescue.Carson suspects that a broken-down car is the least of Julia’s problems, and he knows he could help her with whatever is troubling her — if she wasn’t in such a hurry to leave. He’s also convinced that with a little bit of stalling as he repairs her car — and a whole lot of tenderness — he just might find a way to win her trust — and her love. |
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- It Had to Be You (Grayson Friends) by Francis Ray
(St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 04/27/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Most musicians would do anything to work with the hot, young record producer known as €œRolling Deep.€ R.D. can pick and choose any artist he wants — and he wants Laurel Raineau. A classical violinist, Laurel plays soaring music that touches R.D. to his very soul. But the last thing Laurel wants is to work with someone whose exploits with the ladies appear in the tabloids every week. Not one to take no for an answer, R.D. keeps trying — and failing — to let Laurel know that he’s not the player he’s made out to be. So he introduces himself to her by his real name, Zachary Wilder, hoping to win her over. But it’s Zach who falls under this beauty’s spell. Now it’s only a matter of time before Laurel learns who the man she’s losing her heart to really is — but can she walk away from a passion that feels so right? |
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- Before I Let You Go (Kimani Romance) by Angie Daniels
(Kimani, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Kellis Saunders has loved Diamere Redmond since they were kids. But when Diamere abruptly left town, Kellis vowed to put him out of her mind — and her heart. Now the sinfully sexy nightclub owner is back — and he’s ready to pick up where they left off. In spite of the passion exploding between them, Kellis isn’t sure she’s ready to risk her future on him.The last thing the once-burned bachelor wants is to put his heart on the line again. Then Diamere sees Kellis: the girl that got away. The sensual elementary school teacher seems determined to resist him, but Diamere is just as determined to change her mind. As he sets the scene for seduction, he vows to fight for the woman he loves. And this time it’s for keeps. |
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- Promises of Forever (Indigo) by Celya Bowers
(Genesis Press, 01/01/10, Paperback)
- Don’t Bring Home a White Boy: And Other Notions that Keep Black Women From Dating Out by Karyn Langhorne Folan
(Karen Hunter, 02/02/10, Hardcover)
| IN AN AGE WHEN AMERICA HAS EMBRACED a mixed-race president and a strong, independent black woman as first lady…when black women are on the move and more empowered than ever before…there remains one hot-button topic that stirs up cultural resistance and intensity of emotion like no other: interracial relationships — or, specifically, when black women date or marry white men.What is it about the black female/white male dynamic that sparks such controversy and depth of feeling? What keeps many single black women from exploring relationships outside of their race at a time when the pool of eligible black men is at an all-time low?”Don’t bring home a white boy” is the cultural message stamped deep into every black daughter, an enduring twenty-first-century taboo with origins dating back to the Civil War era, the turbulent Civil Rights decades, and beyond. Now at last there is an honest, eye-opening examination of this societal phenomenon that will resonate with women everywhere and give voice to all sides of the debate. Karyn Langhorne Folan, herself a black woman happily married to a white man, brings together historical, statistical, psychological, and personal perspectives in a groundbreaking book that boldly debunks the “notions” that can keep interracial dating off the table for many women, including:After slavery, I could never date a white man…My family would never accept him — and his would never accept me…White men don’t find black women attractive unless they look like Halle…Our biracial children would have no sense of identity…It means I’m a sellout, or fi lled with self-hate…We’d just be too different…Filled with real-life anecdotes from, and interviews with, men and women of both races and informed by Folan’s thorough and expansive research, Don’t Bring Home a White Boy is both an invaluable contribution to the topic of interracial dating and a timely handbook to help women look beyond skin color in the quest to have all they deserve and desire in a life partner. |
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- Uptown: A Novel by Virginia DeBerry
(Touchstone, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| ENTER THE WORLD OF UPTOWNUptown . . . where money rulesUptown . . . where ambition trumps traditionUptown . . . where politics come before everythingUptown . . . where a family’s secrets will bring them together — or downAfter twenty years away, Avery Lyons returns to New York when her mother and uncle suffer a serious car accident. The tragedy brings the family together, but Avery is not happy about the impromptu reunion. She no longer recognizes the Harlem of her childhood, but the same old family dynamics and secrets are all too familiar . . . Heir to a real estate empire, Dwight is willing to do anything to realize his aging and demanding father’s dream: Dixon Plaza, a luxury high-rise development on Central Park North that will change the face of Harlem forever. There’s only one thing in his way: his cousin Avery has inherited a share of the property. She’s more than willing to sell until a reporter uncovers the truth behind the rumored shady dealings . . . In Uptown a prominent Harlem family is strained to the breaking point by the high-stakes world of the Manhattan real estate industry, and one woman searches for her identity and the will to forgive. Steamy, provocative, and sexy, Uptown is a turbulent and triumphant read. |
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- Perfect Timing by Brenda Jackson
(Kensington, 01/01/10, Paperback)
| Maxine Chandler and Mya Rivers were once the best of friends, sisters by choice. But distance and a series of misunderstandings came between them. Now, a fifteen-year class reunion cruise to the Caribbean could renew their powerful bond–just when they need it most.After heartbreak and tragedy, Maxi doesn’t expect her shipboard romance with former high school rebel Christopher Chandler to be more than a sizzling distraction, but then he offers her a gift so profound she can’t refuse it–even when it leaves her vulnerable to crushing loss. Mya, on the other hand, seems blessed with a perfect marriage, home, and beautiful twins. But Mya’s work is taking over her life and another woman might be taking husband. . .As each couple struggles with the limits of love, loyalty, and trust, Mya and Maxi reclaim a deep and abiding friendship. . .one that will inspire them with courage to face the future, whatever it may bring. . .Praise For The Novels Of Brenda Jackson”This poignant love story is one special moment. You don’t want to miss it.” –Rendezvous on One Special Moment “Fantastic. . .Ms. Jackson as done it again!” –Romantic Times on Secret Love”A terrific book. . .Ms. Jackson brings passion and tenderness, faith and trust, together with friendship and family, and does it so well.” –The Paperback Forum on Tonight and Forever |
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- Kissed by a Carrington (Kimani Romance) by Linda Hudson-Smith
(Kimani, 03/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| Pro-basketball star Houston Carrington likes his life just the way it is: fame, fortune and freedom. But Kelly Charleston tempts the footloose playboy to break his number-one rule — flings without strings. The time he spent in the sexy sports doctor’s company is forever seared in his memory — and now she’s just signed with his team!Wary of love, Kelly has managed to steer clear of romantic entanglements. But how could she forget the passionate encounter she shared with this seductive, irresistible Carrington brother? And now that she’s under contract with the Texas Cyclones, she’s in danger of losing something she swore she’d never give up — her heart. Especially when Houston awakens her fantasy of a fabulous future together.Because once you’ve been kissed by a Carrington, no other man will do — . |
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- Love Out of Order (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Nicole Green
(Genesis Press, 02/01/10, Paperback)
- The Denzel Principle: Why Black Women Can’t Find Good Black Men by jimi izrael
(St. Martin’s Press, 02/16/10, Hardcover)
Sisters decry the shortage of good men and say there is no way she is settling for less than a good Black man. Not just a good one, but the BEST one: Denzel Washington. She, of course, has no idea what that means, what she wants or what a good Black man truly looks like.
The Denzel Principle is the belief that the perfect man — in the form of Denzel Washington — actually exists off screen and that all Black women can snag a Denzel of their very own.So what does your very own Denzel look like? Well, he’s rich but earthy, handsome but not pretty, doting but not docile, tough but vulnerable, political but not radical, passionate but not hysterical, ambitious but not overbearing, well-read but not nerdy, manly but not macho, gentle but not feminine, Black but not militant, sexy but not solicitous, flirtatious but particular…and all that on cue and in proper measure.Award winning reporter and cultural critic, jimi izrael offers to set the record straight — from a regular guy’s point of view. The Denzel Principle is straight talk on everything from “Ways Women Can Break the Hold of the Dizzle,” “Ways to Attract Mr. Right,” to “Ten Reasons to Love Ordinary Black Men” and so much more. |
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March 14, 2010
The bestselling mysteries featuring African American characters or by African Americans for 2010 (as of 3/1/2010).
- Diary of a Stalker (Urban Renaissance) by Electa Rome Parks
(Urban Trade Paper, 01/01/10, Paperback)
| Never judge a book by its cover. . . Xavier Preston is tall, dark, and handsome, and the problem is that he knows it. He’s a bestselling author who is accustomed to adoring female fans, both young and old, flirting with him, throwing themselves shamelessly at him, and trying to get between more than the covers of his novels. He has always been more than willing to accommodate their needs and desires; however, his womanizing days have finally ended. He’s engaged to a beautiful woman, Kendall, and he’s decided to walk the straight and narrow. Or has he? From outside appearances, the very stunning Pilar has it all: a great career, a beautiful home, and a trust fund that keeps her financially secure; however, looks can be deceiving. All that glitters isn’t necessarily gold. Pilar is searching for her perfect soulmate, and she thinks she has found him in Xavier. She believes in going after what she wants with a vengeance . . . and she wants Xavier. That is not negotiable. She will have him, even if it kills him. When Xavier meets his fanatical fan, Pilar, he gets much more than he bargained for. What starts out as an erotic one-night stand quickly spirals out of control into a dangerous game of obsession and pain with both parties playing to win. Think you know what goes on behind the literary scene? Think again. |
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- From Cape Town with Love: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel by Blair Underwood
(Atria, 05/18/10, Hardcover)
- Exorsistah: X Returns by Claudia Mair Burney
(Pocket Star, 09/28/10, Mass Market Paperback)
| SHE’S GOT THE LORD ON HER SIDE AND AN ANGEL BEHIND HER. DON’T CROSS X. Now that Emme Vaughn is finally eighteen, she’s ready to strut her devil-whooping diva boots into Saint Dymphna’s Psychiatric Hospital and spring her mama out. Only problem is a lady named Jane Doe beat her to it…two years ago. Jane is as mysterious as her name, but she holds the key to saving Emme’s mama and revealing exactly how Emme got into this evil-fighting business — if Emme can find her. To complicate matters, hottie Francis wants her to be his girlfriend, but Emme’s not about to come between her man and God’s plan. No, the Exorsistah is on a mission that even a scary three-headed demon can’t stop (and the Lord knows it is trying). With a lot of prayer, a couple of archangels, and the help of some new soul-friends, X is armed for battle against a malicious force that will do anything to destroy her. But when she needs His Word the most, will she know where to find it? |
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- The New Slavery System by Joseph Etute
(AuthorHouse, 01/26/10, Paperback)
| Every day hundreds of African migrants cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands in search of the so-called ‘better life’. Thousands more are crossing into Malta and Italy, while a lot more attempt to make the journey through the Desert of Sahara. This journey that is no more no less than a New Slavery System is taking the lives of Africans at a much faster rate than even the old chain-bounded slavery system. It is quite unfortunate, totally shameful and disgraceful that a continent like Africa, so richly endowed with both human and natural resources, has now become the parasites of the 21st century. It is indeed a curse on the continent that African youth now prefer to pay into foreign slavery, rather than living in freedom and dignity. The time is now for us to seek atonement; the time is now for us to regain back ourselves and come back to our senses; the time is now for us to shine the light of knowledge into the shadows and darkness of ignorance; the time is now to stand-up as free Africans rather than been enslaved by foreign currencies. It is time for a change! It is time to write history once again as we break the chains and shackles of this new slavery system – which is the whole essence of this book. |
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- Dreadlock Jones and the Missing Treasures by Kami Kinard
(Putnam Juvenile, 01/06/11, Hardcover)
- Three Lives by Joe Washington
(MidMerc L.L.C/Midnight Mercury, 02/15/10, Paperback)
| For most of us, one life is enough. Imagine having three. Nicholas Gambit did. One man, three very different reasons for being. Almost graduated from University and soon to leave a Kansas City ghetto he can t wait to get away from, Nicholas is drawn into a conflict he wants no part of. His world crashing down around him, surrounded by violence, he learns he has some very special talents. Even with those talents, he finds he can t protect everyone and when the nightmare is finally over, he is consumed. He is devoid of purpose, inconsolable, lost. Upon observing how Nicholas conducts himself, and what he is capable of, agent John Wilkes devises a new purpose for him. He soon invites his protege to enlist in a program few know exists. Too emotionally drained to see that it is a mistake, Nicholas allows himself to be secreted away into a life that he thinks will give his existence meaning and pit him against those who place themselves above the law. Instead, he finds himself at war with his own principles fearful he will become the enemy he has sworn to fight. In the course of the transformation from artless college student to inconceivably skilled government operative, Nicholas finds love where it is forbidden, is made into a cold blooded murderer, and ultimately seeks out redemption by allowing another a chance to rediscover her own humanity. |
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- Tre Pound by Jordan Belcher
(Art Official Media LLC, 04/19/10, Paperback)
| The murder of an esteemed drug dealer has Levour “Tre Pound” King fighting for his life, not just in court, where he s facing life without parole, but in the unforgiving streets, where his enemies prefer to give him the death penalty. Tre Pound comes from a family of well-known hustlers, he s a hood star . Woman are his playthings; even a secret affair with his homeboy s little sister doesn’t satisfy him. He is 21 years old and believes the city belongs to the Kings. Tre Pound has swagger and the money of a businessman, he roams throughout the ghetto untouched — and in his pastime, he robs drug dealers. Not once has he used a mask. He wants his victims to know it was him. Tre Pound s exploits affect his 15-year-old cousin, Camille King. Camille hates that Tre Pound runs off all her boyfriends and fears she ll always be alone. Will she ever find love? Will Tre Pound end up behind bars or gunned down? Or will the unthinkable happen? Cross into the perilous streets of Kansas City, Missouri, and find out …… |
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- Obsessive/Obsession by Toye Brown
(Outskirts Press, 03/02/10, Paperback)
| Fixation…greed…AnticipationWho is trying to bring the family down and at what cost? The Lofton sisters had it all, money, success, and happiness. Now someone wanted a part of it. Follow the lives of the four sisters as they unite to unravel the mystery of who is stalking them. The romance and intrigue the sisters endure is captivating. The suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat; the humor will have you laughing out loud…. |
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- God Don’t Play by Mary Monroe
(Dafina, 04/01/10, Paperback)
| From Mary Monroe, beloved author of God Don’t Like Ugly and God Still Don’t Like Ugly, comes the entwined stories of two lifelong friends, their secrets and lies, and a new challenge that could destroy their relationship once and for all… With a handsome husband, a beautiful daughter, and a lovely house to come home to every night, forty-five-year-old Annette Goode finally has it all. Heaven knows she paid her dues–from a childhood filled with abuse to a rocky start as an adult. Annette’s friend Rhoda knows too, for Rhoda has been both her savior and her greatest fear. Their erratic relationship has survived some serious bumps in the road. But now that things are good, someone apparently thinks they’re a little too good… When Annette receives an anonymous–and menacing–birthday gift, it’s just the beginning of a slew of hostile letters, vicious phone calls, and vile packages from a female who is obviously disguising her voice. Gaining comfort from the support of Rhoda and Rhoda’s teenage daughter, Jade, Annette hopes that somehow the problem will go away. But when the threats extend to her little daughter, Annette realizes the situation is dire. And she’s right, for soon her tormentor reveals exactly what she wants–and how it could destroy everything Annette has built… |
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